Communist Party of Alscia

Communist Party of Alscia Partito Comunista di Alscia
Abbreviation	PCA
Leader	Alessandro Martella
Founded	1908
Dissolved	1939
Succeeded by	Communists (Free Territories)
Ideology	Communism
Political position	Left-wing
Colours	Red

The Communist Party of Alscia (Italian: Partito Comunista di Alscia, abbreviated PCA) was a communist political party in Alscia.

The PCA was the first Gylian communist party to gain representation. Despite Alscia's role as a haven for radicals, the PCA notably failed to benefit from the growing popularity of communism and socialism, being hampered by tactical dilemmas and internal tensions.

History

The PCA was founded in 1908, after the organisation of Alscia as a province of the Cacertian Empire.

It won 1 seat in the Legislative Council in 1908, held by leader Alessandro Martella. It lost the seat in 1912, but regained it in 1916. The win–loss cycle would repeat itself in Legislative Council elections until 1932, earning it the nicknames i quadriennali ("the four-yearlies") and "one-seat wonders". A famous cartoon in The Senik Sun depicted the party preparing a "four-year plan", which turns out to be winning two Council seats.

It was notably more successful in local elections, where it did not trail far behind the SP and SDP, and would cooperate with them in municipal socialist programs.

The weakness of the PCA was largely due to it failing to find a role within Alscian society. Although Alscia was a site of social and intellectual ferment which helped popularise radical ideologies among Gylians, most socialist support was siphoned by the FPP, and the PCA failed to define a clear position either supportive or critical of the "hurried province".

Additionally, the PCA faced strong hostility from several key figures in the Alscian establishment, known as il palazzo. Valentina Potenza and finance minister Letizia Silvestri were among Alscia's vocal anti-communists, and they both agreed that the party would be best marginalised by creating widespread prosperity in Alscia and a welfare state, thus reducing the appeal of communism.

The PCA was strongly opposed to the Megelanese Futurist regime, and in the 1920s became a bitter enemy of the PFA. The PCA physically attacked PFA meetings and disrupted their events. It earned praise from PdL leader Beatrice Albini for its fights against Futurism, despite the two parties' mutual dislike.

The economic crisis that hit the province in the 1930s increased PCA support. It increased its vote at the 1932 and 1936 elections, reaching its peak of 2 seats in the latter. It voted in favour of the Donatella Rossetti government's aggressive stimulus to fight the crisis, but criticised it for not going far enough.

The PFA ceased to exist when Alscia joined the Free Territories in 1939. The majority of its members remained active in Free Territories politics, affiliating with either communists or anarchists, depending on their leanings.

Ideology

The PCA was a communist party. Its minimum programme demanded the strengthening of workers' rights and trade unions, the provision of welfare and social rights, and consoldiation and expansion of democracy in Alscia. Its maximum programme demanded the abolition of capitalism, expropriation of wealth, and workers' control of the economy.

In foreign policy, the party aggressively pushed for destabilisation and destruction of Xevden, aiding and encouraging Gylian rebels. It had ties with the Communist Party of Megelan and the Ruvelkan Socialist Republic.

The PCA suffered from factionalism during its existence, the product of different streams of left-wing thought gathered together in one party. Notable dividing issues included the role of the state, internationalism versus localism, stance towards the Cacertian Empire, and alliances — particularly whether to aim for a united front or popular front.

Broadly, three factions could be identified within the party:

• The left faction. They were left communists, sympathetic towards anarchists, and notably reluctant participants in the "bourgeois" Legislative Council. They emphasised autonomous organisation of the working class, criticised the authoritarianism of Megelanese and Ruvelkan communists, and supported the Free Territories during the Ruvelkan Civil War.
• The centre faction. They were broadly centrist Marxists, supportive of both reformism and revolution as a means to achieve goals. They sought a rapprochement with the SP and SDP, hoping to split the FPP and supplant it with a left-wing alliance.
• The right faction. They were an unstable compromise between socialist reformism and Blanquist tendencies, believing that seizing power and using the power of the state were the best means to achieve communism. They supported the Megelanese communists and the Ruvelkan Socialist Republic, and believed in centralised planning, earning the enmity of the cooperative movement.

Each faction affiliated with different groups in the Free Territories: the left faction with anarcho-communists, the centre faction with moderate socialists, and the right faction with the statist–authoritarian tendency that would later coalesce into the RR.

Symbols

The party used a shade of red as its colour and the symbol of a hammer and sickle inside a red star.

Election results

Legislative Council of Alscia

Election	FPV	%	Seats	±	Government
1908	24.171	7,7%	1 / 70	1	Opposition
1912	25.689	5,5%	0 / 70	1	No seats
1916	30.817	5,0%	1 / 70	1	Opposition
1920	34.960	4,7%	0 / 70	1	No seats
1924	44.006	5,3%	1 / 70	1	Opposition
1928	49.735	5,4%	0 / 70	1	No seats
1932	82.402	7,9%	1 / 70	1	Opposition
1936	96.286	8,4%	2 / 70	1	Opposition

Local elections

Election	FPV	%	Councillors	±
1908	29.449	9,2%	30 / 350	30
1910	36.122	8,8%	31 / 350	1
1912	44.281	9,4%	33 / 350	2
1914	49.924	9,1%	32 / 350	1
1916	59.168	9,6%	46 / 480	14
1918	59.758	9,0%	43 / 480	3
1920	73.288	10,0%	55 / 550	12
1922	82.729	10,4%	57 / 550	2
1924	81.047	9,7%	53 / 550	4
1926	86.708	9,9%	64 / 650	11
1928	86.576	9,4%	61 / 650	3
1930	102.971	10,5%	76 / 720	15
1932	113.812	10,9%	78 / 720	2
1934	124.666	11,4%	82 / 720	4
1936	128.382	11,2%	94 / 840	12
1938	131.726	11,1%	92 / 840	2