The Spanish revolutionary party that Stalin feared enough to purge from existence

Countries & Cities · Published 3 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Formed in 1935, the POUM was a radical anti-Stalinist communist party that briefly rivaled official communist influence in Catalonia. Caught between the Spanish Civil War and Soviet-backed purges, the group was systematically dismantled, its leaders assassinated, and its history immortalized in literature by George Orwell and others.

The Workers' Party of Marxist Unification, or POUM, emerged in 1935 through the merger of two dissident communist factions: the Trotskyist Communist Left of Spain and the Workers and Peasants' Bloc. Founded by Andreu Nin and Joaquín Maurín, the party rejected the Stalinist orthodoxy of the Soviet Union, favoring a revolutionary path that drew heavily on Leon Trotsky’s permanent revolution thesis. Despite their ideological roots, the party’s formation occurred against Trotsky’s explicit wishes, and he later criticized them for adopting reformist tactics to maintain political relevance.

During the Spanish Civil War, the POUM became a significant force in Catalonia and the Valencian Country, with membership estimates reaching as high as 70,000 by December 1936. However, their refusal to align with the Comintern’s popular front strategy made them a target. The Communist Party of Spain (PCE), loyal to Joseph Stalin, branded the POUM as Trotskyist provocateurs and fascists. This hostility culminated in the 1937 Barcelona May Days, where government forces—backed by Soviet influence—attacked the POUM. The party was subsequently driven underground, and its leader, Andreu Nin, was detained and killed by NKVD agents.

The POUM’s legacy survived largely through its cultural footprint. George Orwell, who fought in a POUM militia, documented the experience in Homage to Catalonia, while the party’s struggle against Stalinist suppression appears in works by authors like William Herrick and Margaret Atwood. Although the party was legalized again in 1977 during Spain's transition to democracy, it failed to regain its former stature. By 1980, its newspaper, La Batalla, ceased publication, and the organization effectively disintegrated, leaving behind the Fundación Andreu Nin to preserve its history.

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