The Committee for a Workers' International (CWI) was an
international association of
Trotskyist
Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International. Trotsky self-identified as an orthodox Marxist, a ...
political parties. Today, two groups claim to be the continuation of the CWI.
History
Founding
The origins of the CWI can be traced to a group of British trotskyists which were expelled from the
USFI in 1965, after disagreements regarding the Colonial Revolution, Gurrilerism, Studentism and the post war boom. But it is not till 1974 that they set about building an international.
The founding conference of the CWI was held in London on 20 to 21 April 1974 and attended by supporters of what was then called
Militant
The English word ''militant'' is both an adjective and a noun, and it is generally used to mean vigorously active, combative and/or aggressive, especially in support of a cause, as in "militant reformers". It comes from the 15th century Latin ...
(or the Militant tendency), from 12 countries including Britain, Ireland and Sweden. In the early years of the international, sections generally pursued a policy of
entryism into
social democratic
Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote so ...
or
labour parties
Labour Party or Labor Party is a name used by many political parties. Many of these parties have links to the trade union movement or organised labour in general. Labour parties can exist across the political spectrum, but most are centre-left or ...
. As such, the CWI was originally secretive because to organise openly risked the expulsion of its sections from the parties in which they were working.
End of entryism
The CWI largely ended its strategy of
entryism in the early 1990s. The international developed an analysis that many social democratic parties had fundamentally changed in nature and become outright capitalist parties, their main example being the UK Labour Party. This was strongly resisted by
Ted Grant
Edward Grant (born Isaac Blank; 9 July 1913 – 20 July 2006) was a South African Trotskyist who spent most of his adult life in Britain. He was a founding member of the group Militant and later Socialist Appeal.
Early life
Grant's father had s ...
, one of Militant's founders. After a lengthy debate and special conference in 1991 confirmed overwhelmingly the position of the CWI in the England and Wales section, Grant and his supporters sought official faction status within the organisation, which was granted for some time, but later was revoked by the leadership. Ted Grant and his supporters were expelled and founded the
International Marxist Tendency
The International Marxist Tendency (IMT) is an international Trotskyist political tendency founded by Ted Grant and his supporters following their break with the Committee for a Workers' International in 1992. The organization's website, Marx ...
.
Since their
Open Turn CWI sections have, in a number of countries, stood candidates under their own name. One section has representation in a state parliament, the
Socialist Party
Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of ...
, which has three TDs in
Dáil Éireann
Dáil Éireann ( , ; ) is the lower house, and principal chamber, of the Oireachtas (Irish legislature), which also includes the President of Ireland and Seanad Éireann (the upper house).Article 15.1.2º of the Constitution of Ireland rea ...
in the
Republic of Ireland
Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. ...
. The CWI also has elected members in a number of regional legislatures or local councils in
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...
; (Germany) (members of
The Left);
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
;
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
; and the United States, where
Socialist Alternative elected
Kshama Sawant
Kshama Sawant (; born October 17, 1973) is an Indian-American politician and economist who has served on the Seattle City Council since 2014. She is a member of Socialist Alternative, the first and only member of the party to date to be elected ...
to
Seattle City Council
The Seattle City Council is the legislative body of the city of Seattle, Washington. The Council consists of nine members serving four-year terms, seven of which are elected by electoral districts and two of which are elected in citywide at-la ...
in 2013 and again in 2015. In the
2005 Sri Lankan presidential elections
Presidential elections were held in Sri Lanka on 17 November 2005. Nominations were accepted on 7 September 2005 and electoral participation was 73.73%. Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa of the governing United People's Freedom Alliance was elected ...
the CWI affiliate, the
United Socialist Party, came third (with 0.4%).
Supporters of the CWI launched a youth organisation,
International Socialist Resistance
The Committee for a Workers' International (CWI) was an international association of Trotskyist political parties. Today, two groups claim to be the continuation of the CWI.
History Founding
The origins of the CWI can be traced to a group of ...
, in 2001.
New mass workers' parties
CWI members played a leading role in founding the
Scottish Socialist Party. However, the SSP broke with the CWI in 1999, with a minority of members loyal to the CWI establishing the
International Socialists. When
Tommy Sheridan resigned from the SSP in 2006 and established a new party in Scotland,
Solidarity
''Solidarity'' is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. It is based on class collaboration.''Merriam Webster'', http://www.merriam-webster.com/dicti ...
, the
International Socialists joined in conjunction with the
Socialist Workers Party.
CWI members stood as
National Conscience Party
The National Conscience Party (NCP) is a nationalist political party in Nigeria. The party was formed in 1994 but was prevented from standing in elections until 2003, when it won a legal battle to be able to do so. In the presidential electi ...
candidates in the
2003 Nigerian legislative elections, winning 0.51% of the national vote. In Germany CWI members have been active in the new
WASG since its foundation in 2004 and in December 2005 were elected part of the new leadership of its
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...
district that ran candidates on a clear anti-cuts programme in the 2006 Berlin regional election, gaining 3.1% and several borough council seats, but the Berlin WASG later merged into Die Linke. In Brazil, CWI members helped found the
P-SOL
Socialism and Liberty Party
The Socialism and Liberty Party ( pt-BR, Partido Socialismo e Liberdade , PSOL ) is a left-wing political party in Brazil. The party describes itself as socialist and democratic.
The party leader is Juliano Medeiros and the federal deputie ...
after left wing parliamentarians were expelled from the
PT.
In the
2011 Irish general election
The 2011 Irish general election took place on Friday 25 February to elect 166 Teachtaí Dála across 43 constituencies to Dáil Éireann, the lower house of Ireland's parliament, the Oireachtas. The Dáil was dissolved and the general electi ...
the CWI's Irish affiliate, the
Socialist Party
Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of ...
won two seats in the
Dáil as a part of the wider left group, the
United Left Alliance which won five seats in total in
Dáil Éireann
Dáil Éireann ( , ; ) is the lower house, and principal chamber, of the Oireachtas (Irish legislature), which also includes the President of Ireland and Seanad Éireann (the upper house).Article 15.1.2º of the Constitution of Ireland rea ...
. However, one of the elected members of the Socialist Party has since left the party to continue as an independent. In the
by-election in Dublin West in 2014, the Socialist Party gained a second seat in the Dáil again, and a third seat in the
2014 Dublin South-West by-election
A by-election was held in the Dáil Éireann Dublin South-West constituency in Ireland on Friday, 10 October 2014, following the election of Fine Gael Teachta Dála (TD) Brian Hayes to the European Parliament.
The ''Electoral (Amendment) Act 2 ...
as part of the
Anti-Austerity Alliance
Solidarity ( ga, Neart le Chéile), formerly known as the Anti-Austerity Alliance (AAA), is a socialist political party in Ireland, launched in 2014. It had been registered as a political party to contest local elections, and ran at least forty c ...
.
Split
In 2018 and 2019, a dispute developed in around the questions of socialism and identity politics, the role of the trade unions and the working-class movement, and under what programme and how Marxists should organise internationally and domestically. This led to a multifaceted split. The dispute divided the leading bodies of the CWI, with International Secretariat and International Executive Committee taking conflicting positions.
One group, which had founded the “In Defence of a Working Class and Trotskyist CWI” (IDWCTCWI)
faction in November 2018 in support of the CWI's International Secretariat, declared in July 2019 that they had
refounded the CWI.
A second group, in support of the majority of the CWI's International Executive Committee, declared itself the CWI Majority in August 2019 and renamed itself
International Socialist Alternative
International Socialist Alternative is an international association of Trotskyist political parties.
The group was founded in 1974 as the Committee for a Workers' International, by supporters of Militant from 12 countries. In August 2019, a fa ...
on 1 February 2020. It asserted that the CWI had not dissolved but that the IDWCTCWI had split from the CWI.
A third group, which had split from the IDWCTCWI earlier, declared it had left the CWI entirely and formed
International Revolutionary Left
International Revolutionary Left ( es, Izquierda Revolucionaria Internacional) is a Trotskyist international tendency that split from the Committee for a Workers' International in 2019.
Background
Following a disagreement with International M ...
in July 2019.
Structure
Thesis for the International Executive Committee (IEC) of the CWI 2013
''socialistworld.net'', 22 November 2013.
Sections
Associated organisations
*Youth against Racism in Europe
Youth against Racism in Europe (YRE) is an anti-racist organisation founded by the Committee for a Workers' International (the international network of the Militant tendency) it campaigns among young people in 16 countries in Europe. YRE was launc ...
See also
*List of Trotskyist internationals
This is a list of Trotskyist internationals. It includes all of the many political internationals which self-identify as Trotskyist.
Of the organizations listed, three claim to be the original Fourth International founded in 1938: the reunified F ...
*Revolutionary socialism
Revolutionary socialism is a political philosophy, doctrine, and tradition within socialism that stresses the idea that a social revolution is necessary to bring about structural changes in society. More specifically, it is the view that revolut ...
References
External links
A history of the CWI
A selection of documents arising from the 2019 split
- A selection of documents from both sides of the 2019 debate
Continuing the Fight for International Socialism
- ISA perspective on the split.
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