A contracorriente. Las disidencias ortodoxas en el comunismo español (1968-1989)

Abstract

Historical studies of the communist movement in Spain have recently experienced a remarkable boom. In the heat of the centenary of the founding (1921) of the Communist Party of Spain (PCE/ Partido Comunista de España), many works have appeared. In addition to synthesizing existing knowledge, these works explore moments and facets of the history of communism in Spain that until recently have been in the background, overshadowed by a largely political focus on certain periods (such as Francoism). The book under review A contracorriente. Las disidencias ortodoxas en el comunismo español (19681989) (Counterflow. Orthodox dissidence in Spanish communism), written by the young researcher Eduardo Abad from northern Spain’s University of Oviedo, is innovative in terms of the subject of study and its methodology. It is also somewhat original in regard to the time period it covers, which goes beyond the usual limit of the Spanish transition to democracy and extends to the collapse of real socialism (something that other recent works have also begun to do). With the exception of a few articles, the most recent books have not focused on the broad constellations of groups which, for various reasons, tried to form a political alternative. I am referring to the various formations that the press of the time grouped together under the label ‘pro-Soviet,’ a definition against which Abad rebels for several reasons that he sets out at length in the introduction. Before analyzing these oppositional groups, Abad informs us that the term pro-Soviet ‘is not adequate to encompass them’ because it undervalues their heterogeneity ‘cornering their identity under the appearance of a simple cliché’ (p. 38). Nor does Abad consider accurate the standard classification that divides pro-Soviets from ‘Leninists’. Abad’s bold break from the standard focus on the ‘official’ party of Spanish communism makes this a necessary work, one better placed to reveal the deeper rifts in Spain’s left political culture. Abad prefers to categorise this conglomerate of groups and parties as ‘orthodox.’ In doing so, Abad takes the baton from studies on political cultures and proposes the hypothesis that the substantial, unifying element of all these groups (born in different political situations, in reaction to different situations and with markedly different militant composition) was the claim to a traditional communist identity. This, from the dissidents’ point of view, was being betrayed by the course of the PCE under the authoritarian leadership of Santiago Carrillo (1960-1982). The orthodox identity would bring together political values, organizational formulations, and militant practices, as well as an insertion into the international communist movement whose main pole was Moscow. However, this would not be the main element, nor would it have the same importance in all cases, since some orthodox groups also took critical positions toward the