Communist Party of Bolivia

(CPB, Partido Comunista de Bolivia), founded in January 1950 by the amalgamation of Communist groups that had previously been part of the petit bourgeois Party of the Leftist Revolution (founded in 1940). The CPB operated underground from 1950 to 1952. In April 1952 the party participated in the popular uprising that overthrew the domination of the oligarchy of large mineowners and feudal lords and initiated the anti-imperialist, democratic revolution. Six party conferences were convened between 1951 and 1954, of which the last, held in June 1954, was the most important for establishing the correct political line and strengthening the party organization. The First Congress, held in La Paz in April 1959, declared the party’s main task to be the completion of anti-imperialist and antifeudal revolutionary transformations and the creation of a democratic government of national liberation, in which the working class would play the leading role. The Second Congress, held in March and April 1964, adopted the Programmatic Declaration and Platform of the Immediate Political Demands of the CPB, emphasizing that realization of the popular anti-imperialist revolution has remained the goal of the Bolivian people.

The CPB exposed the counterrevolutionary nature of the coup d’etat of November 1964. In April 1967 the party was once again outlawed, and only with the accession to power of nationalistic military officers in September 1969 could it operate openly, although the law banning it was not rescinded. The CPB supported the progressive measures of General A. Ovando Candia’s government and, later, those of General J. Torres (from October 1970). The Third Congress of the CPB, held in June 1971, adopted the Programmatic Theses of the CPB, which stressed the need to carry out a popular anti-imperialist revolution with a socialist perspective under the leadership of the working class. The congress drew attention to the threat of a fascist coup. After the overthrow of the Torres government by reactionary military officers in August 1971, the CPB went underground. In November 1971 the party participated with other left organizations in establishing the Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist Front, which proclaimed its goal to be struggle against the dictatorship and for establishment of a people’s government.

Delegations of the CPB have taken part in the International Conferences of Communist and Workers’ Parties held in Moscow in 1957, 1960, and 1969. The CPB approved the documents adopted by these conferences.

The CPB is organized on the principle of democratic centralism. The first secretary of the Central Committee of the CPB is J. Kolle Cueto. The central organ is the weekly newspaper Unidad.