The Spanish Communist Party and the democratic sensitization of Andalusian rural population during the sixties

Abstract

We analyze the PCE ground work in Andalusian countryside and the impact of comunist discourses during the sixties, standing out its role as one of the main propellers of collective mobilization and Andalusian rural society’s democratic empowerment. We pay attention to the way that the Spanish comunists achieved that the discourse about the land reform and the «the land to the tiller discourse» slogan were assumed by a relevant number of rural workers affected by Francoist agricultural policies in Andalusia. On the other hand, we realise that this discourse also influenced the pro-democratic trade union organizations and the rural workers union created during this time. In the end, all of this contributed to the communal set up of a collective identity where there was a clear distinction between an «us» and a «they» to confront and oposse. All of this was essential for the construction of a global democratic identity within a strong opposition against francoism, capable of bringing the requirements of very diverse sectors of society.