Left Alternative IN early November, 1991, at a time when Madrid was regularly shaken by the screams of sirens announcing the passage of the representatives to the so-called "Peace Conference" on the Middle East, the most representative organizations of the radical left, the Revolutionary Communist League (LCR - formerly the section of the Fourth International in the Spanish state) and the Communist Movement (MC) held their congress of unification. This represented the outcome of a long-standing process of unification and common action. AI CONCO MORO
ALFONSO MORO A FTER the respective congresses of the LCR and the MC had been held, and had discussed and approved the draft resolutions: "Bases of the unification agreement", "On the type of organization that we want to create", "The agreement on the provisional internal regime" and "Faced with the new situation", 400 delegates — elected on a parity basis, 200 for each organization — decided after a day and a half of work that the new organization would bear the name of Left Alternative!.
Given the conditions facing revolutionaries in Europe and at the international level, the constitution of Left Alternative represents a significant step forward. As one of the theses of the document "Bases of the Unification Agreement" puts it: "The current situation of crisis could constitute a stimulant for the renewal of our thought and for advancing in the construction of a more solid anti-capitalist and revolutionary consciousness which responds better to the difficulties of today".
Starting from this observation and aware 22 of the fact that "the revolutionary forces in the Spanish state and in the neighbouring countries are few; that the revolutionary perspective seems to be becoming distant and blurred; the possibilities for leading radical struggles are rare; the number of people who think that militancy retains a sense has decreased and that this affects the quest for a transformation of the social system through collective action", the militants of Left Alternative committed themselves to supporting "the struggle against capitalist exploitation and against all forms of domination and oppression" while fighting "for a revolutionary transformation which will change radically the current unjust political and economic order".
These positions are significant, above all at a time when many so-called left currents are tempted by a gradualist political vision implying a conciliatory attitude towards their governments (in a country like the Spanish state, where the Spanish Socialist Workers Party - PSOE - has governed for some years or, quite simply, adapt themselves to the "least evil" social system, that is, capitalism.
Moreover, the fusion between the LCR and the MC is not the product of a crisis of these two organizations, a last attempt to
International Viewpoint #218 • December 9, 1991