Maoism in the Developed World

According to this report, the Spark was “composed in more than 95 percent of militants of the PCE, some veterans of the war and some middle-ranking cadres, with a more than 90 percent working class origin.”[457] It had groups in Madrid, Catalonia, An-dalucia and Switzerland, and reportedly “was the most cohesive group, most consequent on the struggle against revisionism within the Party.”

Revolutionary Workers World was “fundamentally of proletarian extraction, predominantly of newly recruited members in Spain, together with old militants in France.” The Proletarian group “was formed by various antirevisionist nuclei, some of whom had never belonged to the PCE.” It had members principally in Madrid, Bilbao and Paris.

Finally, Democratic Spain “was formed completely by militants in Colombia, and except for one person had no base in Spain, and thus contributed but little to the process of unification of the groups.”

These groups finally united in December 1964. The official report noted that “Once the process of unification of the three principal groups began, there was constituted a Central Committee, in which the three groups were represented. After a bitter ideological struggle against some opportunist and Trotskyite elements, it was agreed to convoke the First Plenum of the Central Committee, enlarged by representatives of the different organizations of the country.” That meeting, December 14—17, 1964 established the Partido Comunista de Espana (Marxista- Leninista).[458]

Three subsequent Plenums were held, in 1967, 1968 and 1970. It was reported that in 1967 the party had sought to unite all pro-Maoist groups in Spain, but its efforts had failed.[459] Finally, in April 1973, the first congress of the PCE-ML met. It “approved the report of the Central Committee, and elaborated an important political resolution.”[460] According to H. Leslie Robinson, that congress “voted … to ‘revolutionize’ the methods of party management, develop party and mass organizations everywhere, reinforce the party in rural areas, and reinforce and accelerate the creation of armed defense and combat units.”[461]

Meanwhile, the Fourth Plenum of the party, in August 1970, had called for the formation of a United Antifascist and Antiimperialist Front (FRAP). Five months later, a Pro-FRAP Coordination Committee was established, “made up of the Party, various mass organizations, groups and republican and socialist personalities, among whom was Julio Alvarez del Vayo.” Under the auspices of the FRAP, the PCE-ML organized an illegal May Day demonstration in Madrid in 1973, which it claimed was attended by 15,000 people. According to the party, clashes with the police on this occasion resulted in the death of one policeman and the wounding of 25 others.[462]

In January 1974, the definitive establishment of the FRAP was announced, presided over by Julio Alvarez del Vayo.[463] Alvarez del Vayo had before the Civil War been a leader of the left faction of the Socialist Party, led by Francisco Largo Caballero. Then during the War, as Foreign Minister of Largo Caballero’s government, he had abandoned Largo Caballero, joining with the Communists to bring down his government. Subsequently, in Spanish exile circles, he had been for many a years a loyal collaborator with the PCE.

According to Leslie Robinson, the FRAP included not only the PCEML, but also the Unionized Workers Opposition, the Popular Peasant Union, and the Popular Federation of High School Students.[464]

On various occasions, H. Leslie Robinson reported that the PCE-ML was “recognized by the Chinese Communists.”[465] However, it is interesting that in its official description of itself, to which we have already alluded, and which was published in 1977, there is no reference to “Mao Tse-tung Thought” or anything else indicating allegiance to the Mao Tse-tung regime. It stated that “The ideology of the PCE (M-L) is Marxism-Leninism. It defends as basic principles of Marasm-Leninism, the dictatorship of the proletariat, the armed struggle as the only way to come to power.”[466]

Nevertheless, the original Maoist orientation of the party, as well as its deviation from that orientation, may be seen in the fact that in 1978 the party sent a message of support to the Communist Party of New Zealand, a long-time Maoist group that had just denounced Mao’s three world thesis and had aligned itself with Albania, against the Chinese leadership.[467]

The Communist Party Of Spain (International)

Four other Communist groups that originated in the 1960s and 1970s were clearly of Maoist orientation. One of these was the Communist Party of Spain (International) (Partido Comunista de Espana [International]) or PCE (I).