Revolutionary Workers Ferment
Encyclopedia
The Revolutionary Workers Ferment, often know by its Spanish name or initials Fomento Obrero Revolucionario or FOR, was a small left communist international founded by Grandizo Munis
, which arose as a split from the Trotskyist Fourth International
at its Second Congress in 1948.
Though Munis and his co-thinkers carried on polemics with other currents of Trotskyst origin for three decades, and it was only in the late 1970s that a formal organization was formed. The FOR only held one international conference, at Paris in 1981. At that conference a split emerged between, on the one hand the "interior" Spanish section based in Spain, supported by the FOCUS group in the United States, and the Spanish "exile" faction based in Paris, along with the French section. The interior Spanish and American groups were expelled from the FOR.
Munis and the FOR had developed an "ultraleft" policy: they were opposed to the "Communist" states, regarding them as state capitalist
; they were opposed to the capitalist system and its form of government; they did not believe in parliamentarism, political parties
or trade unions; they did not believe in any kind of nationalism
or national liberation struggles
and affirmed the "inevitable necessity of the communist revolution on a world scale".
Grandizo Munis
Grandizo Munis was a Spanish politician.Grandizo first entered revolutionary politics as a member of the Izquierda Comunista de España or Left Communists of Spain...
, which arose as a split from the Trotskyist 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...
at its Second Congress in 1948.
Though Munis and his co-thinkers carried on polemics with other currents of Trotskyst origin for three decades, and it was only in the late 1970s that a formal organization was formed. The FOR only held one international conference, at Paris in 1981. At that conference a split emerged between, on the one hand the "interior" Spanish section based in Spain, supported by the FOCUS group in the United States, and the Spanish "exile" faction based in Paris, along with the French section. The interior Spanish and American groups were expelled from the FOR.
Munis and the FOR had developed an "ultraleft" policy: they were opposed to the "Communist" states, regarding them as state capitalist
State capitalism
The term State capitalism has various meanings, but is usually described as commercial economic activity undertaken by the state with management of the productive forces in a capitalist manner, even if the state is nominally socialist. State capitalism is usually characterized by the dominance or...
; they were opposed to the capitalist system and its form of government; they did not believe in parliamentarism, political parties
Political Parties
Political Parties: A Sociological Study of the Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern Democracy is a book by sociologist Robert Michels, published in 1911 , and first introducing the concept of iron law of oligarchy...
or trade unions; they did not believe in any kind of nationalism
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
or national liberation struggles
Wars of national liberation
In Marxist terminology, wars of national liberation or national liberation revolutions are conflicts fought by oppressed nationalities against imperial powers to establish separate sovereign states for the subjugated nationality. From a Western point of view, these same wars are called insurgencies...
and affirmed the "inevitable necessity of the communist revolution on a world scale".
Sections
Groups associated with the FOR included- FOCUS (Trotskyism), in the United States
- The Allarme Group in Italy
- Synagermos in Greece
- Allerma in Spain
- Alarme in France