Workers' Party of Marxist Unification |
The Workers' Party of Marxist Unification (POUM, Partido Obrero de Unificación Marxista) was a Spanish political party around the time of the Spanish Civil War. The party was formed by the fusion of the Trotskyist Left Communists of Spain (ICE) and the Workers and Peasants Bloc (BOC) against the will of
Leon Trotsky, with whom the former broke. They were formed as a Communist party in opposition to Stalinism in 1935 by Andres
Nin and Joaquin Maurin.
They were heavily influenced by the thinking of Leon Trotsky, in particular his Permanent Revolution thesis.
They were larger than the official Communist party in Catalonia and Valencia and highly critical of the Popular Front strategy, but they did take part in the Spanish Popular Front initiated by the leader of Acción Republicana,
Manuel Azaña. The POUM tried to implement some of its radical policies as
part of the Popular Front government but these were resisted by the more moderate factions. This political disagreement
would cause Nin to leave the government.
During the Spanish Civil War the party began to grow in
popularity and alongside the anarchist National Confederation of Workers (CNT) commanded the support of most of the proletariat
in the zone not controlled by the fascists during the war. The British author
George Orwell, a member of the Independent Labour Party fought alongside POUM forces in the civil war, an experience
recounted vividly in his book Homage to
Catalonia.
The POUM's support of Trotsky and opposition to Josef Stalin caused huge
ruptures between them and the Communist Party of
Spain, still unswervingly loyal to the Third International. These divisions
manifested itself in actual fighting between their supporters.
These divisions between the forces supporting the Popular Front allegedly aided Francisco Franco in winning the civil war.
External link
- The Fundación Andreu Nin has a Spanish-language site containing an extensive
collection of documents, biographical notes, and links related to the POUM.
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