Puerto Rican Communist Party
The Puerto Rican Communist Party (in Spanish: Partido Comunista Puertorriqueño, PCP) was a communist party in Puerto Rico founded on 23 September 1934[2] following the sugar strikes on the island that same year. Relevant members include General Secretary Alberto E. Sánchez, president Juan Santos Rivera, and Jose A. Lanauze Rolón. The party emerged out of a turbulent political moment where faith in previous workers parties and organizations, such as the Socialist Party and the Free Federation of Workers, was waning and the Puerto Rican economy was experiencing a downturn. While membership remained small, the PCP interacted and influenced the labor and political space of mid-20th century Puerto Rico as well as political spaces outside of the island. These interactions include those with the Popular Democratic Party, The Communist Party of the United States of America, and the Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico.
Puerto Rican Communist Party Partido Comunista Puertorriqueño | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Founded | 23 September 1934[1] |
| Dissolved | 1991 |
| Newspaper | Lucha Obrera ("Workers' Struggle") |
| Ideology | Communism Anti-imperialism Puerto Rican independence |
| Political position | Far-left |
| Colors | Red |
Political context
The PCP emerges following various worker and student led general strikes in 1934 and 1935.[3]
In conjunction with the mid-1930s labor movements, the formation of the PCP was also internationally influenced. The Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA) was supportive of the PCP's founding with additional support from the Communist Party of Cuba (CPC).[3] Indeed, there was a substantial interconnectedness between the CPUSA, Puerto Rican Communists in New York's Lower Manhattan, and the PCP.[3]
Political agenda, strategies, and relations with other political groups
The PCP utilized their newspaper periodical Lucha Obrera (Worker's Struggle) in order to communicate their agendas and messages to the public. The paper was brief, however, it served to document the PCP's ongoing movements and objectives.[3]
References
- Las políticas poblacionales en Puerto Rico: Cinco Años de Dominación Colonial. Arnaldo Torres Degró. Ph.D. Thesis. Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Facultad de Filosofía. Madrid, Spain. 2004. p. 325. Accessed 3 May 2022. Archived.
- Las políticas poblacionales en Puerto Rico: Cinco Años de Dominación Colonial. Arnaldo Torres Degró. Ph.D. Thesis. Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Facultad de Filosofía. Madrid, Spain. 2004. p. 325. Accessed 3 May 2022. Archived.
- Stevens, Margaret (2017). Red International and Black Caribbean: Communists in New York City, Mexico and the West Indies, 1919-1939. 233, 235-236: Pluto Press.
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External links
- The case of Puerto Rico: memorandum to the United Nations by the Communist Party of Puerto Rico. Foster, William Z. 1881-1961 (intro) New York, New Century Publishers, 1953
- Ayala, C.J.; Bernabe, R. (2009). Puerto Rico in the American Century: A History since 1898. University of North Carolina Press. p. 16. ISBN 978-0-8078-9553-5. Retrieved 4 January 2020.
