Alternative Left (

Spanish language Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a world language, global language with more than 500 millio ...

: ''Izquierda Alternativa'', IA) was a Spanish political party with a

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

ideology formed by the union of the Revolutionary Communist League (LCR) and the

Communist Movement The history of communism encompasses a wide variety of ideologies and political movements sharing the core theoretical values of common ownership of wealth, economic enterprise, and property. Most modern forms of communism are grounded at leas ...

(MC) in 1991.

History

Foundation

The merger in 1989 of the respective territorial organizations of the MC and the LCR in the Basque Country; Euskadiko Mugimendu Komunista (EMK) and

Liga Komunista Iraultzailea Revolutionary Communist League (in Spanish: ''Liga Comunista Revolucionaria'' (LCR), in Basque: ''Liga Komunista Iraultzailea'', in Catalan: ''Lliga Comunista Revolucionària'', in Galician: ''Liga Comunista Revolucionaria'') was a political p ...

(LKI), as

Batzarre Batzarre ( en, Assembly) is a political party in Navarre, Spain. It has a branch in the Basque Autonomous Community known as Zutik. It bids to win the political space to the left of the Basque nationalists and the Spanish socialists, the latter ...

Navarre Navarre (; es, Navarra ; eu, Nafarroa ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre ( es, Comunidad Foral de Navarra, links=no ; eu, Nafarroako Foru Komunitatea, links=no ), is a foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, ...

and

Zutik Zutik ( en, Stand up) was a political party in Basque Country, Spain which was dissolved in 2009. Zutik was formed in 1991 through the merger of the EMK and LKI—the Basque branch of LCR. Within Zutik there is a current affiliated to the ...

in the

Basque Autonomous Community The Basque Country (; eu, Euskadi ; es, País Vasco ), also called Basque Autonomous Community ( eu, Euskal Autonomia Erkidegoa, links=no, EAE; es, Comunidad Autónoma del País Vasco, links=no, CAPV), is an autonomous community of Spain. I ...

, led to calls for a rethinking of the new conditions for unity between the two parties. Finally, an agreed was reached in March 1991 to the unification of the two groups, which was made effective in November 1991. The new organization had a joint leadership of 50 members from the LCR and 50 from the MC.Nace Izquierda Alternativa, resultado de la unificación del MC y la Liga Comunista. El País, 4 NOV 1991.
/ref> IA had a confederal structure, being formed by the following confederated organizations: * Liberación in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), an ...

* Revolta in

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the no ...

and the

Valencian Country The Valencian Community ( ca-valencia, Comunitat Valenciana, es, Comunidad Valenciana) is an autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish autonomous community after Andalusia, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid with ...

* Alternative Action in

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a "historical nationality". The ...

Inzar Inzar was a political group created with the union of the Communist Movement of Galicia Communist Movement of Galicia ( Galician: ''Movemento Comunista de Galiza'', ''MCG'') was a communist political party created in Galicia during the last yea ...

Galiza Galicia (; gl, Galicia or ; es, Galicia}; pt, Galiza) is an autonomous community of Spain and historic nationality under Spanish law. Located in the northwest Iberian Peninsula, it includes the provinces of A Coruña, Lugo, Ourense, ...

Lliberación Communist Movement of Asturias (in Asturian: ''Movimientu Comunista d'Asturies''. MCA) was the federated political party of the Communist Movement (MC) in Asturias. The MCA was founded in 1976. Ideology Originally the MCA was a Maoist party, ins ...

Asturies Asturias (, ; ast, Asturies ), officially the Principality of Asturias ( es, Principado de Asturias; ast, Principáu d'Asturies; Galician-Asturian: ''Principao d'Asturias''), is an autonomous community in northwest Spain. It is coextensive ...

in the

* Liberazión in

Aragón Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to sout ...

Dissolution

IA had a very short life because of the different "styles", culture and political objectives that existed in the two parties. The MC sector planned to evolve to a "non-political party" social collective, that would push for society self-organization, while the LCR defended a classic political party project. Also, the former members of the LCR feared being swallowed by the larger MC. Finally, Alternative Left split into two nationwide: the LCR group stayed with the name, later to integrate with

Jaime Pastor Jaime is a common Spanish and Portuguese male given name for Jacob (name), James (name), Jamie, or Jacques. In Occitania Jacobus became ''Jacome'' and later ''Jacme''. In east Spain, ''Jacme'' became ''Jaime'', in Aragon it became ''Chaime'', and i ...

as their main leader, in the United Left in November 1993 (though in the process of infighting the organization lost up to a third of its membership) and the MC group stayed with the name of some of the territorial organizations of IA. The merger, however, survived in

Asturias Asturias (, ; ast, Asturies ), officially the Principality of Asturias ( es, Principado de Asturias; ast, Principáu d'Asturies; Galician-Asturian: ''Principao d'Asturias''), is an autonomous community in northwest Spain. It is coextensi ...

(dissolved in 2010), in

with the name of

(integrated into the BNG and dissolved in 2012), in the Basque Country as

(dissolved in 2011), and in

(integrated in

Izquierda-Ezkerra __NOTOC__ Izquierda-Ezkerra (I-E) is a coalition in the constituency of Navarre, Spain. It was established in January 2011 after Batzarre split from the Nafarroa Bai coalition. Batzarre accepted United Left of Navarre's call to form a coalition ...

References

{{reflist * Martí Caussa: ''Historia de la LCR (1970-1991)''. Editorial Viento Sur,

. 2014. Political parties established in 1991 Political parties disestablished in 1993 Defunct communist parties in Spain 1991 establishments in Spain Republican parties in Spain