Martinique Communist Party

(MCP; Parti Communiste Martiniquais), formed organizationally in September 1957 at the first congress on the basis of the Martinique Federation of the French Communist Party. By the beginning of the 1960’s the MCP had become the largest party in Martinique. In 1971 the party was governing four municipalities on the island, and in 1973 four general councillors out of 36 were Communists. The MCP draws its support from mass organizations, including the General Confederation of Labor of Martinique, the Martinique Communist Youth League, and the Martinique Women’s League. The MCP does much work among the peasant population.

The MCP program documents, based on the specific conditions of the historical development of Martinique, consider the party’s immediate task to be the creation of a broad anti-imperialist front to struggle for autonomy, with the goal to establish on Martinique “a democratic authority that is subject to the control of the masses, with the preservation of economic and cultural ties with France.”

MCP delegations participated in the international conferences of Communist and workers’ parties held in Moscow in 1960 and 1969, the documents of which were approved at plenums of the Central Committee of the MCP.

The MCP is structured according to the principle of democratic centralism. The highest body is the congress. The Central Committee and the general secretary are elected at the congress. The Central Committee plenum elects the Politburo of the Central Committee of the MCP and the Secretariat of the Central Committee, which manage the party’s activities in the intervals between congresses. The general secretary of the Central Committee of the MCP is A. Nicolas. The central organ is the weekly newspaper Justice, and the theoretical organ is the journal Action.