Foundation and clandestinity The LCR was founded in 1971 by members of the Catalan group
Communisme, a split of the
Popular Liberation Front (PLF or Felipe). It was the Spanish section of the
Fourth International (post-reunification), one of the fractions of the
Trotskyist Fourth International. The LCR had the purpose of being a
revolutionary party that rejected
class collaboration and advocated a model of territorial organization based in a
confederation of republics, recognizing of the right of
self-determination for all the peoples of
Spain. In 1972 the LCR suffered a split called
Communist League (LC), which joined the LCR again in 1978. In 1973 it merged with a split of
ETA after VI Assembly called for that very
ETA-VI: the majority of the members of that organization,
revolutionary communists, decided to abandon
armed struggle as a way of fighting against the
Francoist State and decided to seek unity with similar groups in the rest of Spain. With this union the LCR gained presence in the
Basque Country, which until then the LCR had not just presence, using the name of LCR-ETA (VI).
Transition The death of
caudillo Francisco Franco, and partly because of the difficulty of explaining outside the
Basque Country that reference to
ETA, LCR-ETA (VI) changed again its name to LCR. A new independent, but fraternal, organization was founded in the
Basque Country with the name of
Liga Komunista Iraultzailea (LKI). The first meeting of LKI, held in
Arantzazu, in 1977 and still in clandestinity, ended with the arrest of all the assembly (150 people), although shortly after the arrest they were released and the party began to be tolerated. After the
first democratic elections, legalized. In that elections the LCR supported the
Front for Workers' Unity (FUT), that gained 41,208 votes (0.22%). One of the militants LKI in those years was
Germán Rodriguez, which was murdered by the
Spanish police in
Pamplona on July 8, in the incidents of the . The following years the LCR supported several local electoral platforms, although in the mid and late 1980s the party generally campaigned in favor of
abstention. Thus, in 1978 in
Valencia, the LCR supported the
United Left of the Valencian Country (EUPV) along with the
Communist Movement of the
Valencian Country, and
nationalist groups, such as
Valencian People's Union. In 1980 the LCR supported
Unity for Socialism for the
autonomic elections in Catalonia, and in 1982 again in Catalonia, supported the
Communist Front of Catalonia to the
Spanish general elections.
Unity with the Communist Movement and ideological changes In the
Basque Country,
Liga Komunista Iraultzailea,
Langile Abertzale Iraultzaileen Alderdia and Nueva Izquierda formed the coalition
Auzolan, which also received support from the
EMK. The LCR-MC unit had great importance in the Spanish politics of the 1980s, as they were some of the main promoters of the mobilizations against the
NATO (through the Anti-NATO Commission and the Civic Platform) and later against the US bases in
Spain, in the trial of the
GAL, in the
insubordinate movement against the compulsory military service, in the development of the
feminist movement or even the first manifestations of the
gay pride day. Both groups campaigned for
Herri Batasuna (HB) outside of the
Basque Country in the
elections to the European Parliament of 1987. Collaboration with
HB was not without tensions, as both organizations were very critical of the methods of
ETA.
HB finally gained a seat in Brussels.
Dissolution In 1991
MC merged with LCR and formed
Alternative Left (
Izquierda Alternativa), which had a brief existence. ==References==