Angolan Communist Party (in Portuguese

Portuguese language

Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...

: Partido Comunista Angolano) was an underground political party

Political party

A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...

 in Portuguese Angola (during the Estado Novo regime), founded in October 1955, under influence from the Portuguese Communist Party

Portuguese Communist Party

The Portuguese Communist Party is a major left-wing political party in Portugal. It is a Marxist-Leninist party, and its organization is based upon democratic centralism. The party also considers itself to be patriotic and internationalist....

. PCA was led by the brothers Mário Pinto de Andrade

Mário Pinto de Andrade

Mário Coelho Pinto de Andrade was an Angolan poet and politician.He was born in Golungo-Alto, in Portuguese Angola, and studied philology at the University of Lisbon and sociology at the Sorbonne in Paris...

 and Joaquim Pinto de Andrade

Joaquim Pinto de Andrade

Joaquim Pinto de Andrade served as the first honorary President of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola , Chancellor of the Luanda Archdiocese, and as a member of the African Society of Culture. He died on February 23, 2008 following a long illness, the same day as fellow MPLA...

 (a catholic

Catholic

The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...

 priest). PCA set up clandestine schools and libraries in Luanda

Luanda

Luanda, formerly named São Paulo da Assunção de Loanda, is the capital and largest city of Angola. Located on Angola's coast with the Atlantic Ocean, Luanda is both Angola's chief seaport and its administrative center. It has a population of at least 5 million...

, and established branches in Catete

Catete

Catete is a small town and commune in northern Angola not far from the capital Luanda.-Transport:It is served by a railway station on the Luanda Railways.Catete is the major graveyard for old steam locomotives on the northern line.The station is here....

 and Malanje

Malanje

Malanje is the capital city of Malanje Province in Angola with a population of approximately 222,000. Nearby is the spectacular Calandula waterfalls, 85 km from the city. These falls are 105 metres high and their great width makes them the main tourist attraction in the region. It is a...

.

In December 1956 it merged into the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola

Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola

The People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola - Labour Party is a political party that has ruled Angola since the country's independence from Portugal in 1975...

(MPLA).