The Revolutionary Marxist Group (RMG) was a Trotskyist political organization in Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 in the 1970s. Though not a registered political party it did field small numbers of candidates in several elections.

The RMG was formed in 1973 with the fusion of the "Old Mole" group at the University of Toronto

University of Toronto

The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...

 and the Red Circle, a Marxist group that was originally in the Waffle

The Waffle

The Waffle was a radical wing of Canada's New Democratic Party in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It later transformed into an independent political party, with little electoral success before it permanently disbanded in the mid-1970s...

 but that remained in the New Democratic Party

New Democratic Party

The New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...

 after the Waffle's departure. The RMG adopted the Old Mole as its journal. Subsequent to its formation, the Revolutionary Communist Tendency split from the League for Socialist Action to join the RMG.

The RMG was a sympathizing section of the United Secretariat of the Fourth International, and supported the international faction led by 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 Tariq Ali

Tariq Ali

Tariq Ali , , is a British Pakistani military historian, novelist, journalist, filmmaker, public intellectual, political campaigner, activist, and commentator...

 against the faction led by the Socialist Workers Party (US) led by Joseph Hansen

Joseph Hansen (socialist)

Joseph Leroy Hansen , was an American Trotskyist and leading figure in the Socialist Workers Party.Born in Richfield, Utah, Joseph Hansen was the oldest of 15 children in a poor working class family, and he was the only one of them who could attend college. His father, Conrad J. Z...

 and Farrell Dobbs

Farrell Dobbs

Farrell Dobbs was an American Trotskyist and trade unionist.He was born in Queen City, Missouri where his father was a worker in a coal mine. They moved to Minneapolis, and he graduated from North High School in 1925. In 1926, he left for North Dakota to find work, but returned the following fall...

. Its main rival, the League for Socialist Action, supported the American-led faction in the international conflict within the USFI. Where the LSA was close to the SWP, the RMG was close to Britain's International Marxist Group

International Marxist Group

The International Marxist Group was a Trotskyist group in Britain between 1968 and 1982. It was the British Section of the Fourth International. It and its youth organisation had had around 1,000 members and supporters in the late 1970s...

.

The RMG was linked with an autonomous group in Quebec

Quebec

Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

 with similar views, the Groupe Marxiste Révolutionnaire. In 1977, the RMG, LSA and GMR fused to form the Revolutionary Workers League/Ligue Ouvrière Révolutionnaire

Revolutionary Workers League/Ligue Ouvrière Révolutionnaire

The Revolutionary Workers League/Ligue Ouvrière Révolutionnaire was a Canadian Trostkyist party formed on August 8, 1977 by the fusion of the Revolutionary Marxist Group and its Quebec counterpart, the Groupe Marxiste Revolutionnarie with the League for Socialist Action/Ligue Socialiste Ouvrière...

.

Prominent members of the RMG included Steve Penner, Judy Rebick

Judy Rebick

Judy Rebick , arrived in Toronto at age 9, and is a Canadian journalist, political activist, and feminist.-Career:...

, Joe Flexer

Joe Flexer

Joe Flexer was a trade unionist and communist activist in Canada. Born in Brooklyn, Flexer was politicized in the mid 1940s through contacts with the American Communist Party in New York...

, Gary Kinsman

Gary Kinsman

Gary Kinsman is a Canadian sociologist. He is one of Canada's leading academics on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues. In 1987, he wrote one of the key Canadian texts on LGBT social history, Regulation of Desire, reprinted in 1995...

, Bret Smiley and Barry Weisleder.

External links

• Formation of the RMG documents from the Socialist History website.
• 1977 RMG Press Release announcing its candidate's support of gay rights in the 1977 Ontario provincial election
  Ontario general election, 1977
  The Ontario general election of 1977 was held on June 9, 1977, to elect the 125 members of the 31st Legislative Assembly of Ontario of the Province of Ontario, Canada....