Workers' Party of Marxist Unification
Encyclopedia
The Workers' Party of Marxist Unification was a Spanish
communist
political party
formed during the Second Republic
and mainly active around the Spanish Civil War
. It was formed by the fusion of the Trotskyist
Communist Left of Spain
(Izquierda Comunista de España, ICE) and the Workers and Peasants' Bloc
(BOC, affiliated with the Right Opposition
) against the will of Leon Trotsky
, with whom the former broke. The writer George Orwell
served with the party and witnessed the Stalinist repression of the movement, which would form his anti-totalitarian ideas in later life.
by the revolutionaries Andreu Nin
and Joaquín Maurín
. The two were heavily influenced by the thinking of Leon Trotsky
, particularly his Permanent Revolution
thesis. It resulted from the merging of the Trotskyist
Communist Left of Spain
and the Workers and Peasants' Bloc
against the wishes of Trotsky, with whom the former broke.
and the Valencian Country, where the Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia
(PSUC) represented the PCE. The POUM was highly critical of the Popular Front
strategy advocated by Joseph Stalin
and the Comintern
; nevertheless, it participated in the Spanish Popular Front initiated by Manuel Azaña
, leader of Acción Republicana
. The POUM attempted to implement some of its radical policies as part of the Popular Front government, but they were resisted by the more centrist factions.
George Orwell
, who fought with the POUM in the civil war, reports that its membership was roughly 10,000 in July 1936, 70,000 in December 1936, and 40,000 in June 1937, although he notes that the numbers are from POUM sources and are probably exaggerated.
) by the Communists, resulted in actual fighting between their supporters; most notably, in 1937, a primarily-Communist coalition of government forces attacked the POUM during the Barcelona May Days
. While the larger CNT
initially supported the POUM, its more militant members—such as Juan García Oliver
and the Friends of Durruti—were pushed towards conciliation by the moderate leadership. This left the POUM, along with the purely Trotskyist Seccion Bolshevik-Leninista, isolated, and both organizations were driven underground. Nin was detained and tortured to death by NKVD
agents in Madrid
, and his party consistently labeled as provocateur
in Stalinist propaganda
.
Unlike the other leftist parties of the Popular Front, the POUM was never reconstituted during or after the Spanish transition to democracy
.
of the Second International
and the pro-Moscow orientation of the Third International. Other members included the Independent Labour Party
in Britain, the Workers and Peasants' Socialist Party
(PSOP) in France, and Poale Zion
. Its youth wing was affiliated to the International Bureau of Revolutionary Youth Organizations
, through which it recruited the ILP Contingent
in the Civil War. Foreign supporters of POUM during the Civil War included Lois Orr
.
author George Orwell
fought alongside members
of the Independent Labour Party
as part of POUM militias; he recounted the experience in his book Homage to Catalonia
. Likewise, the film Land and Freedom
, directed by Ken Loach
, tells of a group of POUM soldiers fighting in the war from the perspective of a British member of the British Communist Party
. In particular, the film deals with his disillusionment with the Soviet Union
's policies in the war.
The POUM is briefly mentioned in Joe Haldeman
's science fiction novel The Forever War
as a militia where "(y)ou obeyed an order only after it had been explained in detail; you could refuse if it didn't make sense."
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
communist
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
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...
formed during the Second Republic
Second Spanish Republic
The Second Spanish Republic was the government of Spain between April 14 1931, and its destruction by a military rebellion, led by General Francisco Franco....
and mainly active around the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
. It was formed by the fusion of the Trotskyist
Trotskyism
Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism as advocated by Leon Trotsky. Trotsky considered himself an orthodox Marxist and Bolshevik-Leninist, arguing for the establishment of a vanguard party of the working-class...
Communist Left of Spain
Communist Left of Spain
Communist Left of Spain was a Trotskyist political party during the Second Spanish Republic. Its central leader was Andres Nin, who had been a supporter of the Left Opposition while living in Russia...
(Izquierda Comunista de España, ICE) and the Workers and Peasants' Bloc
Workers and Peasants' Bloc
The Workers and Peasants' Bloc was a "Right Opposition" communist group in Spain. BOC was founded in Barcelona in 1931, as the mass front of the Catalan-Balearic Communist Federation , after the merger of the Catalan Communist Party into FCCB...
(BOC, affiliated with the Right Opposition
Right Opposition
The Right Opposition was the name given to the tendency made up of Nikolai Bukharin, Alexei Rykov, Mikhail Tomsky and their supporters within the Soviet Union in the late 1920s...
) against the will of Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky , born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein, was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and theorist, Soviet politician, and the founder and first leader of the Red Army....
, with whom the former broke. The writer George Orwell
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...
served with the party and witnessed the Stalinist repression of the movement, which would form his anti-totalitarian ideas in later life.
Formation
In 1935, POUM was formed as a communist opposition to StalinismStalinism
Stalinism refers to the ideology that Joseph Stalin conceived and implemented in the Soviet Union, and is generally considered a branch of Marxist–Leninist ideology but considered by some historians to be a significant deviation from this philosophy...
by the revolutionaries Andreu Nin
Andrés Nin
Andreu Nin i Pérez was a Spanish Communist revolutionary.- Early life :...
and Joaquín Maurín
Joaquín Maurín
Joaquín Maurín Juliá was a Spanish Communist politician and revolutionary, leader of the Workers and Peasants Bloc and of the Workers' Party of Marxist Unification...
. The two were heavily influenced by the thinking of Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky , born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein, was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and theorist, Soviet politician, and the founder and first leader of the Red Army....
, particularly his Permanent Revolution
Permanent Revolution
Permanent revolution is a term within Marxist theory, established in usage by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels by at least 1850 but which has since become most closely associated with Leon Trotsky. The use of the term by different theorists is not identical...
thesis. It resulted from the merging of the Trotskyist
Trotskyism
Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism as advocated by Leon Trotsky. Trotsky considered himself an orthodox Marxist and Bolshevik-Leninist, arguing for the establishment of a vanguard party of the working-class...
Communist Left of Spain
Communist Left of Spain
Communist Left of Spain was a Trotskyist political party during the Second Spanish Republic. Its central leader was Andres Nin, who had been a supporter of the Left Opposition while living in Russia...
and the Workers and Peasants' Bloc
Workers and Peasants' Bloc
The Workers and Peasants' Bloc was a "Right Opposition" communist group in Spain. BOC was founded in Barcelona in 1931, as the mass front of the Catalan-Balearic Communist Federation , after the merger of the Catalan Communist Party into FCCB...
against the wishes of Trotsky, with whom the former broke.
Position
The party grew larger than the official Communist Party of Spain (PCE) both nationally and in the communist hotbeds of CataloniaCatalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
and the Valencian Country, where the Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia
Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia
The Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia , was formed on July 23, 1936 through the unification of four left-wing groups; the Catalan Federation of Spanish Socialist Workers' Party , the Partit Comunista de Catalunya , the Unió Socialista de Catalunya and the...
(PSUC) represented the PCE. The POUM was highly critical of the Popular Front
Popular front
A popular front is a broad coalition of different political groupings, often made up of leftists and centrists. Being very broad, they can sometimes include centrist and liberal forces as well as socialist and communist groups...
strategy advocated by Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
and the Comintern
Comintern
The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...
; nevertheless, it participated in the Spanish Popular Front initiated by Manuel Azaña
Manuel Azaña
Manuel Azaña Díaz was a Spanish politician. He was the first Prime Minister of the Second Spanish Republic , and later served again as Prime Minister , and then as the second and last President of the Republic . The Spanish Civil War broke out while he was President...
, leader of Acción Republicana
Acción Republicana
Republican Action was a Spanish left-wing republican party between 1930 and 1939.The AR was founded in 1925 under the name Acción Política by Manuel Azaña and José Giral. Political Action became a political party in 1930 under the name Republican Action...
. The POUM attempted to implement some of its radical policies as part of the Popular Front government, but they were resisted by the more centrist factions.
George Orwell
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...
, who fought with the POUM in the civil war, reports that its membership was roughly 10,000 in July 1936, 70,000 in December 1936, and 40,000 in June 1937, although he notes that the numbers are from POUM sources and are probably exaggerated.
Conflict with the Popular Front
The POUM's independent communist position, including opposition to Stalin, caused huge ruptures with the PCE, which remained fiercely loyal to the Comintern. Moreover, these divisions, which included accusations of Trotskyism (and even FascismFascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
) by the Communists, resulted in actual fighting between their supporters; most notably, in 1937, a primarily-Communist coalition of government forces attacked the POUM during the Barcelona May Days
Barcelona May Days
Barcelona May Days were a period of civil violence in Catalonia, between May 3 and May 8, 1937, when factions on the Republican side of the Spanish Civil War engaged each other in street battles in the city of Barcelona.Clashes began when units of the Assault Guard – under the...
. While the larger CNT
Confederación Nacional del Trabajo
The Confederación Nacional del Trabajo is a Spanish confederation of anarcho-syndicalist labor unions affiliated with the International Workers Association . When working with the latter group it is also known as CNT-AIT...
initially supported the POUM, its more militant members—such as Juan García Oliver
Juan García Oliver
Juan García Oliver was a Spanish Anarcho-syndicalist revolutionary, and a leading figure of Anarchism in Spain....
and the Friends of Durruti—were pushed towards conciliation by the moderate leadership. This left the POUM, along with the purely Trotskyist Seccion Bolshevik-Leninista, isolated, and both organizations were driven underground. Nin was detained and tortured to death by NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
agents in Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
, and his party consistently labeled as provocateur
Agent provocateur
Traditionally, an agent provocateur is a person employed by the police or other entity to act undercover to entice or provoke another person to commit an illegal act...
in Stalinist propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
.
Unlike the other leftist parties of the Popular Front, the POUM was never reconstituted during or after the Spanish transition to democracy
Spanish transition to democracy
The Spanish transition to democracy was the era when Spain moved from the dictatorship of Francisco Franco to a liberal democratic state. The transition is usually said to have begun with Franco’s death on 20 November 1975, while its completion has been variously said to be marked by the Spanish...
.
International links
The POUM was a member of the "London Bureau" of socialist parties that rejected both the reformismReformism
Reformism is the belief that gradual democratic changes in a society can ultimately change a society's fundamental economic relations and political structures...
of the Second International
Second International
The Second International , the original Socialist International, was an organization of socialist and labour parties formed in Paris on July 14, 1889. At the Paris meeting delegations from 20 countries participated...
and the pro-Moscow orientation of the Third International. Other members included the Independent Labour Party
Independent Labour Party
The Independent Labour Party was a socialist political party in Britain established in 1893. The ILP was affiliated to the Labour Party from 1906 to 1932, when it voted to leave...
in Britain, the Workers and Peasants' Socialist Party
Workers and Peasants' Socialist Party
The Workers and Peasants' Socialist Party was an ephemeral socialist organisation in France, formed on June 8, 1938 by Marceau Pivert...
(PSOP) in France, and Poale Zion
Poale Zion
Poale Zion was a Movement of Marxist Zionist Jewish workers circles founded in various cities of the Russian Empire about the turn of the century after the Bund rejected Zionism in 1901.-Formation and early years:Poale Zion parties and organisations were started across the Jewish diaspora in the...
. Its youth wing was affiliated to the International Bureau of Revolutionary Youth Organizations
International Bureau of Revolutionary Youth Organizations
International Bureau of Revolutionary Youth Organizations was an international organization of socialist youth, formed in 1934...
, through which it recruited the ILP Contingent
ILP Contingent
The British Independent Labour Party sent a small contingent to fight in the Spanish Civil War. The contingent fought with the Workers' Party of Marxist Unification and included George Orwell, who subsequently wrote about his experiences in his widely-read account Homage to Catalonia.-Contingent...
in the Civil War. Foreign supporters of POUM during the Civil War included Lois Orr
Lois Orr
Lois Orr , also known as Louise Cusick, Lois Cusick and Lois Curter, born in the Jewish hospital in Louisville, Kentucky, lived in Barcelona during the Spanish Civil War, where she was a member of the Workers' Party of Marxist Unification female militia...
.
Cultural references
BritishBritish people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
author George Orwell
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...
fought alongside members
ILP Contingent
The British Independent Labour Party sent a small contingent to fight in the Spanish Civil War. The contingent fought with the Workers' Party of Marxist Unification and included George Orwell, who subsequently wrote about his experiences in his widely-read account Homage to Catalonia.-Contingent...
of the Independent Labour Party
Independent Labour Party
The Independent Labour Party was a socialist political party in Britain established in 1893. The ILP was affiliated to the Labour Party from 1906 to 1932, when it voted to leave...
as part of POUM militias; he recounted the experience in his book Homage to Catalonia
Homage to Catalonia
Homage to Catalonia is political journalist and novelist George Orwell's personal account of his experiences and observations in the Spanish Civil War. The first edition was published in 1938. The book was not published in the United States until February 1952. The American edition had a preface...
. Likewise, the film Land and Freedom
Land and Freedom
Land and Freedom is a 1995 film directed by Ken Loach and written by Jim Allen. The film narrates the story of David Carr, an unemployed worker and member of the Communist Party of Great Britain, who decides to fight for the republican side in the Spanish Civil War...
, directed by Ken Loach
Ken Loach
Kenneth "Ken" Loach is a Palme D'Or winning English film and television director.He is known for his naturalistic, social realist directing style and for his socialist beliefs, which are evident in his film treatment of social issues such as homelessness , labour rights and child abuse at the...
, tells of a group of POUM soldiers fighting in the war from the perspective of a British member of the British Communist Party
Communist Party of Great Britain
The Communist Party of Great Britain was the largest communist party in Great Britain, although it never became a mass party like those in France and Italy. It existed from 1920 to 1991.-Formation:...
. In particular, the film deals with his disillusionment with the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
's policies in the war.
The POUM is briefly mentioned in Joe Haldeman
Joe Haldeman
Joe William Haldeman is an American science fiction author.-Life :Haldeman was born June 9, 1943 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. His family traveled and he lived in Puerto Rico, New Orleans, Washington, D.C., Bethesda, Maryland and Anchorage, Alaska as a child. Haldeman married Mary Gay Potter, known...
's science fiction novel The Forever War
The Forever War
The Forever War is a science fiction novel by American author Joe Haldeman, telling the contemplative story of soldiers fighting an interstellar war between humanity and the enigmatic Tauran species...
as a militia where "(y)ou obeyed an order only after it had been explained in detail; you could refuse if it didn't make sense."
See also
- Iberian Communist YouthIberian Communist YouthIberian Communist Youth was the youth wing of the Iberian Communist Federation, and later of the Workers' Party of Marxist Unification . JCI had its main strength in Catalonia and the Llevant . The 1934 conference of JCI elected Germinal Vidal as the general secretary of JCI...
- Homage to CataloniaHomage to CataloniaHomage to Catalonia is political journalist and novelist George Orwell's personal account of his experiences and observations in the Spanish Civil War. The first edition was published in 1938. The book was not published in the United States until February 1952. The American edition had a preface...
- George OrwellsGeorge OrwellEric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...
book about his time with the POUM
Sources
- The Fundación Andreu Nin has a Spanish-language site containing an extensive collection of documents, biographical notes, and links related to the POUM. English texts include:
- Hernández, Jesús, How the NKVD Framed the POUM. Memoir of PCE minister in Republican Governments of Largo Caballero and Juan NegrínJuan NegrínJuan Negrín y López was a Spanish politician and physician.-Early years:Born in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Negrín came from a religious middle-class family...
. Translated. Excerpted from Yo fui un ministro de Stalin. 339 pages. G. del Toro, Mexico, 1974. ISBN 84-312-0187-8. Reprinted online by What Next? Marxist journal. Retrieved May 11, 2005. - Nin, Andrés, The May Days in Barcelona. Originally published as El significado y alcance de las jornadas de mayo frente a la contrarrevolución. Central Committee of the Partido Obrero de Unificación Marxista (POUM). Retrieved May 11, 2005.
- Nin, Andrés, The Political Situation and the Tasks of the Proletariat. June 1937. Translation by David BeethamDavid BeethamDavid Beetham is a social theorist who has made extensive contributions in the fields of democracy and human rights; including in his approach to the role of not only social but also economic rights.- Career :...
, ed., Marxists in Face of Fascism. Manchester University PressManchester University PressManchester University Press is the university press of the University of Manchester, England and a publisher of academic books and journals. Manchester University Press has developed into an international publisher...
, 1983. ISBN 0-389-20485-4. Retrieved May 11, 2005.