In 1972 a series of FAC militants were captured and tortured. A major section of the movement went into exile, first to Andorra and the Catalan region of France, and later to Brussels. In exile the organization oriented itself towards the left, adopted Marxism-Leninism as its ideology and proclaimed its objective to form a Communist Party of Catalonia. These changes were confirmed at the First Conference of FAC, held in Brussels 1973. FAC started publishing Catalunya Roja. In 1974 the group Revolutionary Left joined FAC.
The armed operations of FAC were then carried out by a 'Special Organisation' (Organització Especial). In 1975 FAC again suffered a wave of detention and captures. Part of the organisation formed the Catalan Revolutionary Movement (MRC) in 1975, to mobilise popular and legal support to the struggle of FAC. By 1977 both FAC and MRC had ceased to exist.