The Revolutionary Communist League (RCL) or 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 rev ...

party in

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine ( ar, فلسطين الانتدابية '; he, פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א״י) ', where "E.Y." indicates ''’Eretz Yiśrā’ēl'', the Land of Israel) was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 ...

in the late 1930s and 1940s. It was built out of three components: exiled

German Jewish The history of the Jews in Germany goes back at least to the year 321, and continued through the Early Middle Ages (5th to 10th centuries CE) and High Middle Ages (''circa'' 1000–1299 CE) when Jewish immigrants founded the Ashkenazi Jewish ...

members of

Heinrich Brandler Heinrich Brandler (3 July 1881 – 26 September 1967) was a German communist, trade unionist, politician, revolutionary activist, and political writer. Brandler is best remembered as the head of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) during the party ...

’s KPO (

Communist Party Opposition The Communist Party of Germany (Opposition) (german: Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands (Opposition)), generally abbreviated as KPO or KPD(O), was a communist opposition organisation established at the end of 1928 and maintaining its existence un ...

– which emerged from the

Right Opposition The Right Opposition (, ''Pravaya oppozitsiya'') or Right Tendency (, ''Praviy uklon'') in the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) was a conditional label formulated by Joseph Stalin in fall of 1928 in regards the opposition against certain me ...

within the

Comintern The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet Union, Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to ...

) who became supporters of the

International Left Opposition International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

; youth in the '' Hugim Marxistiim'' (Marxist Circles), the youth section of a wing of Left

Poale Zion Poale Zion (also spelled Poalei Tziyon or Poaley Syjon, meaning "Workers of Zion") was a movement of Marxist–Zionist Jewish workers founded in various cities of Poland, Europe and the Russian Empire in about the turn of the 20th century after ...

, which at the time was linked to the '

centrist Centrism is a political outlook or position involving acceptance or support of a balance of social equality and a degree of social hierarchy while opposing political changes that would result in a significant shift of society strongly to the l ...

London Bureau The International Revolutionary Marxist Centre was an international association of left-socialist parties. The member-parties rejected both mainstream social democracy and the Third International. Organizational history The International was fo ...

; and elements coming from the left Zionist

kibbutz A kibbutz ( he, קִבּוּץ / , lit. "gathering, clustering"; plural: kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1909, was Degania. Today, farming h ...

movement,

Hashomer Hatzair Hashomer Hatzair ( he, הַשׁוֹמֵר הַצָעִיר, , ''The Young Guard'') is a Labor Zionist, secular Jewish youth movement founded in 1913 in the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, Austria-Hungary, and it was also the name of the group ...

, which was also linked to the London Bureau. Later, in the 1940s, they were joined by

Jabra Nicola Jabra Nicola ( ar, جبرا نقولا, he, ג'ברא ניקולא; February 16, 1912 - December 25, 1974) was a Palestinian Arab Israeli Trotskyist leader, the author of numerous articles and pamphlets who also translated some of the classics of ...

, an Arab Communist who broke with the

Palestine Communist Party The Palestine Communist Party ( yi, פאלעסטינישע קומוניסטישע פארטיי, ''Palestinische Komunistische Partei'', abbreviated PKP; ar, الحزب الشيوعي الفلسطيني) was a political party in British Mandate ...

over the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact. The published a newspaper, (Voice of the Class).A long extract from a 1948 edition, republished in ''Fourth International'', can be found i
"Arab-Jewish workers' joint struggles prior to the partition of Palestine"
'' In Defence of Marxism''. 2003. Citing ''The Reds: the Communist Party in Israel'' by S. Dotan 1991 p.498

Tony Cliff Tony Cliff (born Yigael Glückstein, he, יגאל גליקשטיין; 20 May 1917 – 9 April 2000) was a Trotskyist activist. Born to a Jewish family in Palestine, he moved to Britain in 1947 and by the end of the 1950s had assumed the pen na ...

was a member, before moving to Britain and joining the RCL's sister party in 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 wor ...

, the Revolutionary Communist Party (UK) and later leading the International Socialists.

References

External links

Texts by the Revolutionary Communist League (Palestine)

"Palestine Strike: Arabs and Jews Unite" by T. Cliff
'' Socialist Appeal'', May 1946, p3.
"On the Irresponsible Handling of the Palestine Question" by Tony Cliff of the RCL(P)
December 1946.

1947

May 1948

Information on the Revolutionary Communist League (Palestine)

''The Internationalist'', Summer 2001

(mentions the Revolutionary Communist League) Communist parties in Mandatory Palestine Trotskyist organizations in Asia Political parties in Mandatory Palestine Political parties established in the 1930s 1930s establishments in Mandatory Palestine Political parties disestablished in the 1940s 1940s disestablishments in Mandatory Palestine

References

Further reading

External links

Texts by the Revolutionary Communist League (Palestine)

Information on the Revolutionary Communist League (Palestine)