Communist Unification Of Spain
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Communist Unification of Spain ( (''UCE''), ) is a political party in Spain. The group emerged around the publication ''Tribuna Obrera'' in 1968. It was constituted as UCE in 1973. Its ideological line is Marxist-Leninist and
Mao Zedong Thought Maoism, officially Mao Zedong Thought, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed while trying to realize a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of China and later the People's Re ...
.


History

During the
Spanish transition to democracy The Spanish transition to democracy, known in Spain as (; ) or (), is a period of History of Spain, modern Spanish history encompassing the regime change that moved from the Francoist dictatorship to the consolidation of a parliamentary system ...
, UCE was active in a process of unity with the Communist Movement of Spain (MCE). That relationship broke down. At the first UCE congress in 1979, the group decided to put all its efforts into building its own party. In the
1977 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1977. Africa * 1977 Afars and Issas Constituent Assembly election * 1977 Algerian legislative election * 1977 Gambian general election * 1976–1977 Guinea-Bissau legislative election * 1977 Malagasy ...
, UCE supported the
Democratic Left Front The Democratic Left Front was formed as a non-sectarian and non-authoritarian anti-capitalist front in South Africa. It was formed from the ''Conference for a Democratic Left'' launched in 2008, at an event held in Johannesburg in January 2011. It ...
(FDI). From
1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...
to
1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal en ...
(and again from
2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...
to
2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...
), they called for a vote for the
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( , PSOE ) is a Social democracy, social democratic Updated as required.The PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * List of political parties in Spain, political party ...
(PSOE), from
1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...
to
2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...
they called for a vote for United Left (IU), and then for
Union, Progress and Democracy Union, Progress and Democracy ( , UPyD ) was a Spanish list of political parties in Spain, political party founded in September 2007 and dissolved in December 2020. It was a social liberalism, social-liberal party that rejected any form of nation ...
(UPyD) in 2008. In the 2011 Spanish local and regional elections, they ran for elections in 34 municipalities and seven Autonomous regions, obtaining a total of 8,925 votes. They also have a youth organization which is member of Youth Council of the Region of Murcia, Platform of the youth council of Castilla la mancha, Platform of the youth council of Aragon


Publications

UCE publishes and sells a variety of newspapers which it uses to fund its political campaigns: * ''De Verdad'': fortnightly independent newspaper on current political affairs. * ''Foros XXI'': monthly cultural magazine. * '' Chispas'': monthly magazine analysing national and international political events.


Ideology

The UCE defines itself as a proletarian class party, guided by the ideology of Mao. As a communist party, their ultimate goals are to end the exploitation of man by man and to abolish
social classes A social class or social stratum is a grouping of people into a set of hierarchical social categories, the most common being the working class and the capitalist class. Membership of a social class can for example be dependent on education, ...
. Originating in Tribuna Obrera (1968), a political organization guided by Mao Tse-Tung Thought, it was born in the fight against the
Francoist dictatorship Francoist Spain (), also known as the Francoist dictatorship (), or Nationalist Spain () was the period of Spanish history between 1936 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death i ...
, the heat of the revolutionary wave of the 1960s, the liberation struggles in the Third World and the spirit of the
Chinese Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...
. Its main criticism was denouncing what they called Soviet "
social fascism Social fascism was a theory developed by the Communist International (Comintern) in the early 1930s which saw social democracy as a moderate variant of fascism. The Comintern argued that capitalism had entered a Third Period in which proletaria ...
", "
social imperialism As a political term, social imperialism is the political ideology of people, parties, or nations that are, according to Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin, "socialist in words, imperialist in deeds". Some academics use this phrase to refer to governm ...
" and " revisionism". This framework determined its political actions, their foundation being discipline and factual analysis: not resorting to inflammatory verbalism (typical of
demagogic A demagogue (; ; ), or rabble-rouser, is a political leader in a democracy who gains popularity by arousing the common people against elites, especially through oratory that whips up the passions of crowds, appealing to emotion by scapegoat ...
left-wing discourse) while refraining from
idealism Idealism in philosophy, also known as philosophical realism or metaphysical idealism, is the set of metaphysics, metaphysical perspectives asserting that, most fundamentally, reality is equivalent to mind, Spirit (vital essence), spirit, or ...
without falling victim to the demands of
pragmatists Pragmatism is a philosophical tradition that views language and thought as tools for prediction, problem solving, and action, rather than describing, representing, or mirroring reality. Pragmatists contend that most philosophical topics†...
. The party follows the 1937 text Combat Liberalism rejects ideas that only serve to destroy the unity of the working class and weakens the struggle against exploitation. In politics, UCE analyses the global situation and Spanish society, wherein it sees Spain as a relatively weak partner; as a dependent ally of the United States and United Kingdom (the 'natural' enemy of Spain and the European Union) and more recently a reunified Germany. According to UCE, the Anglo-German project supports independentist tendencies to weaken states such as Spain and exercise greater control over them using the
Divide and Conquer The term divide and conquer in politics refers to an entity gaining and maintaining political power by using divisive measures. This includes the exploitation of existing divisions within a political group by its political opponents, and also ...
strategy as espoused by prominent geostrategists like
Zbigniew Brzezinski Zbigniew Kazimierz Brzeziński (, ; March 28, 1928 – May 26, 2017), known as Zbig, was a Polish-American diplomat and political scientist. He served as a counselor to Lyndon B. Johnson from 1966 to 1968 and was Jimmy Carter's National Securi ...
in '' The Grand Chessboard''. It thereby supports the unitary Spanish state and is strongly criticized by Catalan, Basque and Aragonese nationalists. UCE is an independent party, not relying on external financing or government subsidies in accordance with the popular saying "he who pays the piper calls the tune". They therefore rely solely on their membership fees. Despite this apparent isolation they are true to their principle of uniting the working class and ending exploitation, having embarked on several political initiatives, together with other associations.


Political actions

Significant elements of its political action are: * 1973 In the founding of the party, UCE aims to unify the Marxist-Leninist parties; rejecting the revisionist policies of the
Communist Party of Spain The Communist Party of Spain (; PCE) is a communist party that, since 1986, has been part of the United Left coalition, which is currently part of Sumar. Two of its politicians are Spanish government ministers: Yolanda Díaz (Minister of L ...
(PCE) who recognised social-democracy as a means towards obtaining their ends, through political pacts.History of UCE (in Spanish)
* UCE opposed the
Spanish Transition The Spanish transition to democracy, known in Spain as (; ) or (), is a period of History of Spain, modern Spanish history encompassing the regime change that moved from the Francoist dictatorship to the consolidation of a parliamentary system ...
model, that they accused of having been designed by the United States and not by the Spanish people and legitimising the
monarchy A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, reigns as head of state for the rest of their life, or until abdication. The extent of the authority of the monarch may vary from restricted and largely symbolic (constitutio ...
and the exploitation of the proletariat through privatisation and
Capital accumulation Capital accumulation is the dynamic that motivates the pursuit of profit, involving the investment of money or any financial asset with the goal of increasing the initial monetary value of said asset as a financial return whether in the form ...
. * 1976 UCE unites with MCE, FECO and OCE-BR (later attempts with MC, PTE and ORT result in their eventual dissolution) and together they denounce Soviet intervention in
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...
,
South-east Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Australian mainland, which is part of Oceania. Southeast Asia i ...
and
Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...
. * Rejecting the acceptance of Spain into
NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...
and U.S. intervention in Spain: marking the party's policies for six years, under the slogan "NATO No, Referendum Yes. Neither Yankees nor Russians". In 1980, when the minister Marcelino Oreja said that "Spain should set a date and time for NATO", UCE was the first party to begin the campaign against NATO membership by calling on the Spanish people to decide in a referendum. During those six years, UCE collected over 1,300,000 signatures demanding a referendum, denouncing the coup of
23-F A coup d'état was attempted in Spain in February 1981 by elements of the Civil Guard (Spain), Civil Guard and the Spanish Armed Forces, Spanish military. The failure of the coup marked the last serious attempt to revert Spain to a Francoist gov ...
(which saw U.S. involvement). UCE was the victim of a campaign of defamation initiated in 1982 by the Alianza Popular. This was quickly taken up by the pro-Soviet left who favoured Russian intervention, calling UCE "CIA agents" and a "destructive sect" reminiscent of
McCarthyism McCarthyism is a political practice defined by the political repression and persecution of left-wing individuals and a Fear mongering, campaign spreading fear of communist and Soviet influence on American institutions and of Soviet espionage i ...
* In the fight against keeping the U.S. military bases in Spain, UCE wrote the first manifesto signed by more than a thousand intellectuals, professionals, writers and artists. * Against the "Anglo-German" axis. According to UCE, both countries had usurped Spain's development and industries since the industrial revolution, this unofficial boycott thus forced Spain to join the
EEC The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organisation created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...
. UCE demanded that the sovereign powers of England and Germany be decided by the EU. * The general strike of 14 December 1988, against the "decretazo" rejecting the latest labour reforms. * Against the
Gulf War , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...
, 1990 where UCE claim that
Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein (28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician and revolutionary who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 1979 until Saddam Hussein statue destruction, his overthrow in 2003 during the 2003 invasion of Ira ...
had been supported by the USA to contain the
Iranian Revolution The Iranian Revolution (, ), also known as the 1979 Revolution, or the Islamic Revolution of 1979 (, ) was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1979. The revolution led to the replacement of the Impe ...
was "taught a lesson" to the recently weakened Russia. They called upon the socialist government of
Felipe Gonzalez Felipe is the Spanish variant of the name Philip, which derives from the Greek adjective ''Philippos'' "friend of horses". Felipe is also widely used in Portuguese-speaking Brazil alongside Filipe, the form commonly used in Portugal. Noteworthy ...
to return the Spanish frigates from the Gulf. * 1991: Against the populist Corcuera law (also known as "kick the door down law") which gave police the right to enter suspects' homes without a warrant. This was later overturned by the Constitutional Court. * From 1992, the party proposes the formation of "a government of progress and democracy" with the immediate objective of regenerating the public sphere in an attempt to bring dignity to political life through a substantial change in national policy and the need for fairness and honesty: for full economic and political sovereignty, for the expansion of democratic freedoms and the re-industrialization of Spain. Thus supporting the vote for Izquierda Unida on the grounds that the fall of the erlin Wallallowed for a widespread and popular alternative to the pro-US policy and pro-oligarchic PSOE-PP governments. * Against the
Yugoslav wars The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related#Naimark, Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and Insurgency, insurgencies that took place from 1991 to 2001 in what had been the Socialist Federal Republic of ...
. * For the proclamation of a parliament and independence later with Spain's Celtic brothers: Scotland and Wales. * Ban on a parliament and independence for the Goth nation of England, which would be divided into regions. * In 2001, immediately after the
September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...
, in line with
Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American professor and public intellectual known for his work in linguistics, political activism, and social criticism. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is also a ...
they denounced the policy of "global terrorist dictatorship" of the United States. * After the murder of Miguel Angel Blanco, UCE accused the Basque leaders of being a Nazi-fascist "regime" that attempted to impose "independentism" on the Basque Country and breaking up Spain to the benefit of the Basque bourgeoisie and international ruling elites. * In the Spanish general election of 2008, they supported Unión, Progreso y Democracia and
Citizens Citizenship is a membership and allegiance to a sovereign state. Though citizenship is often conflated with nationality in today's English-speaking world, international law does not usually use the term ''citizenship'' to refer to nationality; ...
(in Catalonia), describing them as "useful votes". This showed a certain shift in their line: a
bipartisan Bipartisanship, sometimes referred to as nonpartisanship, is a political situation, usually in the context of a two-party system (especially those of the United States and some other western countries), in which opposing Political party, politica ...
Spain favoured the imperialist elite insofar as that as long as there was no real political opposition, Germany and the USA had a pliant and malleable ally in Spain. * They stood for the 2009 European Parliament elections and published a new manifesto with their electoral program, focused on the
crisis A crisis (: crises; : critical) is any event or period that will lead to an unstable and dangerous situation affecting an individual, group, or all of society. Crises are negative changes in the human or environmental affairs, especially when ...
. Wherein they proposed setting a
minimum wage A minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers can legally pay their employees—the price floor below which employees may not sell their labor. List of countries by minimum wage, Most countries had introduced minimum wage legislation b ...
of 1,000 euros a month and a maximum salary of 10,000 and a progressive tax system with taxes of between 0% and 90% to aid to small businesses and families through the
Instituto de Crédito Oficial The Official Credit Institute (; ICO) is a Spanish lending institution. Its functions include funding investment projects and the assistance for the liquidity needs of Spanish companies. It also operates as State Financial Agency. A successor to ...
. * They supported the 2010 General Strike against the labour reforms and government budget cuts in infrastructure and education, research and development, a freeze in public worker and pensioners' pay as imposed by Europe and the USA to reduce the
budget deficit Within the budgetary process, deficit spending is the amount by which spending exceeds revenue over a particular period of time, also called simply deficit, or budget deficit, the opposite of budget surplus. The term may be applied to the budg ...
during the
Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of market decline in economies around the world that occurred from late 2007 to mid-2009.
. * In 2011, they launched their latest campaign calling for a referendum. The UCE hopes to unify the Spanish populace because 80% of the population is against extending the age of retirement from 65 to 67 and changing the calculation for the pensions. * They ran for the
2011 Spanish local and regional elections The 2011 Spanish regional elections were held on Sunday, 22 May 2011, to elect the regional parliaments of thirteen of the seventeen autonomous communities—Aragon, Asturias, the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, Cantabria, Castile and Leà ...
with their electoral program, focused on the call for a referendum on the pension reforms and
wealth redistribution Redistribution of income and wealth is the transfer of income and wealth (including physical property) from some individuals to others through a social mechanism such as taxation, welfare, public services, land reform, monetary policies, confi ...
. * They last ran for the
2011 Spanish general election A General elections in Spain, general election was held in Spain on Sunday, 20 November 2011, to elect the members of the 10th . All 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies were up for election, as well as 208 of 266 seats in the Senate of Spain, ...
, in all of Spain's 52 provinces. UCE is the only party (without current parliamentary representation) that managed to run in all provinces without forming a coalition. Their
election program A manifesto is a written declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the issuer, be it an individual, group, political party, or government. A manifesto can accept a previously published opinion or public consensus, but many prominent ...
is based on Wealth redistribution, Extending the democratic process and Defending national sovereignty."Sí podemos. Sí hay alternativa"
Publicado el 4 October 2011
* Since 2014, they ran for the Spanish general election as a member from
Zero Cuts Zero Cuts () is a Spanish eco-socialist political party, initially founded as a group of electors, formed to contest the 2014 European Parliament election. Subsequently, it has contested the 2015 and 2016 general elections together with The Green ...


Election results

UCE has sporadically run for elections since the 1980s, with results oscillating between 3,000 and 50,000 votes. It has never managed to obtain parliamentary or council representation. In the last municipal elections UCE ran for 35
town hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...
s in May 2011. They obtained a total of 5,218 votes, the closest being in Vera de Moncayo (1.88%) In the autonomic elections of May 2011, they were present in 7
communities A community is a Level of analysis, social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place (geography), place, set of Norm (social), norms, culture, religion, values, Convention (norm), customs, or Ide ...
, obtaining their best result in the
Province of Soria Soria is a Province (Spain), province of central Spain, in the eastern part of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile-Leon, Castile and León. Most of the province is in the mountainous Sistema Ibérico area. Demo ...
multiplying by 31.2 with respect to the 2009 European Parliament elections (0.37%) with a total of 3,707 votes. In the general elections of November 2011, they obtained their best result in the
Province of Lugo Lugo is a province (Spain), province of northwestern Spain, in the northeastern part of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia. It is bordered by the provinces of Ourense Province, Ourense, Ponteved ...
multiplying by 32.7 with respect to the 2009 European elections (0.27%) with a total of 588 votes. Source
Ministerio del Interior – Elecciones Generales 2011


References


External links



*
De Verdad
' website {{Authority control 1968 establishments in Spain Far-left politics in Spain International Conference of Marxist–Leninist Parties and Organizations (International Newsletter) Political parties established in 1968 Republican parties in Spain Maoist organizations in Spain