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 and transmission link for radical ideologies to Gylians, 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".

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, which included leader Alessandro Martella. 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	16.920	7,7%	1 / 70	1	Opposition
1912	17.983	5,5%	0 / 70	1	Extra-parliamentary
1916	21.572	5,0%	1 / 70	1	Opposition
1920	24.472	4,7%	0 / 70	1	Extra-parliamentary
1924	30.804	5,3%	1 / 70	1	Opposition
1928	34.815	5,4%	0 / 70	1	Extra-parliamentary
1932	57.681	7,9%	1 / 70	1	Opposition
1936	67.400	8,4%	2 / 70	1	Opposition

Local elections

Election	FPV	%	Councillors	±
1908	20.614	9,2%	22 / 240	22
1910	25.285	8,8%	31 / 350	9
1912	30.997	9,4%	33 / 350	2
1914	34.947	9,1%	32 / 350	1
1916	41.418	9,6%	46 / 480	14
1918	41.830	9,0%	43 / 480	3
1920	51.301	10,0%	55 / 550	12
1922	58.120	10,4%	57 / 550	2
1924	56.733	9,7%	53 / 550	4
1926	60.695	9,9%	64 / 650	11
1928	60.603	9,4%	61 / 650	3
1930	72.080	10,5%	76 / 720	15
1932	79.668	10,9%	78 / 720	2
1934	87.198	11,4%	82 / 720	4
1936	89.867	11,2%	94 / 840	12
1938	91.378	11,0%	92 / 840	2