Revolutionary Action Party

Revolutionary Action Party (Partido Acción Revolucionaria, or PAR) was a leftist political party in Guatemala during the ten-year Guatemalan Revolution. PAR was formed in November 1945 through the merger of two parties that had brought President Arévalo to power, the National Renovation Party (PRN) and the Popular Liberation Front (FPL). Leaders of the party included Jose Manuel Fortuny, Victor Manuel Gutierrez, and Augusto Charnaud McDonald. The PAR assumed the status of the government party, but it was more a series of coalitions than a tightly organized party. In 1947 it broke apart and the FPL emerged from the schism as a distinct entity once again. In the presidential election of 1950 PAR supported the candidacy of Jacobo Árbenz who won the election. In 1951-1954 PAR was the main force of the government coalition. In 1951 Augusto Charnaud McDonald and Jose Manuel Fortuny left the party to establish the Socialist Party, (PS). The PAR then joined the FPL, National Renovation Party and Socialist Party in creating the Party of the Guatemalan Revolution (PRG) in 1952 to support Jacobo Arbenz's agrarian reform program, but it later withdrew. It disbanded after the coup d'état of 1954.

Bibliography

• Alexander, Robert J. Political parties of the Americas : Canada, Latin America, and the West Indies. Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 1982.
• Berger, Susan A. Political and agrarian development in Guatemala. Westview Press (Boulder), 1992.
• A case history of communist penetration: Guatemala. by United States Department of State. Office of Public Services (Washington), 1957.