Maoism in the Developed World

The fifth Maoist-oriented party in Spain, the Communist Party of Unification (Partido Comunista de Unification—PCU) was established after the death of Franco, in July 1976. It was organized as the result of a unity conference of two other groups, Class Struggle (Lucha de Clases), with a base in Barcelona and Menorca, and Long March Towards the Socialist Revolution (Larga Marcha Hacia la Revolution Socialista), which had units in Aragon, the Basque country and Madrid. Then in October 1976, another group, Labor Information Communist Organization (Organization Comunista Information Obrera), based in Galicia, joined the PCU.

In an official statement concerning its nature and organization published in 1977, the PCU said that “The PCU bases its policy on the teachings given the proletariat by the great leaders of the world labor movement: Marx, Engels, Lenin and Mao, fundamental pillars of the revolutionary theory of the workers, seeking to apply them to the problems of the revolution in Spain. This does not mean to say that the PCU doesn’t look at and study with attention many other glorious leaders of the world labor movement.”[483]

Later in this same statement the PCU said that “The PCU starts also from the idea that the class struggle continues in socialism, as is demonstrated by the degeneration of the USSR, where there has been restored a new power which is not that of the working class. The Chinese revolution, which is the most advanced world socialist experience, is the example for all peoples where have been launched and will be launched important battles against the reactionary danger.”[484]

The PCU declared its support for the “unification with the Marxist-Leninists who still are divided in different parties. This process will culminate with the creation of a true Revolutionary Communist Party, which today does not exist, since the PCE and the PSUC are in fact revisionist parties.”[485]

The PCU claimed to have groups in Aragon, Catalonia, the Basque country, Galicia, Madrid, Menorca, Navarre and La Rioja. It published a review, Unidad, as the organ of its Central Committee, and had separate publications in Catalonia, Galicia, Navarre and the Basque country, Aragon, and Menorca. In July 1976, at the time the PCU was established, there also was formed the Communist Youth of Unification (Juventudes Comunistas de Unificacion).[486]

The Union of Marxist-Leninist Struggle (ULML)

Finally, mention should be made of a sixth Maoist-oriented group that existed in the early 1980s and had some relationship with the Revolutionary Communist Party of the United States. This was the Union of Marxist-Leninist Struggle (Unidn de Lucha Marxista-Leninista).

Both in 1981 and 1982, the ULML sent messages to the Revolutionary Communist Party concerning May Day events in Spain. That of 1982 proclaimed that the hold of the “revisionism and reformism” of the Socialists and the PCE on the Spanish workers was declining, as was that of “groups of the ‘revisionist far left.’” It lamented the “absence of a Marxist-Leninist party,” which resulted in the workers “becoming inactive and confused.”

The seat of the Union de Lucha Marxista-Leninista was indicated to be Madrid. But there was no indication whether the organization was established in any other part of Spain.[487]

Conclusion

In the 1960s and 1970s, a considerable variety of organizations appeared in Spain that claimed to adhere to Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tse-tung Thought. None of these seems to have an appreciable influence in the organized labor movement—either in the Socialist-controlled Union General de Trabajadores, or the PCE-dominated Comisiones Obreras, or the regional Solidaridad de Trabaj adores Vascos in the Basque country. Nor did any of them make any appreciable mark on the general politics of Spain in the last phase of the Franco regime or in the post-Franco era. Only two of these groups, the Communist Party of Spain (Marxist-Leninist) and the Revolutionary Organization of Workers, were reported to have any direct relationship with the Chinese Communist Party.

Swiss Maoism

The Swiss Communist Party was outlawed during World War II. When it was allowed to reappear openly in Swiss politics, it took the name Swiss Labor Party. It remained loyal to the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, although there were some pro-Chinese elements within it, and as late as 1968 it was reported that “The Party still suffers to some extent from the internal doctrinal disputes, primarily ones arising out of the Sino-Soviet quarrel.”[488] It took a strong stand on the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968.[489]