Dissident Communism in Catalonia 1930-1936

Abstract

This thesis traces the history of dissident communism in Catalonia during the years of the Spanish Second Republic. It centres on the ideological, organisational and tactical development of the Bloc Obrer i Camperol (Workers and Peasants Bloc) and, from 1935, the Partido Obrero de Unificacion Marxista (Workers Party of Marxist Unification). It places the dissident communist parties in the context of the turbulent years leading up to the Civil War and the changing fortunes of the Spanish workers movement both in Catalonia and at a national level. In particular, the history of the BOC and POUM is examined in relation both to other tendencies in the region's labour movement - anarcho-syndicalists, socialists and "Official" communists - and to Catalan nationalism. Reference is also made to the Catalan dissident communists' relations with, and ideological differences from, the international communist movement. The principal aspects of the BOC's and POUM's politics - united front and trade union policies, the agrarian and national questions, concept of the revolutionary party and analysis of the threat of fascism - are placed in their overall context. Finally, the analysis underlying their positions - the impossibility of the middle classes or petty bourgeoisie carrying out the final stages of the bourgeois (democratic) revolution, the choice between revolution or counter-revolution - is assessed critically throughout the thesis.