The Leninist League was a communist

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 ...

in 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 ...

. It published a newspaper called "In Defense of Bolshevism".

History

The party's origins started in the Revolutionary Workers League of

Hugo Oehler Edward Hugo Oehler (1903–1983) was an American communist. Biography An active trade unionist, Oehler joined the Communist Party USA in its early days, and by 1927 was a district organizer for the party in Kansas. He was also known for his abilit ...

, which had originated in the

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 ...

movement, but rejected Trotskyism in 1937. A few members felt that it had not gone far enough, and, led by George Spiro (known as "Marlen", a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsMarx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...

and

Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1 ...

), split in early 1938 to form the "Leninist League". The group was often referred to as the Marlenites after their leader's pseudonym. Spiro aimed to destroy Trotskyism, calling

Leon 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 ...

an agent of

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...

and claiming that even the Revolutionary Workers League was "an enemy of the international working class. It is a sabotaging agency in the struggle of exposure and destruction of the Stalinist reaction." While initially a tiny group, a small degree of press attention enabled the League to grow slightly. It published several books, and remained hostile to other left-wing currents. Its 1937 publication, ''In defense of Bolshevism; behind the betrayal in Spain'', declared that it was "against the policy of 'correcting' Stalinist reaction, the counter-revolutionary

social democracy 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 s ...

, and also Lovestoneism and Trotskyism which are separated from Leninism by a narrow but very deep gulf!" The League declared

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

to be a "phony" war, obscuring the real war of Western capitalists and Stalinist

state capitalist State capitalism is an economic system in which the state undertakes business and commercial (i.e. for-profit) economic activity and where the means of production are nationalized as state-owned enterprises (including the processes of capital ac ...

s against the proletariat. In 1946, the League renamed itself the Workers League for a Revolutionary Party, and its publication as the ''Bulletin''. It became critical of both Leninism and

Marxism Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialectical ...

. Spiro began to focus his work on

antisemitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

among the left, and disagreement about its direction caused the group to dissolve itself in about 1950. One person who was influenced by the Marlenites was a young

Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American public intellectual: a linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky i ...

, who was introduced to the group, partly as a result of the history professor Ellis Rivkin. He was impressed by their characterization of

as a "phony war" instigated by both by Western capitalists and the Soviet Union. He "never really believed the thesis, but... found it intriguing enough to try to figure out what they were talking about."

References

{{Reflist

Publications

*J C Hunte
''On the question of the workers state''
[U.S.? : Leninist League U.S.A., 1938
''After sixteen years of silence: (on Trotsky's article: "Did Stalin poison Lenin?"). ''
New York: Leninist League, U.S.A., 1940
''Trotsky and the suppression of Lenin's testament.''
New York: Leninist League, U.S.A., 1940
''The case of Holland, Belgium and France.''
New York: Leninist League, U.S.A., 1940 *J C Hunte
''The murder of Trotsky and the fight against Stalinism.''
New York: Leninist League, U.S.A., 1940
''The split in the S.W.P.''
New York : The League, 1940
''Whither Shachtman''
New York : The League, 1940 *''An explanation of the real meaning of Trotsky's article "Did Stalin poison Lenin?"'' New York: Leninist League, U.S.A., 1940
''Did Trotsky collaborate with Stalin: a reply to J.R. Johnson of the Workers Party "''
New York: Leninist League, U.S.A., 1940 *''The Cannonites "answer" the Shachtmanites'' New York: Leninist League, U.S.A., 1940 * J. C. Hunter and G. Crane
''Marx on a Sham War''
*''Pages from Trotsky's political history'' New York : Issued by the Bulletin, 1941
''The Trotsky school of falsification'' Vol. I
New York City, The Bulletin 1942-1943
''The Trotsky school of falsification'' Vol. II
New York City, The Bulletin 1942-1943 *''Cannon's "Struggle for a proletarian party": an exposure of a political career'' New York: Leninist League, U.S.A., 1943 *''Report and discussion on break with S.W.P.'' New York: Leninist League, U.S.A., 1947

Other works by George Spiro

*
Paris on the barricades
' New York city, Workers Library Publishers 1929 *
The road, a romance of the proletarian revolution
' New York, Red Star Press 1932 *
Earl Browder, communist or tool of Wall Street; Stalin, Trotsky or Lenin
' New York, Printed at the Van Rees Press, 1937 *
Marxism and the Bolshevik State; workers democratic world government versus national-burocratic 'Soviet' and capitalist regimes
' New York, Red Star Press 1951 *
There are traitors to socialism in our midst.
' [New York, 1969 *
Solzhenitsyn, the "communist" power : and the answer to the SALT delusion
' [New York : Spiro, 1975 *
The Formidable Marxist Swindle
' [New York : G. Spiro, 1977 Defunct communist parties in the United States Political parties established in 1938 Political parties disestablished in 1950 1938 establishments in the United States 1950 disestablishments in the United States