Izquierda Castellana
Encyclopedia
Castile (historical region)
A former kingdom, Castile gradually merged with its neighbours to become the Crown of Castile and later the Kingdom of Spain when united with the Crown of Aragon and the Kingdom of Navarre...
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History
Izquierda Castellana constituted a definitive movement in MadridMadrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
by the year 2002, as a section of Izquierda Comunera, which also included the organizations Unidad Popular Castellana, YESCA (formerly known as Juventudes Castellanas Revolucionarias), Mujeres Castellanas and the Círculo Castellano de Toledo. The Communist Party of the Castilian People (a section of the Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain
Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain
Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain is a communist political party in Spain. PCPE was founded out of the unification of several Marxist-Leninist factions. The youth organization is called the Collectives of Communist Youth.On December 13–15 of 1984 a "Communist Unity Congress" was held...
in the autonomous region of Castilla y León) joined on as part of Izquierda Castellana, but later left the organization. Izquierda Castellana also supports various nationalist movements around the world, such as those in the Basque Country
Basque Country (autonomous community)
The Basque Country is an autonomous community of northern Spain. It includes the Basque provinces of Álava, Biscay and Gipuzkoa, also called Historical Territories....
, Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
or Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, emphasizing a democratic perspective
Perspective (cognitive)
Perspective in theory of cognition is the choice of a context or a reference from which to sense, categorize, measure or codify experience, cohesively forming a coherent belief, typically for comparing with another...
and the sovereignty
Sovereignty
Sovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a geographic area, such as a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make law that rests on a political fact for which no purely legal explanation can be provided...
of the working class
Working class
Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
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Ideology
The goal of Izquierda Castellana is the attainment of what they call a united Castile, overcoming the current division of the Castilian "nation" between five autonomous regions (CantabriaCantabria
Cantabria is a Spanish historical region and autonomous community with Santander as its capital city. It is bordered on the east by the Basque Autonomous Community , on the south by Castile and León , on the west by the Principality of Asturias, and on the north by the Cantabrian Sea.Cantabria...
, Castile and León
Castile and León
Castile and León is an autonomous community in north-western Spain. It was so constituted in 1983 and it comprises the historical regions of León and Old Castile...
, Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
, La Rioja and Castile-La Mancha
Castile-La Mancha
Castile-La Mancha is an autonomous community of Spain. Castile-La Mancha is bordered by Castile and León, Madrid, Aragon, Valencia, Murcia, Andalusia, and Extremadura. It is one of the most sparsely populated of Spain's autonomous communities...
) and a comarca (Requena-Utiel
Requena-Utiel
Requena-Utiel is a comarca currently in the province of Valencia, Valencian Community, Spain. Historically this comarca was part of Castile and formed part of the province of Cuenca in the 1833 provincial division of Javier de Burgos. As such, its inhabitants have been traditionally monolingual in...
in the Valencian Community
Valencian Community
The Valencian Community is an autonomous community of Spain located in central and south-eastern Iberian Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Valencia...
). It emphasizes socialism
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
, sovereignty
Sovereignty
Sovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a geographic area, such as a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make law that rests on a political fact for which no purely legal explanation can be provided...
and republicanism
Republicanism
Republicanism is the ideology of governing a nation as a republic, where the head of state is appointed by means other than heredity, often elections. The exact meaning of republicanism varies depending on the cultural and historical context...
, principles it reaffirms each year on April 23, in a special ceremony in the municipality of Villalar de los Comuneros
Villalar de los Comuneros
Villalar de los Comuneros is a municipality located in the province of Valladolid, Castile and León, Spain. According to the 2004 census , the municipality has a population of 449 inhabitants....
. This day is celebrated by Castilian nationalist
Castilian nationalism
Castilian nationalism, or Castilianism, is a political movement that advocates for the national recognition of Castile, and in some cases, its independence....
organizations such as Izquierda Castellana and Tierra Comunera
Tierra Comunera
Tierra Comunera is a nationalist political party in the Spanish historical region of Castile. It is modelled after the Basque and Catalan nationalist parties but does not advocate full independence for Castile, instead favoring cooperation or unification among what they call the five Castilian...
as the National Day of Castile, but officially it is the festivity of the autonomous region of Castile and León.