The Internationalist Communist Organisation (french: Organisation Communiste Internationaliste, OCI) was a

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 party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. Its successor was the Internationalist Communist Current of the Workers Party.

History

Origins

The group's origins lay in the Internationalist Communist Party (PCI), the French section of the

Fourth International The Fourth International (FI) is a revolutionary socialist international organization consisting of followers of Leon Trotsky, also known as Trotskyists, whose declared goal is the overthrowing of global capitalism and the establishment of ...

. In 1952, the Fourth International removed the Central Committee of the PCI, and replaced it with one built around

Michele Mestre Lucienne Abraham (1 March 1916 – 4 February 1970), also known as Michèle Mestre, was a French Trotskyist politician. Life She joined the Internationalist Communist Party (PCI) and became the editor of its newspaper, '' La Verité''. From at l ...

and

Pierre Frank Pierre Frank (24 October 1905, Paris – 18 April 1984, Paris) was a French Trotskyist leader. He served on the secretariat of the Fourth International from 1948 to 1979. Educated as a chemical engineer, Frank was one of the first French Trotsky ...

, who were more favourable to the International's policies. This led the majority of the PCI to form a new organisation, also known as the Internationalist Communist Party, and led by

Pierre Lambert : Pierre Lambert (real name Pierre Boussel; June 9, 1920 – January 16, 2008) was a French Trotskyist leader, who for many years acted as the central leader of the French Courant Communiste Internationaliste (CCI) which founded the Parti d ...

and

Marcel Bleibtreu Marcel Bleibtreu (August 26, 1918 – December 25, 2001) was a French Trotskyism, Trotskyist activist and theorist. Marcel Bleibtreu was born during his family's refuge in Marseille from wartime bombing. Bleibtreu became a radical thinker as a chil ...

. In 1953, the Fourth International suffered a major split, and the Socialist Workers Party of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

group The Club and some smaller groups forming the

International Committee of the Fourth International The International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) is the name of two Trotskyist internationals; one with sections named Socialist Equality Party which publishes the World Socialist Web Site, and another linked to the Workers Rev ...

, with Lambert's PCI. The PCI supported the FLN during the

Algerian War of Independence The Algerian War, also known as the Algerian Revolution or the Algerian War of Independence,( ar, الثورة الجزائرية '; '' ber, Tagrawla Tadzayrit''; french: Guerre d'Algérie or ') and sometimes in Algeria as the War of 1 November ...

. Disagreements over which faction to support led Lambert to expel Bleibtreu from the PCI in 1955. Future Prime Minister of France,

Lionel Jospin Lionel Robert Jospin (; born 12 July 1937) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 1997 to 2002. Jospin was First Secretary of the Socialist Party from 1995 to 1997 and the party's candidate for President of France in ...

, joined the group in 1960 and remained an active member for over ten years.

1960s and 1970s

In 1967, the PCI renamed itself the "Internationalist Communist Organisation". It grew rapidly during the

May 1968 The following events occurred in May 1968: May 1, 1968 (Wednesday) * CARIFTA, the Caribbean Free Trade Association, was formally created as an agreement between Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Guyana, and Trinidad and Tobago. * RAF Strike ...

student demonstrations, but was banned alongside other far left groups, such as the ''

Gauche prolétarienne The (GP) was a French Maoist political party which existed from 1968 to 1974. As Christophe Bourseiller has put it, "Of all the Maoist organizations after May 1968, the most important numerically as well as in cultural influence was without quest ...

'' (Proletarian Left). Members temporarily reconstituted the group as the Trotskyist Organisation, but soon obtained a state order permitting the reformation of the OCI. By 1970, the OCI was able to organise a 10,000-strong youth

rally Rally or rallye may refer to: Gatherings * Demonstration (political), a political rally, a political demonstration of support or protest, march, or parade * Pep rally, an event held at a United States school or college sporting event Sport ...

br>
The group also gained a strong base in

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...

s. The majority of the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) joined the

reunified Fourth International The Fourth International (FI), founded in 1938, is a Trotskyist international. In 1963, following a ten-year schism, the majorities of the two public factions of the Fourth International, the International Secretariat and the International C ...

in 1963, leaving the OCI and the British

Socialist Labour League The Workers Revolutionary Party is a Trotskyist group in Britain once led by Gerry Healy. In the mid-1980s, it split into several smaller groups, one of which retains possession of the name. The Club The WRP grew out of the faction Gerry Healy ...

as the only two sections continuing the ICFI. Despite attempts to expand the ICFI, the two sides developed opposing policies on many issues, including

Arab nationalism Arab nationalism ( ar, القومية العربية, al-Qawmīya al-ʿArabīya) is a nationalist ideology that asserts the Arabs are a nation and promotes the unity of Arab people, celebrating the glories of Arab civilization, the language a ...

- the OCI adopting a dual defeatist position in the

Six-Day War The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab states (primarily Egypt, Syria, and Jordan) from 5 to 10 Ju ...

. The OCI left the ICFI in 1971, the Socialist Labour League accusing it of fetishing

Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian M ...

's ''

Transitional Programme In Marxist theory, a transitional demand either is a partial realisation of a maximum demand after revolution or an agitational demand made by a socialist organisation with the aim of linking the current situation to progress towards their goal o ...

'' over Marxist theory. It set up a new group, the Organising Committee for the Reconstruction of the Fourth International, with some supporters the following year.

Internationalist Communist Party

In 1981, the OCI again renamed itself as the "Internationalist Communist Party". In 1984, it formed a Movement for a Workers Party, with various independent socialists. However, Stephane Just opposed this new initiative, and was expelled with some supporters. Further splits ensued: in 1986, several hundred members, led by Jean-Christophe Cambadélis, left to join 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 ...

. In 1989, historian

Pierre Broué Pierre Broué (8 May 1926 – 27 July 2005) was a French historian and Trotskyist revolutionary militant whose work covers the history of the Bolshevik Party, the Spanish Revolution and biographies of Leon Trotsky. Background Broué was born in ...

was expelled, with around one hundred supporters.

Internationalist Communist Current

In 1991, the Movement for a Workers Party declared itself the Workers Party and the Internationalist Communist Party joined it as the Internationalist Communist Current. Dissenting members including Andre Langevin, Pedro Carrasquedo and

Alexis Corbière Alexis Corbière (; born 17 August 1968) is a French politician. A member of La France Insoumise (FI), he has been member of the National Assembly for the 7th constituency of the Seine-Saint-Denis department since 2017. Corbière is also a sp ...

were expelled by 1992, and the Current has since occupied a leading role in the Workers Party. Its central figure is Daniel Gluckstein, although Lambert remained a member until his death in 2008. {{Authority control 1952 establishments in France Communist parties in France Defunct political parties in France International Committee of the Fourth International Political parties established in 1952 Political parties with year of disestablishment missing Trotskyist organizations in France