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The '''Revolutionary Communist Party''' was a British [[Trotskyist]] group, formed in 1944 and active until 1949, which published the newspaper ''Socialist Appeal'' and a theoretical journal, ''Workers International News''.<ref>{{cite news|last=Wade|first=Bob|title=Ted Grant: Trotskyite behind the Militant Tendency's infiltration of the Labour party|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2006/jul/27/guardianobituaries.southafrica|access-date=13 July 2012|newspaper=The Guardian|date=27 July 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Shipley|first=Peter|title=The Militant Tendency: Trotskyism in the Labour Party|year=1983|publisher=Foreign Affairs Publishing Co. Ltd.|location=Richmond|pages=22–23}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Grant|first=Ted|title=A History of British Trotskyism |
The '''Revolutionary Communist Party''' was a British [[Trotskyist]] group, formed in 1944 and active until 1949, which published the newspaper ''Socialist Appeal'' and a theoretical journal, ''Workers International News''.<ref>{{cite news|last=Wade|first=Bob|title=Ted Grant: Trotskyite behind the Militant Tendency's infiltration of the Labour party|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2006/jul/27/guardianobituaries.southafrica|access-date=13 July 2012|newspaper=The Guardian|date=27 July 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Shipley|first=Peter|title=The Militant Tendency: Trotskyism in the Labour Party|year=1983|publisher=Foreign Affairs Publishing Co. Ltd.|location=Richmond|pages=22–23}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Grant |first=Ted |title=A History of British Trotskyism |publisher=Wellred |year=2002 |location=London |pages=107}}</ref> The party was the ancestor of the three main currents of British Trotskyism: [[Gerry Healy]]'s [[Workers Revolutionary Party (UK)|Workers Revolutionary Party]], [[Ted Grant]]'s [[Militant tendency]] and [[Tony Cliff]]'s [[Socialist Workers Party (UK)|Socialist Workers Party]]. |
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==Collapse of the RSL and founding of the RCP== |
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{{Trotskyism}} |
{{Trotskyism}} |
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The party was founded as the official section of the [[Fourth International]] in Britain after the [[Revolutionary Socialist League (UK, 1938)|Revolutionary Socialist League]] collapsed. Moreover, the RSL had not adopted the positions of the Fourth International with regard to the [[Second World War]] and was polemicising against the [[Workers International League (1937)|Workers International League]] (WIL), declaring it to be following politics which it characterised as social patriotic. The positions of the WIL corresponded to those of the Fourth International and the [[Socialist Workers Party (United States)|American SWP]] and as a result the latter decided that the WIL should become the International's British section. |
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In order to draw the WIL into the International, the Americans exerted pressure on the three factions of the RSL to re-unite, after which the re-formed RSL could fuse with the larger WIL. The fused group, which adopted the politics of the majority WIL group, became the Revolutionary Communist Party. The leadership bodies of the new party incorporated leaders of the RSL such as [[Denzil Dean Harber]] and [[John GM Lawrence|John Lawrence]], with the exception of the old RSL [[Left Fraction]] who soon left. |
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==Recruiting methods== |
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The new party maintained an [[entrist]] faction in the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]]. This faction was led by [[Charlie van Gelderen]] and maintained publication of ''The Militant'' as its organ. |
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The main area on which the party concentrated however was the industrial front. This led to recruitment from the Communist Party but more recruits came from direct intervention in the industrial struggles of the war years such as that of the [[Kent Miners' Association|Kent miners]] and the [[Tyneside]] engineering apprentices. This latter dispute led to the RCP receiving the attention of the police as their headquarters in London were raided and a number of leading members were jailed. In furtherance of this industrial work a [[Militant Workers Federation]] was organised by the RCP in conjunction with the Industrial Committee of the [[Independent Labour Party]] and some [[anarchist]]s. |
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During the war the RCP opposed the electoral truce which guaranteed that where parliamentary seats fell vacant they would automatically be filled by another member of the incumbent party. When an opportunity for the RCP to stand occurred, the party stood their leader, [[Jock Haston]], in the [[1945 Neath by-election|Neath by-election of 1945]]. |
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The Left Fraction of the former RSL remained organised within the RCP but were expelled in 1945 and pursued [[entrist]] work in the Labour Party work around the ''Voice of Labour'' newspaper. It broke up in 1950, when most of its members joined the Socialist Fellowship group which was associated with the paper ''[[Socialist Outlook]]''. Other former Left Fraction members revived the group in the early 1960s. |
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==End== |
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In 1947, the party split over the question of [[entrism]] into the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]]. [[Jock Haston]] and [[Ted Grant]] opposed it; [[Gerry Healy]] and [[John G. M. Lawrence|John Lawrence]] formed a faction in favour of it. With the agreement of both groups, the [[International Secretariat of the Fourth International|International Secretariat]] divided the British section and the minority pursued the entry tactic and published the newspaper [[Socialist Outlook]] from 1948. |
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The remaining RCP found existence outside the Labour Party increasingly difficult with the end of wartime militancy. The RCP's membership and influence started to decline. The new regimes in [[Eastern Europe]] caused further debate within the RCP, as they did within the International as a whole. The leadership of the RCP around Haston was more cautious with regard to declaring these new regimes to be [[degenerated workers state]]s than the International's leadership around [[Ernest Mandel]] and [[Michel Pablo]]. |
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A debate developed as to whether the RCP should enter the Labour Party. The majority supported entry. A faction was declared by some supporters of the leadership, which firmly opposed entry. This grouping of RCPers called itself the Open Party Faction and was increasingly disillusioned with the leadership around Jock Haston and Ted Grant whom they thought to be caving in to Healy's entry group, ultimately leading to a decision to dissolve the RCP in 1950 and join the Labour Party. |
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The International then ordered that the members of the RCP join Healy's entry group, known as [[The Club (Trotskyist)|The Club]], but that despite being in a majority they were not able to exercise democratic control of the fused group. Jock Haston immediately dropped out of politics as did much of the remaining leadership. Ted Grant made a decision to join the fused group but was purged by Healy who strongly discouraged dissent. |
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Some of [[Tony Cliff]]'s supporters in [[Birmingham]] were expelled – Cliff himself could not be expelled being resident in [[Dublin]] and therefore beyond Healy's reach – and then when Grant attempted to defend the rights of Cliff's supporters he too was expelled. Cliff would regroup his supporters around the magazine ''[[Socialist Review]]'' and Grant similarly formed a group called the International Socialist Group. Most former members of the RCP had left the Trotskyist movement by the end of 1951. |
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==Members== |
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* [[Jim Allen (playwright)|Jim Allen]] |
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* [[Sam Bornstein]] |
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* [[Maurice Brinton]] |
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* [[Tony Cliff]] |
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* [[Jimmy Deane]] |
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* [[Charlie van Gelderen]] |
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* [[Mildred Gordon (politician)|Mildred Gordon]] |
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* [[Ted Grant]] |
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* [[Duncan Hallas]] |
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* [[Betty Hamilton]] |
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* [[Denzil Dean Harber]] |
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* [[Jock Haston]] |
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* [[Gerry Healy]] |
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* [[Jeanne Hoban]] |
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* [[Bill Hunter (politician)|Bill Hunter]] |
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* [[John Lawrence (political activist)|John Lawrence]] |
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* [[Anil Moonesinghe]] |
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* [[Stan Newens]] |
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* [[T. Dan Smith]] |
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==References== |
==References== |
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{{Reflist}} |
{{Reflist}} |
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Revision as of 12:43, 8 March 2024
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (August 2012) |
Revolutionary Communist Party | |
|---|---|
| Leader | Jock Haston |
| Founded | 1944 |
| Dissolved | 1950 |
| Merger of | Workers' International League Revolutionary Socialist League |
| Succeeded by | Socialist Review Group The Club |
| Ideology | Trotskyism |
| Political position | Far-left |
| International affiliation | Fourth International |
The Revolutionary Communist Party was a British Trotskyist group, formed in 1944 and active until 1949, which published the newspaper Socialist Appeal and a theoretical journal, Workers International News.[1][2][3] The party was the ancestor of the three main currents of British Trotskyism: Gerry Healy's Workers Revolutionary Party, Ted Grant's Militant tendency and Tony Cliff's Socialist Workers Party.
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References
- ^ Wade, Bob (27 July 2006). "Ted Grant: Trotskyite behind the Militant Tendency's infiltration of the Labour party". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 July 2012.
- ^ Shipley, Peter (1983). The Militant Tendency: Trotskyism in the Labour Party. Richmond: Foreign Affairs Publishing Co. Ltd. pp. 22–23.
- ^ Grant, Ted (2002). A History of British Trotskyism. London: Wellred. p. 107.
Further reading
- Upham, Martin, 'The History of British Trotskyism to 1949' (PhD thesis), on the Marxists.org mirror of the Revolutionary History website.
External links
- Archive of the Socialist Appeal, paper of the RCP from Bill Hunter's website
- Crawford, Ted, "HO45/25486: a report on the RCP and the Trotskyist movement", Revolutionary History, May 2003. 'HO 45/25486 seems to be the main source of Special Branch records of RCP and Club activities (up to c. 1954). It is about 1000 pages or so, divided into 24 internal folders.'
