The Revolutionary Communist League (Internationalist) was a small Trotskyist group in the US, which existed in various forms between 1968 and the late 1980s.

Organizational history

Though they considered their ideological origins to be in the "Global Class War Tendency" which was led by

Sam Marcy Sam Ballan (1911 – February 1, 1998), known by his pen name Sam Marcy, was an American lawyer, writer, and Marxist-Leninist activist of the post-World War II era. He co-founded the Workers World Party in 1959 and served as its chairperson un ...

and

Vincent Copeland Vincent Copeland (June 19, 1915 – June 7, 1993) was an American actor, labor official, writer, and political activist. A communist, Copeland was an actor during the 1930s but soon turned to political activism. Turning to industrial labor, Copela ...

within the Socialist Workers Party from 1948–1959, organizationally it began as a splinter of the

Spartacist League The Spartacus League (German: ''Spartakusbund'') was a Marxist revolutionary movement organized in Germany during World War I. It was founded in August 1914 as the "International Group" by Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Liebknecht, Clara Zetkin, and other ...

in 1968. This first incarnation was simply known as the Revolutionary Communist League, and had a more "activist" orientation than the SL. They collaborated with the

Workers World Party The Workers World Party (WWP) is a revolutionary Marxist–Leninist communist party founded in 1959 by a group led by Sam Marcy of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP). Marcy and his followers split from the SWP in 1958 over a series of long-sta ...

, Youth Against War and Fascism and other New Left elements within a united front group called the

Coalition for an Anti-imperialist Movement A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces. Formation According to ''A Gui ...

or CO-AIM. The original RCL merged with the WWP later that year. However they quickly found the WWP internal atmosphere "stultifying" and its commitment to world revolution "decayed beyond belief". They began to drift out during 1971 and established the New York Revolutionary Committee, which published several issues of a periodical called ''Common Ground''. A year later this "evolution culminated in what was essentially a rebirth of the old RCL" adding (Internationalist) to the end of their name to reflect the development they had gone through. It originally had branches in New York City, Boston, and New Haven, but after several years the organization had only its New Haven group. Its publication was the ''Internationalist Worker'' and the ''Internationalist Worker Newsletter''. They attempted re-entry into the WWP in 1982, but were rejected in December of that year. In 1986 RCL(I) merged with Socialist Action. However, the group was soon to be expelled from SA. Later the group joined the

Communist Party USA The Communist Party USA, officially the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), is a communist party in the United States which was established in 1919 after a split in the Socialist Party of America following the Russian Revo ...

Activism and ideology

The RCL(I) defended various violent actions by New Leftists in the late 1960s and 1970s. In 1972 they stated that they "Unconditionally and with only the most marginal political criticism - all oriented toward integrating military policy with an overall revolutionary strategy" supported the

Days of Rage The Days of Rage were a series of protests during three days in October 1969 in Chicago, organized by the emerging Weatherman faction of Students for a Democratic Society. The group planned the October 8–11 event as a "National Action" ...

, the bombing of defense research facilities on campus, the campaigns of the Weathermen and

Black Liberation Army The Black Liberation Army (BLA) was a far-left, black nationalist, underground Black Power revolutionary paramilitary organization that operated in the United States from 1970 to 1981. Composed of former Black Panthers (BPP) and Republic ...

. In 1974, they announced that they supported the

Symbionese Liberation Army The United Federated Forces of the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) was a small, American far-left organization active between 1973 and 1975; it claimed to be a vanguard movement. The FBI and American law enforcement considered the SLA to be the ...

as well. On international issues it strongly supported the

degenerated workers' state In Trotskyist political theory, a degenerated workers' state is a dictatorship of the proletariat in which the working class' democratic control over the state has given way to control by a bureaucratic clique. The term was developed by Leon Tro ...

s, even while advocating a change within them. They supported the Soviet Unions suppression of the

Prague Spring The Prague Spring ( cs, Pražské jaro, sk, Pražská jar) was a period of political liberalization and mass protest in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It began on 5 January 1968, when reformist Alexander Dubček was elected First Sec ...

, the strengthening of the

Warsaw Pact The Warsaw Pact (WP) or Treaty of Warsaw, formally the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, was a collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Poland, between the Soviet Union and seven other Eastern Bloc socialist republic ...

, a healing of the

Sino-Soviet split The Sino-Soviet split was the breaking of political relations between the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union caused by doctrinal divergences that arose from their different interpretations and practical applications of Marxism–Len ...

, Soviet and Chinese aid to defend the

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...

, Cuban and

Yemeni Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...

workers states, as well as revolutionary and national liberation struggles, and opposed

Détente Détente (, French: "relaxation") is the relaxation of strained relations, especially political ones, through verbal communication. The term, in diplomacy, originates from around 1912, when France and Germany tried unsuccessfully to reduce ...

as an imperialist maneuver. Within the workers states they advocated a "rearming of the masses" into "peoples militias", the abolition of privileges for bureaucrats and the "restoration of Marxism-Leninism".Alexander p.943 RCL-(I) viewed the Workers World Party as having abandoned Trotskyism to its political detriment.. In the 1974, RCL-(I) organized the New Haven Political Defense Committee (NHPPDC) to defend a group of three

members who were arrested in New Haven after a bank robbery and the shooting of a security guard.

References

{{Reflist

Publications

*''Common Ground'' New York Revolutionary Committee Vol. 1, no. 1 (Jan. 1, 1972)-v. 1, no. 3 (May 20, 1972) *''Internationalist news letter'' New York Vol. 1, no. 1 (June 1972)-Vol. 2, no. 1 (Jan. 1974) *''Internationalist worker'' Vol. 1, no. 1 (June 1974)-v. 10, no. 5/6 (summer 1985) (published in New York 1974-1975; Boston 1975-1977; New Haven 1977-1985) *''Internationalist worker bulletin'' New Haven Vol. 1, no. 1 (July 1979)-v. 2, no. 1 (Feb. 1980)
''Whirlwinds of danger: in defense of the workers' state.''
New York : The League, 1973
''The Class character of the Chinese state''
by

New Haven, CT: Distributed by Revolutionary Communist League (Internationalist), 1975
''The global class war and the destiny of American labor''
by

New Haven, CT : Distributed by Revolutionary Communist League (Internationalist), 1979 *''Leninist logic and method for developing the forces committed to the "global class war" tradition: a review of the lessons of recent years'' by S Redfield New Haven, Conn: Revolutionary Communist League-(Internationalist), 1980 Defunct Trotskyist organizations in the United States Political parties established in 1968 1968 establishments in the United States