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Popular Unity Herri Batasuna | |
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| Founded | 27 April 1978 (1978-04-27) (as electoral coalition) 5 June 1986 (1986-06-05) (as political party) |
| Dissolved | 23 May 2001 (2001-05-23) |
| Merger of | Euskal Sozialista Biltzarrea Langile Abertzale Iraultzaileen Alderdia Herri Alderdi Sozialista Iraultzailea Eusko Abertzale Ekintza Abertzale Sozialista Komiteak |
| Merged into | Euskal Herritarrok |
| Headquarters | C/ Astarloa, nº 8-1º,Bilbao |
| Newspaper | Herria Eginez |
| Youth wing | Jarrai |
| Affiliated union | Langile Abertzaleen Batzordeak |
| Ideology | Marxism-Leninism[1] Basque nationalism Revolutionary socialism Abertzale Left Left-wing nationalism Basque independence Anti-capitalism |
| Political position | Far-left[2] |
| Party flag | |
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Herri Batasuna (Basque pronunciation:[eˈribaˌtas̺uˈna]; English:Popular Unity;HB) was afar-leftBasque nationalist coalition inSpain. It was founded in 1978 and defined itself asabertzale,left-wing,socialist, and supported the independence of theGreater Basque Country. It was refounded asBatasuna in 2001 and subsequently outlawed by the SpanishSupreme Court for being considered the political wing of the separatist groupEuskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA).
Herri Batasuna was founded in April 1978 as a coalition of leftist nationalist political groups initially brought together to advocate for "No" in thereferendum to be held that year on theSpanish constitution.
Its constituent parties had been called together by senior Basque nationalistTelesforo de Monzón in a 1978 meeting called "The table ofAlsasua". Herri Batasuna's founding convention was held inLekeitio, home ofSantiago Brouard, who was then the leader ofHASI (Herriko Alderdi Sozialista Iraultzailea or Revolutionary Socialist People's Party). The party won 150,000 votes in the Basque Country (15%) and 22,000 additional votes in Navarre (9%) in its firstSpanish general election in March 1979. Thus, they won three seats in the Spanish Parliament, which they did not occupy. The same happened in 1980 in thefirst elections to the Basque Parliament, in which HB stood as a second political force, with 151,636 votes (16.55%), winning 11 seats. Its absence allowed aBNP-only Basque government led byCarlos Garaikoetxea. On 20 November 1984, Brouard was assassinated by two members of theGAL. The killing is perhaps[citation needed] the only one performed by the GALdeath squad within Spain itself.
Another well-known Herri Batasuna leader,Josu Muguruza, was also killed by members of the neo-fascistBases Autónomas in 1989, while he was in a hotel inMadrid. He was a congressman in the Spanish Parliament when he was assassinated.
Since its foundation, Herri Batasuna ran for every election in the Basque Country and in Navarre, as well as in Spanish general elections (from 1979 to 1996) and the European elections of 1987, 1989 and 1994. In the2000 Spanish general election, it supported abstention. In the elections held from 1998 to 2001, it was part of the coalitionEuskal Herritarrok.
Herri Batasunarefused to participate in many of the institutions where it won seats, with the exception of local town halls.
Year | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | 172,110 | 0.96 | 3 / 350 | 1 / 208 |
| 1982 | 210,601 | 1.00 | 2 / 350 | 0 / 350 |
| 1986 | 231,722 | 1.15 | 5 / 350 | 1 / 208 |
| 1989 | 217,278 | 1.06 | 4 / 350 | 3 / 208 |
| 1993 | 206,876 | 0.88 | 2 / 350 | 0 / 208 |
| 1996 | 181,304 | 0.72 | 2 / 350 | 0 / 208 |
By 1982 ETA's political wing, ETA politico-militar (ETA p-m), had been replaced by the "United People's Party" (Herri Batasuna, HB), formed from other political parties and political associations.13 Its principles were oriented toward a Marxist– Leninist philosophy seeking better employment rights for all Basque workers.
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