The Internationalist Communist Organisation was a Trotskyist political party

Political party

A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...

 in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. Its successor is the Internationalist Communist Current of the Workers Party.

Origins

The group's origins lay in the Internationalist Communist Party

Internationalist Communist Party

The Internationalist Communist Party was a Trotskyist political party in France. It was the name taken by the French Section of the Fourth International from its foundation until a name change in the late 1960s....

 (PCI), the French section of the Fourth International

Fourth International

The Fourth International is the communist international organisation consisting of followers of Leon Trotsky , with the declared dedicated goal of helping the working class bring about socialism...

. In 1952, the Fourth International removed the Central Committee of the PCI, and replaced it with one built around Michele Mestre and Pierre Frank

Pierre Frank

Pierre Frank was a French Trotskyist leader. He served on the secretariat of the Fourth International from 1948 to 1979....

, who were more favourable to the International's policies. This led the majority of the PCI to form a new organisation, also known as the Internationalist Communist Party, and led by Pierre Lambert

Pierre Lambert

Pierre Lambert was a French Trotskyist leader, who, for many years acted as the central leader of the French Courant Communiste Internationaliste which founded the Parti des Travailleurs.He was born in Paris to a family of Russian Jewish immigrants...

 and Marcel Bleibtreu

Marcel Bleibtreu

Marcel Bleibtreu was a French trotskyist activist and theorist.Bleibtreu was born during his family's refuge in Marseille from wartime bombing, Marcel Bleibtreu because a radical thinker as a child. After studies at the lycée Condorcet, he studied medicine in Paris, and graduated in 1947...

.

In 1953, the Fourth International suffered a major split, and the Socialist Workers Party of the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, the British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 group The Club

The Club (Trotskyist)

The Club was a Trotskyist group in the United Kingdom. It operated inside the Labour Party and was the official section of the Fourth International from 1950 until 1953 when, after the FI split, it became part of the International Committee of the Fourth International...

 and some smaller groups forming the International Committee of the Fourth International

International Committee of the Fourth International

The International Committee of the Fourth International is the name of two Trotskyist internationals; one with sections named Socialist Equality Party which publishes the World Socialist Web Site and another linked to the Workers Revolutionary Party in Britain.-Foundation:The International...

, with Lambert's PCI.

The PCI supported the FLN during the Algerian War of Independence

Algerian War of Independence

The Algerian War was a conflict between France and Algerian independence movements from 1954 to 1962, which led to Algeria's gaining its independence from France...

. Disagreements over which faction to support led Lambert to expel Bleibtreu from the PCI in 1955.

Future Prime Minister of France

Prime Minister of France

The Prime Minister of France in the Fifth Republic is the head of government and of the Council of Ministers of France. The head of state is the President of the French Republic...

, Lionel Jospin

Lionel Jospin

Lionel Jospin is a French politician, who served as Prime Minister of France from 1997 to 2002.Jospin was the Socialist Party candidate for President of France in the elections of 1995 and 2002. He was narrowly defeated in the final runoff election by Jacques Chirac in 1995...

, joined the group in 1960 and remained an active member for over ten years.

1960s and 1970s

In 1967, the PCI renamed itself the "Internationalist Communist Organisation". It grew rapidly during the May 1968 student demonstrations, but was banned alongside other far left

Far left

Far left, also known as the revolutionary left, radical left and extreme left are terms which refer to the highest degree of leftist positions among left-wing politics...

 groups, such as the Gauche prolétarienne (Proletarian Left). Members temporarily reconstituted the group as the Trotskyist Organisation, but soon obtained a state order permitting the reformation of the OCI. By 1970, the OCI was able to organise a 10,000-strong youth rally

Demonstration (people)

A demonstration or street protest is action by a mass group or collection of groups of people in favor of a political or other cause; it normally consists of walking in a mass march formation and either beginning with or meeting at a designated endpoint, or rally, to hear speakers.Actions such as...

.http://www.whatnextjournal.co.uk/Pages/Healy/Chap8.html The group also gained a strong base in trade union

Trade union

A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...

s.

The majority of the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) joined the reunified Fourth International

Reunified Fourth International

The Fourth International is a Trotskyist international. In 1963, the majorities of the two public factions of the Fourth International, the International Secretariat and the International Committee, reunited, electing a United Secretariat of the Fourth International...

 in 1963, leaving the OCI and the British Socialist Labour League as the only two sections continuing the ICFI. Despite attempts to expand the ICFI, the two sides developed opposing policies on many issues, including Arab nationalism

Arab nationalism

Arab nationalism is a nationalist ideology celebrating the glories of Arab civilization, the language and literature of the Arabs, calling for rejuvenation and political union in the Arab world...

 - the OCI adopting a dual defeatist position in the Six-Day War

Six-Day War

The Six-Day War , also known as the June War, 1967 Arab-Israeli War, or Third Arab-Israeli War, was fought between June 5 and 10, 1967, by Israel and the neighboring states of Egypt , Jordan, and Syria...

.

The OCI left the ICFI in 1971, the Socialist Labour League accusing it of fetishing Trotsky's Transitional Programme over Marxist theory. It set up a new group, the Organising Committee for the Reconstruction of the Fourth International, with some supporters the following year.

Internationalist Communist Party

In 1981, the OCI again renamed itself as the "Internationalist Communist Party". In 1984, it formed a Movement for a Workers Party, with various independent socialists. However, Stephan Just opposed this new initiative, and was expelled with some supporters. Further splits ensued: in 1986, several hundred members, led by Jean-Christophe Cambadélis

Jean-Christophe Cambadélis

Jean-Christophe Cambadélis is a member of the National Assembly of France. He represents the city of Paris, and is a member of the Socialiste, radical, citoyen et divers gauche.-References:...

, left to join the Socialist Party

Socialist Party (France)

The Socialist Party is a social-democratic political party in France and the largest party of the French centre-left. It is one of the two major contemporary political parties in France, along with the center-right Union for a Popular Movement...

. In 1989, historian Pierre Broué

Pierre Broué

Pierre Broué was a French historian and Trotskyist. His work covers various topics including the history of the Bolshevik Party, the Spanish Revolution and biographical works on Leon Trotsky...

 was expelled, with around one hundred supporters.

Internationalist Communist Current

In 1991, the Movement for a Workers Party declared itself the Workers Party and the Internationalist Communist Party joined it as the Internationalist Communist Current. Dissenting members including Andre Langevin, Pedro Carrasquedo and Alexis Corbière were expelled by 1992, and the Current has since occupied a leading role in the Workers Party. Its central figure is Daniel Gluckstein

Daniel Gluckstein

Daniel Gluckstein is a French Trotskyist politician for running for French presidential election of 2002 as candidate of the Workers' Party .-Biography:...

, although Lambert remained a member until his death in 2008.