Communist Action (, ) was a

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

organisation in Spain founded in exile in 1964, during the

Francoist State Francoist Spain (), also known as the Francoist dictatorship (), or Nationalist Spain () was the period of History of Spain, Spanish history between 1936 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . ...

. The organisation produced a

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

entitled ''Acción Comunista''. Among its members were

Carlos Semprún Carlos Semprún Maura (23 November 1926, Madrid – 23 March 2009, Paris) was a Spanish writer, playwright and journalist, mainly working in the French language. Biography The son of the Spanish politician, writer and diplomat José María ...

and José Antonio Ubierna. In 1970 AC came in contact with workerist organizations like UHP and CRAS (Comunas Revolucionarias de Acción Socialista).Borque López, Leonardo. «Las Comunas Revolucionarias de Acción Socialista (CRAS)», en Un sendero de lucha: José Luis García Rúa en la Academia de Cura Sama, Gesto y CRAS. Llibros del Pexe, Xixón, 2002. In 1976 some of its members, especially in

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

, joined the

POUM The Workers' Party of Marxist Unification (, POUM; , POUM) was a Spanish communist party formed during the Second Spanish Republic, Second Republic and mainly active around the Spanish Civil War. It was formed by the fusion of the Trotskyism, Tro ...

. AC was legalized in Spain in 1977. In the first democratic elections AC participated in the

Front for Workers' Unity Front for Workers' Unity (, FUT) was a Spanish party alliance formed to contest the 1977 general election by the Revolutionary Communist League (LCR), Communist Action (AC), Organization of Communist Left (OIC) and Workers' Party of Marxist U ...

, with the Revolutionary Communist League (LCR), the

Organization of Communist Left Organization of Communist Left (in Spanish: ''Organización de Izquierda Comunista'', in Basque: ''Ezker Komunista Erakundea'', in Catalan: ''Organització d'Esquerra Comunista'', in Galician: ''Organización de Esquerda Comunista'', OIC) was a ...

(OIC) and the

. After an unsuccessful process of merger with the

, AC held a congress of self-dissolution in 1978.

Ideology

Communist Action was influenced by the

English-speaking The English-speaking world comprises the 88 countries and territories in which English is an official, administrative, or cultural language. In the early 2000s, between one and two billion people spoke English, making it the largest language ...

New Left The New Left was a broad political movement that emerged from the counterculture of the 1960s and continued through the 1970s. It consisted of activists in the Western world who, in reaction to the era's liberal establishment, campaigned for freer ...

, specially by the American ''Studies on the Left'' and the British ''

New Left Review The ''New Left Review'' is a British bimonthly journal, established in 1960, which analyses international politics, the global economy, social theory, and cultural topics from a leftist perspective. History Background As part of the emergin ...

''. AC didn't practice

democratic centralism Democratic centralism is the organisational principle of most communist parties, in which decisions are made by a process of vigorous and open debate amongst party membership, and are subsequently binding upon all members of the party. The co ...

and was influenced by Situationism,

Council communism Council communism or councilism is a current of communism, communist thought that emerged in the 1920s. Inspired by the German Revolution of 1918–1919, November Revolution, council communism was opposed to state socialism and advocated wor ...

and

Luxemburgism Rosa Luxemburg ( ; ; ; born Rozalia Luksenburg; 5 March 1871 – 15 January 1919) was a Polish and naturalised-German revolutionary and Marxist theorist. She was a key figure of the socialist movements in Poland and Germany in the early 20t ...

. Among the most relevant authors for AC there were:

Clara Zetkin Clara Zetkin (; ; ''née'' Eißner ; 5 July 1857 – 20 June 1933) was a German Marxist theorist, communist activist, and advocate for women's rights. Until 1917, she was active in the Social Democratic Party of Germany. She then joined the Inde ...

Rosa Luxemburg Rosa Luxemburg ( ; ; ; born Rozalia Luksenburg; 5 March 1871 – 15 January 1919) was a Polish and naturalised-German revolutionary and Marxist theorist. She was a key figure of the socialist movements in Poland and Germany in the early 20t ...

Otto Rühle Karl Heinrich Otto Rühle (; 23 October 1874 – 24 June 1943) was a German Marxist active in opposition to both the First World War, First and Second World Wars as well as a Council communism, council communist theorist. Early years Otto was ...

Andreu Nin Andreu Nin i Pérez (; 4 February 1892 – 20 June 1937) was a Spanish politician, trade unionist and translator. He is mainly known for his role in various Spanish left-wing movements of the early 20th century and, later, for his role in the S ...

Alexandra Kollontai Alexandra Mikhailovna Kollontai (; , ; – 9 March 1952) was a Russian revolutionary, politician, diplomat and Marxist theoretician. Serving as the People's Commissar for Welfare in Vladimir Lenin's government in 1917–1918, she was a highl ...

Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky,; ; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky'' was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, and political theorist. He was a key figure ...

, Joaquim Maurín,

Karl Korsch Karl Korsch (; August 15, 1886 – October 21, 1961) was a German Marxist theoretician and political philosopher. He is recognized as one of the "dissidents" that challenged the Marxism of the Second International of Karl Kautsky, Georgi Plekhan ...

Paul Mattick Paul Mattick Sr. (March 13, 1904 – February 7, 1981) was a German-American Marxist political writer, activist, and theorist, associated with the council communist movement. Throughout his life, Mattick was critical of capitalism, Bolshevism ...

Anton Pannekoek Antonie "Anton" Pannekoek (; 2 January 1873 – 28 April 1960) was a Dutch astronomer, historian, philosopher, Marxist theorist, and socialist revolutionary. He was one of the main theorists of council communism (). Early life Anton was born ...

Claude Lefort Claude Lefort (; ; 21 April 1924 – 3 October 2010) was a French philosopher and activist. He was politically active by 1942 under the influence of his tutor, the phenomenologist Maurice Merleau-Ponty (whose posthumous publications Lefort lat ...

Cornelius Castoriadis Cornelius Castoriadis (; 11 March 1922 – 26 December 1997) was a Greeks in France, Greek-FrenchMemos 2014, p. 18: "he was ... granted full French citizenship in 1970." philosopher, sociologist, social critic, economist, psychoanalyst, au ...

Guy Debord Guy-Ernest Debord (; ; 28 December 1931 – 30 November 1994) was a French Marxist theorist, philosopher, filmmaker, critic of work, member of the Letterist International, founder of a Letterist faction, and founding member of the Situat ...

, etc. AC was a rather eclectic party, that did not aspire to be the vanguard party of the

working class The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...

, nor its "point of reference", but was a supporter of ideas like "workers' democracy" and "self-management socialism". There were rigid criteria for the selection of aspiring militants and it was necessary to go through an initiation process to be able to belong to the association.

References

* Carrillo Linares, Antonio. ''Subversivos y malditos en la Universidad de Sevilla (1965-1977).'' Centro de Estudios Andaluces,

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

, 2008. pp. 244–246, 326-327, 419, etc. Defunct communist parties in Spain Anti-Francoism Libertarian socialist parties Left communist organizations {{Spain-party-stub