Communist Party of Spain

The Communist Party of Spain (Spanish: Partido Comunista de España; PCE) is a political party in Spain that is part of the United Left coalition, which is currently also part of the electoral alliance Sumar. Two of its politicians are ministers in the current government of Pedro Sánchez: Yolanda Díaz (Minister of Labour and Social Economy) and Sira Rego (Minister of Youth and Children).

The PCE was founded by 1921, after a split in the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (Spanish: Partido Socialista Obrero Español; PSOE). The PCE was founded by those who opposed the social democratic wing of the PSOE, because the social democrat wing did not support the PSOE's integration in the Communist International founded by Vladimir Lenin two years prior. The PCE was a merger of the Spanish Communist Party and the Spanish Communist Workers' Party. The PCE was first legalized after the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic in April 1931. The republic was the first democratic regime in the history of Spain. The PCE gained much support in the months before the Spanish coup of July 1936, which marked the beginning of the Spanish Civil War, and it was a major force during the war as well. The Republicans lost, and Franco established a military dictatorship, under which the PCE was one of the most heavily repressed parties, with specific laws banning communist parties, among others.