Communist Party of Spain (reconstituted)

The Communist Party of Spain (reconstituted), also known by its acronym PCE(r), is a Spanish communist party, founded in 1975, a few weeks before the death of the dictator Francisco Franco, arising from a split in the PCE and supported by former Maoist and foquista militants of the PCE(m-l).

Historically, its most active areas were some working-class neighborhoods in Madrid, the cities of Vigo, Zaragoza, Córdoba or Cádiz, as well as mining areas in both the province of León and Asturias. Since the years of the Transition, it was considered the political arm of the terrorist group First of October Anti-Fascist Resistance Groups (GRAPO), by the National Court, although the organic link between the PCE(r) and GRAPO has always been denied.

In 1978 the members of the Antifascist and Patriotic Revolutionary Front and the Communist Party of Spain (Marxist-Leninist), opposed to giving up the armed struggle, joined the First of October Antifascist Resistance Groups and the Communist Party of Spain (reconstituted).

• Latest leaders:
  • PCEr: Manuel Pérez Martínez, Comrade Arenas
  • GRAPO: Fernando Silva Sande

History

The PCE(r) held its Founding Congress in June 1975. It brought together former members of the Communist Party of Spain (Marxist-Leninist), the Guevarist Circles and other Spanish organizations that arose in exile, which had shaped the Organization of Marxists-Leninists of Spain (OMLE). The latter had emerged as a communist current that sought to reconstruct the old Communist Party of Spain (PCE) and expressed dissatisfaction with the "revisionism" that, in its opinion, had been representative of the Party, which since 1955 supported the policy of national reconciliation developed by the leadership, headed by Santiago Carrillo.

His most active bases are historically found in Vigo (where many members of the Obreira Organization converged in the OMLE around 1972), Cádiz and the Madrid neighborhood of El Pozo del Tío Raimundo, from which he is originally from —although he was born in Melilla— its historic general secretary Manuel Pérez Martínez, known as comrade Arenas.

Already in July 1976, a few days after the appointment of Adolfo Suárez as president, the General Directorate of Security (DGS) of the late Franco regime attributed the attacks claimed by the GRAPO to the PCE(r). The opposition magazine Triunfo said at that time that "its program is based on the seizure of power to achieve the dictatorship of the proletariat and the implementation of socialism, all through revolutionary armed struggle."

A few months later, in February 1977 and with the Transition already underway, the DGS stated that the GRAPO were nothing more than the armed wing of the PCE(r), and provided a list of criminal acts headed by the murder of 4 Police officers on October 1, 1975. Although the GRAPO denied being the armed wing of any political party, they disseminated their communications through the official organ of the PCE(r), Gaceta Roja, and stated that they agreed with the policy of the PCE(r) and made it their own. A few days later, the authorities specified that the aforementioned armed wing was called the "Technical Section" until the quadruple murder was committed, at which time they adopted their definitive name taking the date of the event. At the same event, the arrest of 38 PCE(r) militants was announced.

Given its connection with the GRAPO, the PCE(r) was never registered in the registry of political parties nor did it appear in any electoral process, but instead developed its political activity illegally, until its illegalization by order of Judge Baltasar Garzón in 2003. Finally, in July 2006, a ruling by the National Court agreed to the dissolution of the PCE(r) because it was proven to be the political arm of the GRAPO. The sentence stated verbatim that "it is the party that directs the rifle", thus expressing that it was in charge of directing the armed wing, "choosing objectives, obtaining infrastructure and economic resources, choosing those responsible for armed actions, as well as the composition." of the self-proclaimed military commands».

The illegalization did not mean the disappearance of the PCE(r). In recent years, the illegalized formation has abandoned exclusively Maoist theses, maintaining theses closer to Marxism-Leninism. Such self-criticism can be read in Arenas' work titled Thesis on the crisis of communism.

At an international level, he demonstrated his sympathy towards the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) after an interview published on the Internet with members of this armed organization from Northern Ireland, which gave up arms in 2009.

Political activity

Their means of expression were the newspaper Resistencia and the theoretical organ Antorcha, in which they called the working class to political armed struggle^{[citation required]}, with the aim of establishing a "popular and federative republic" in Spain.