Women in the Communist Party of Spain

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Women in the Communist Party of Spain were highly active, the most visible figure in the movement being Dolores Ibárruri, who joined in its early years. The Dictatorship of Primo de Rivera pushed the group underground, where they had to meet clandestinely around their public face, the football club Oriente FC.

The birth of the Second Republic in 1931 saw a new era in Spain, where women were welcomed en masse into the public sphere, receiving voting rights, the ability to divorce and increased access to education.  The first elections in 1931 saw the PCE kept out of Congress, though communist sympathizer Margarita Nelken y Mansbergen did win a seat representing the PSOE.  She went on to win re-election in 1933, and PCE won a single seat in Congress.

In 1935 PCE embraced the Popular Front line, seeking to unite all anti-fascist forces under a single umbrella. Dolores Ibárruri's prominence grew in this period, as she increasingly became the face of the party, winning a seat in the 1936 elections.  PCE's strategy towards women in the Second Republic was largely to address their needs primarily as a tool to grow membership. The 1934 Asturian Miners' Strike saw women's profile grow larger. With women's parallel participation in violence, the male PCE leadership tried to discourage women from the more militant aspects of the party.

During the Spanish Civil War, Spanish and international communist women served on the front lines and on the home front, rising to leadership positions within militia forces. However, male communist leaders tended want them away from the front lines and tried to make clear internationally that female combatants should not come to Spain. Behind Nationalist lines, Communist affiliated women were executed or sent to prison. They were also raped, forced to drink castor oil, had their heads shaved and forced to march through towns as punishment.

The post Civil War period of Francoist Spain saw many Communist women go into exile, while early in this period the PCE maintained its status as the most important leftist political organization.  Women were involved behind the scenes, organizing covert armed resistance, bombing Guardia Civil positions, robbing banks and attacking offices of Falanage.