It was formed in 1975, by the remnants of the Organization of Spanish Marxist-Leninists which was dissolved that year. OMLE, which was operating from exile, had been formed through a split in the Communist Party of Spain in the 1968. Following the famous revolts in Paris in 1968, certain groups of leftist Spanish exiles were disappointed with the staunchly pro-Soviet and “frozen” stance of the Spanish Communist Party, the PCE and its leader Santiago Carrillo. This led in September of the same year to the foundation of the Organización de Marxistas Leninistas Españoles in Brussels. In 1974 Organización Obreira, a Galician organization, joined the OMLE. During the following years, this splinter group of Spanish Communists was inspired by ETA’s rise and by the military coup in Portugal that led to the Carnation Revolution. Thus it accumulated a number of sympathizers and well-wishers, especially among left-wing circles in the Spanish youth. Franco’s illness was also interpreted as an omen for a wide-open future and a promise of success for the PCE's ambitions and goals. The OMLE renamed itself “Partido Comunista de España Reconstituido” in June 1975. Two months after Franco’s death, in January 1976, during the Spanish political transition from dictatorship to democracy, the PCE began a "revolutionary struggle" against the political reforms of the newly established monarchy of King Juan Carlos I. In order to carry about its struggle, the PCE restructured itself into different commissions. The party also established various "sectorial organizations", including a student union, a prisoner-support group and an "antirrepresie" organization. Despite its initial successes, the PCE became increasingly a marginal group after certain key-measures were adopted by the transitional Spanish government. Foremost of these were the 1977 amnesty for political prisoners, the democratic normalization, and the growing success of the newly introduced measures adopted by the Spanish police and the Spanish courts to combat terrorism. After the issuing of a new law concerning political parties in 2002, the Spanish authorities severely curtailed the activities of the PCE in 2003. Currently the party is outlawed, although still exists as a clandestine organization. Historically, the strongholds of the party have been Vigo, Cádiz, A Coruña and El Pozo del Tio Raimundo.
Ideology
Originally the party was Maoist, advocating a people's war in Spain. Since the late 1990s the party abandoned Maoism in favour of more classic Marxist-Leninist positions.
