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 Entryism (also called entrism, enterism, or infiltration) is a political strategy in which an organisation or state encourages its members or supporters to join another, usually larger, organization in an attempt to expand influence and expand the ...

into

social democratic Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...

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

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, 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, Mar ...

. 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 t ...

, 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 r ...

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 Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...

. The CWI also has elected members in a number of regional legislatures or local councils in Sweden; (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 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-l ...

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, in 2001.

New mass workers' parties

CWI members played a leading role in founding the

Scottish Socialist Party The Scottish Socialist Party (SSP; gd, Pàrtaidh Sòisealach na h-Alba; sco, Scots Socialist Pairtie) is a Left-wing politics, left-wing political party campaigning for the establishment of an Scottish independence, independent Socialism, so ...

. 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 Parliamentary elections were held in Nigeria on 12 April 2003. The result was a victory for the ruling People's Democratic Party, which won 76 of the 109 Senate seats and 223 of the 360 House seats. Voter turnout was 50%.WASG since its foundation in 2004 and in December 2005 were elected part of the new leadership of its

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

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 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 elect ...

the CWI's Irish affiliate, the

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

. 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 ...

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 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 lau ...

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. {{Authority control