Revolutionary Communist Party (UK, 1944)
Encyclopedia
The Revolutionary Communist Party was a British Trotskyist group, formed in 1944 and active until 1949, which published the newspaper Socialist Appeal, a theoretical journal Workers International News and an entrist paper for its Labour Party
work The Militant .
in Britain after the 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 (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 American SWP and as a result the latter decided that the WIL should become the International's British section.
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 Lawrence, with the exception of the old RSL Left Fraction
who soon left.
. This faction was led by Charlie van Gelderen
and maintained publication of The Militant as its organ.
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
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 anarchists.
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 Neath
by-election of 1945.
The Left Faction 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.
. Jock Haston
opposed it; Gerry Healy
and John Lawrence
formed faction which favoured it. With the agreement of both groups, the International Secretariat divided the British section and the minority pursued the entry tactic and published the newspaper Socialist Outlook
from 1948.
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 Intertnational as a whole. The leadership of the RCP around Haston was more cautious with regard to declaring these new regimes to be degenerated workers states than the International's leadership around Ernest Mandel
and Michel Pablo
.
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.
The International then ordered that the members of the RCP join Healy's entry group, known as 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.
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 regrouped 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.
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
work The Militant .
Collapse of the RSL and founding of the RCP
The party was founded as the official section of the Fourth InternationalFourth 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 Britain after the Revolutionary Socialist League
Revolutionary Socialist League (UK, 1938)
The first RSL was formed in early 1938 with the merger of two different parties, the Marxist League led by Harry Wicks and the Marxist Group led by C. L. R. James....
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 (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 American SWP and as a result the latter decided that the WIL should become the International's British section.
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
Denzil Dean Harber
Denzil Dean Harber was an early British Trotskyist leader and later in his life a prominent British ornithologist.Denzil Dean Harber was born at 25 Fairmile Avenue, Streatham on 25 January 1909...
and John Lawrence, with the exception of the old RSL Left Fraction
Left Fraction
The Left Fraction, sometimes calling itself the Left Fraction, British Section of the Fourth International , was a Trotskyist organisation in the United Kingdom....
who soon left.
Recruiting methods
The new party maintained an entrist faction in the Labour PartyLabour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
. This faction was led by Charlie van Gelderen
Charlie van Gelderen
Charlie van Gelderen was a South African Trotskyist active in the British Labour movement from the 1930s. He attended the founding conference of the Fourth International in 1938, and towards the end of his life he was the last survivor of that conference.In the 1940s, he played the leading role...
and maintained publication of The Militant as its organ.
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
Kent Miners' Association
The Kent Miners' Association was a trade union in the United Kingdom.Coal was discovered in Kent in the late nineteenth century, but extraction did not begin until 1912. The Kent Miners Association was established in 1915, and immediately affiliated to the Miners' Federation of Great Britain...
and the Tyneside
Tyneside
Tyneside is a conurbation in North East England, defined by the Office of National Statistics, which is home to over 80% of the population of Tyne and Wear. It includes the city of Newcastle upon Tyne and the Metropolitan Boroughs of Gateshead, North Tyneside and South Tyneside — all settlements on...
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
Independent Labour Party
The Independent Labour Party was a socialist political party in Britain established in 1893. The ILP was affiliated to the Labour Party from 1906 to 1932, when it voted to leave...
and some anarchists.
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
Jock Haston
James "Jock" Ritchie Haston was a Trotskyist politician and General Secretary of the Revolutionary Communist Party in Great Britain.-Early years:...
, in the Neath
Neath
Neath is a town and community situated in the principal area of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, UK with a population of approximately 45,898 in 2001...
by-election of 1945.
The Left Faction 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
Socialist Outlook
Socialist Outlook was either of two publications edited by supporters of the Fourth International in Britain.-The first Socialist Outlook:...
. Other former Left Fraction members revived the group in the early 1960s.
End of the RCP
In 1947, the party split over the question of entrism into the Labour PartyLabour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
. Jock Haston
Jock Haston
James "Jock" Ritchie Haston was a Trotskyist politician and General Secretary of the Revolutionary Communist Party in Great Britain.-Early years:...
opposed it; Gerry Healy
Gerry Healy
Thomas Gerard Healy, known as Gerry Healy , was a political activist, a co-founder of the International Committee of the Fourth International, and, according to former prominent U.S. supporter David North, the leader of the Trotskyist movement in Great Britain between 1950 – 1985...
and John Lawrence
John Lawrence
John Lawrence may refer to:* John Lawrence , English illustrator and wood engraver* John Lawrence * John Lawrence , Irish landowner, owner of Ballymore Castle* John Lawrence a.k.a...
formed faction which favoured it. With the agreement of both groups, the International Secretariat divided the British section and the minority pursued the entry tactic and published the newspaper Socialist Outlook
Socialist Outlook
Socialist Outlook was either of two publications edited by supporters of the Fourth International in Britain.-The first Socialist Outlook:...
from 1948.
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
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
caused further debate within the RCP, as they did within the Intertnational as a whole. The leadership of the RCP around Haston was more cautious with regard to declaring these new regimes to be degenerated workers states than the International's leadership around Ernest Mandel
Ernest Mandel
Ernest Ezra Mandel, also known by various pseudonyms such as Ernest Germain, Pierre Gousset, Henri Vallin, Walter , was a revolutionary Marxist theorist.-Life:...
and Michel Pablo
Michel Pablo
Michel Pablo was the pseudonym of Michalis N. Raptis , a Trotskyist leader of Greek origin.- Early activism :...
.
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
Ted Grant
Edward "Ted" Grant , 9 July 1913 in Germiston, South Africa – 20 July 2006 in London) was a South African Trotskyist who spent most of his adult life in Britain...
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.
The International then ordered that the members of the RCP join Healy's entry group, known as 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...
, 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.
Some of Tony Cliff
Tony Cliff
Tony Cliff , was a Trotskyist who was a founding member of the Socialist Review Group which went on to become the Socialist Workers Party...
's supporters in Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
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 regrouped his supporters around the magazine Socialist Review
Socialist Review
The Socialist Review is the monthly magazine of the British Socialist Workers Party. As well as being printed it is also published online.-Original publication: 1950-1962:...
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.
Members of the RCP
- Jim AllenJim Allen (playwright)James "Jim" Allen was a socialist playwright from England, best known for his collaborations with Ken Loach.- Early life :...
- Sam BornsteinSam BornsteinSam Bornstein was a British Trotskyist historian and activist.Bornstein was a member of the ILP Guild of Youth, but eventually moved towards Trotskyist ideas and joined the Workers International League, helping to build their branch in Stepney....
- Maurice BrintonMaurice BrintonMaurice Brinton was the pen name under which Christopher Agamemnon Pallis wrote and translated for the British libertarian socialist group Solidarity from 1960 until the early 1980s....
- Tony CliffTony CliffTony Cliff , was a Trotskyist who was a founding member of the Socialist Review Group which went on to become the Socialist Workers Party...
- Jimmy DeaneJimmy DeaneJimmy Deane was a British Trotskyist who played a significant role in building the Revolutionary Socialist League...
- Charlie van GelderenCharlie van GelderenCharlie van Gelderen was a South African Trotskyist active in the British Labour movement from the 1930s. He attended the founding conference of the Fourth International in 1938, and towards the end of his life he was the last survivor of that conference.In the 1940s, he played the leading role...
- Mildred Gordon
- Ted GrantTed GrantEdward "Ted" Grant , 9 July 1913 in Germiston, South Africa – 20 July 2006 in London) was a South African Trotskyist who spent most of his adult life in Britain...
- Duncan HallasDuncan HallasDuncan Hallas , was a prominent member of the Trotskyist movement and a leading member of the Socialist Workers Party in Great Britain.-Biography:...
- Betty HamiltonBetty HamiltonBetty Hamilton was a British Trotskyist.Born Berthe Dutoit in the Valais area of French Switzerland, the daughter of a socialist engineer, Hamilton moved to Paris as a young woman...
- Denzil Dean HarberDenzil Dean HarberDenzil Dean Harber was an early British Trotskyist leader and later in his life a prominent British ornithologist.Denzil Dean Harber was born at 25 Fairmile Avenue, Streatham on 25 January 1909...
- Jock HastonJock HastonJames "Jock" Ritchie Haston was a Trotskyist politician and General Secretary of the Revolutionary Communist Party in Great Britain.-Early years:...
- Gerry HealyGerry HealyThomas Gerard Healy, known as Gerry Healy , was a political activist, a co-founder of the International Committee of the Fourth International, and, according to former prominent U.S. supporter David North, the leader of the Trotskyist movement in Great Britain between 1950 – 1985...
- Jeanne HobanJeanne HobanJeanne Hoban , known after her marriage as Jeanne Moonesinghe, was a British Trotskyist who became active in trade unionism and politics in Sri Lanka. She was one of the handful of European Radicals in Sri Lanka.- Early years :She was born in Gillingham, Kent...
- Bill Hunter (politician)
- John Lawrence (political activist)John Lawrence (political activist)John Gordon Michael Lawrence was a leading far left activitist in a wide variety of groups in Britain.-Early life:...
- Anil MoonesingheAnil MoonesingheAnil Moonesinghe was a Sri Lankan Trotskyist revolutionary politician and trade unionist. He became a Member of Parliament, a Cabinet Minister, the Deputy Speaker of Parliament and a Diplomat. He authored several books and edited newspapers and magazines. He was Chairperson and General Manager of...
- Stan Newens
- T. Dan SmithT. Dan SmithThomas Daniel Smith was a British politician who was Leader of Newcastle upon Tyne City Council from 1960 to 1965. He was a prominent figure in the Labour Party in the north east of England, such that he was nicknamed 'Mr Newcastle'...
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 HistoryRevolutionary HistoryRevolutionary History is a British journal dedicated to the history of the far left. It was founded in 1988 by Sam Bornstein and Al Richardson and has maintained an editorial board representing many strands of British Trotskyism. In its articles, it also covers other anti-Stalinist communist...
, 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.'
- Upham, Martin, 'The History of British Trotskyism to 1949' (PhD thesis), on the Marxists.org mirror of the Revolutionary HistoryRevolutionary HistoryRevolutionary History is a British journal dedicated to the history of the far left. It was founded in 1988 by Sam Bornstein and Al Richardson and has maintained an editorial board representing many strands of British Trotskyism. In its articles, it also covers other anti-Stalinist communist...
website.