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The Revolutionary Left Party (Spanish: Partido de la Izquierda Revolucionaria, PIR) was a communist party in Bolivia. It was founded by Dr. José Antonio Arze and other Bolivian intellectuals on 26 July 1940 during a left-wing congress held in Oruro.

The PIR was sympathetic to the Communist International, but did not become an affiliate to the International. The PIR began to organize the country's miners, but it did so cautiously for fear that strikes would hinder supplies for the Allies during World War II. Except for the pro-Axis Gualberto Villarroel, the PIR generally supported all of Bolivia's war-time presidents to assure the nation remained an Allied power. Because of the party's hesitation to engage in domestic issues, it lost much of its working-class support to the Revolutionary Nationalist Movement (MNR) and the Revolutionary Workers' Party (POR).

In 1950, a section of the PIR membership broke away and founded the Communist Party of Bolivia (PCB). By the 1960s, the PCB had to a large extent replaced the PIR. Following the military coup in 1964, the PIR went underground and disintegrated into warring factions. A reconstituted PIR emerged in the late 1970s as a puppet party of the dictator Hugo Banzer. In 1979, it dissolved into Banzer's new Nationalist Democratic Action (ADN).

References

1. REJECTED LOYALTY (PDF). Departamento de Historia, Universidad de Santiago de Chile. 2017.

Sources

• Jerry W. Knudson, The Impact of the Catavi Mine Massacre of 1942 on Bolivian Politics and Public Opinion. In: The Americas, Vol. 26, No. 3 (January 1970), 254-276.
• Herbert S. Klein, A Concise History of Bolivia (Cambridge University Press, 2003). ISBN 0-521-80782-4

v t e Political parties and alliances in Bolivia
Legislative caucuses	Movement for Socialism Civic Community Creemos
National parties	Bolivian National Action Christian Democratic Front for Victory Movement for Socialism Nationalist Democratic Action National Unity Front Revolutionary Left Front Revolutionary Nationalist Movement Social Democratic Movement Solidarity Civic Unity Third System Movement
Defunct major parties	Constitutional Conservative Liberal Republican Genuine Republican Nationalist United Socialist Republican Socialist Unity Authentic Revolutionary Popular Christian Movement Left-wing Revolutionary Nationalist Movement Revolutionary Left Movement Conscience of Fatherland New Republican Force
Defunct major alliances	Socialist Single Front Concordance Front of the Bolivian Revolution Democratic and Popular Union National Civic Union Revolutionary Nationalist Left Revolutionary Nationalist Movement–Alliance Patriotic Accord Social Democratic Power National Convergence Democratic Unity

• 1940 establishments in Bolivia
• 1979 disestablishments in Bolivia
• Communist parties in Bolivia
• Defunct political parties in Bolivia
• Political parties disestablished in 1979
• Political parties established in 1940