ETA and Basque Nationalism: Origins During the Franco Era

Origins of ETA and Basque Nationalism

Nearly the entire leadership of Euzko Ikasle Alkartasuna (EIA), a clandestine student group, was arrested in 1954. The remaining members of the group didn't want to make the same mistakes they had made during the late 1940s.

At the same time, the clandestine network of the Euzko Alderdi Jeltzalea (EAJ-PNV) had been severely weakened, leaving a number of young activists to organize their own activities independently of established groups.

The Formation of Ekin and Intellectual Roots

During 1951, a group of young people—some of whom had been active in EIA—began meeting on an informal basis in Bilbao for secret discussions in Basque about common interests and Basque culture in general. The group began to take on a more formal organization, with each member concentrating his efforts on researching one particular field of Basque history and culture. The results of these efforts were then published in an internal newsletter by the name Ekin.

Between 1951 and 1953, the group (now named EKIN) dedicated itself to the intellectual investigation and publication of Basque historical and cultural information. They began seeking independence and distanced themselves from the self-determination policy and general inaction of the EAJ-PNV.

Organizational Growth and the Split from EAJ-PNV

In 1953, EKIN counted two cells, representing Biscay and Gipuzkoa. The purpose of the group was to:

• Serve as an educational organization aimed at diffusing Basque language, history, and culture, plus information about contemporary intellectual and political developments.
• Propose the creation of a truly clandestine Basque Nationalist political organization (avoiding the mistake of EIA).

From 1953 onward, with a growing affiliation, they began to attract the attention of the EAJ-PNV and established a dialogue. In Gipuzkoa, a close relationship formed between Ekin and Eusko Gaztedi (EG), the youth wing of the EAJ-PNV. They unified in 1956 as Eusko Gaztedi del Interior (EGI).

Industrial Unrest and the Birth of ETA

In 1956, more industrial protests gripped the Spanish state, and again the capitals staged much of the action. In mid-April, workers in Pamplona began a strike that spread to both Gipuzkoa and Biscay. To the former Ekin members now in EGI, the industrial unrest of the Basque Country confirmed the need to build up ties to working-class organizations in order to foment a social revolution, but their rhetoric was too extreme for the EAJ-PNV leadership.

In 1957, EGI met with the party leadership in its Parisian exile to resolve differences between the youth wing and the main party. The meeting was a disaster. Some members of the youth organization followed the path charted by Ekin, not that of the EAJ-PNV. Further problems appeared, and a second meeting was held in Paris in the spring of 1958, but it was unsuccessful. EGI divided into those still loyal to the EAJ-PNV and those who followed Ekin's ideology. Both factions continued to use the acronym EGI until, in 1959, the Ekin-inspired group came up with a new name: Euzkadi ta Askatasuna (ETA).