isolated, the left fraction sought to discover allies within the milieu of groups to the left of the trotskyist movement. typically, these discussions came to nothing, but they were able to recruit from the disintegrating ligue des communistes internationalistes (lci) in belgium, a group which had broken from trotskyism. a loose liaison was also maintained with the council communist groups in the netherlands and in particular with the gik. however, these discussions were pushed into the background as the attempted fascist coup in spain led to revolution and civil war.