The Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia (, PSUC) was a communist political party active in Catalonia between 1936 and 1997. It was the Catalan branch of the Communist Party of Spain and the only party not from a sovereign state to be a full member of the Third International. History The PSUC was formed on 23 July 1936 through the unification of four left-wing groups; the small Catalan Federation of Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), the Partit Comunista de Catalunya (Communist Party of Catalonia, the Catalan branch of the Communist Party of Spain, PCE), the Unió Socialista de Catalunya (Socialist Union of Catalonia) and the Partit Català Proletari (Proletarian Catalan Party. a Catalan separatist far left party). Burnett Bolloten estimates that at unification, the party numbered some 2,500 members. Nine months later, the party ranks had swollen to 50,000 members. The first leaders of the PSUC were Joan Comorera and Rafael Vidiella, both from the ranks of socialism. Comorera, a former USC leader, was elected general secretary of the new party, and Miquel Valdés, of the PCC, became secretary of the organization. Other leaders or prominent people of the PSUC came from the old PCC, as was the case of Víctor Colomer, Pere Ardiaca, José del Barrio Navarro, Antonio Sesé or Hilari Arlandis. Vidiella, Sesé or Del Barrio also came from the UGT workers union (del Barrio was secretary of the UGT in Catalonia) and a long time ago they had been members of the CNT. The PSUC played a major role during the days of the Second Spanish Republic and the Spanish Civil War, and was the only non-state party affiliated to the Comintern. The PCE did not organize in Catalonia, but saw PSUC as its Catalan referent. This setup has been replicated by other Catalan communist groups. The setup is somewhat similar to the relation between the Christian Democratic Union of Germany and Christian Social Union of Bavaria. The PSUC defended the self-determination of Catalonia in accordance with Lenin's defense of the right of nations to self-determination, but not an explicit independentist position. During the war, the Party took part in the fight against fascism following the slogan of anti-fascist unity, and after the initial veto of the CNT, it participated in the government of the Generalitat de Catalunya with several ministries. It had a conflicting relationship with the large National Confederation of Labour (CNT) and the small