The Revolutionary Communist League was a small

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 ...

group in Britain. It was founded in 1970 by two small groups, one who split from

International Marxist Group :''See also the International Marxist Group (Germany). The International Marxist Group (IMG) was a Trotskyist group in Britain between 1968 and 1982. It was the British Section of the Fourth International. It had around 1,000 members and suppor ...

, after failing to persuade the group to turn away from work in the student movement and towards the

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 and

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 ...

in the Labour Party, and one which had split from

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 " ...

.Andrew Hosken (2008), ''Ken: The Ups and Downs of Ken Livingstone'', Arcadia Books The League promoted the ''Socialist Charter'' initiative of Tribunite Labour MPs which published the ''Chartist'' paper, and were consequently nicknamed the Chartists. They took over this initiative, and based their work around the Charter on a conception of transitional politics taken from

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 ...

. They were also active around The Soldiers' Charter, an attempt to influence the armed forces. By 1973 most of the group were moving to the right, while others (including Al Richardson) had left. A split developed and the Right of the group kept the

journal A journal, from the Old French ''journal'' (meaning "daily"), may refer to: *Bullet journal, a method of personal organization *Diary, a record of what happened over the course of a day or other period *Daybook, also known as a general journal, a ...

, which developed a politics influenced by

Euro-Communism Eurocommunism, also referred to as democratic communism or neocommunism, was a trend in the 1970s and 1980s within various Western European communist parties which said they had developed a theory and practice of social transformation more rele ...

and were close to the

Labour Co-ordinating Committee The Labour Co-ordinating Committee (LCC) was a faction in the British Labour Party, established in 1978 and wound-up in 1998. It moved from a group established to challenge the leadership of the party from the left to the vanguard of Tony Blair's ...

. In 1978 the RCL started to collaborate with the journal Intervention, which was connected to the

Revolutionary Marxist Tendency A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective, to refer to something that has a major, sudden impact on society or on some aspect of human endeavor. ...

, British section of

Michel Pablo Michel Pablo ( el, Μισέλ Πάμπλο; 24 August 1911, Alexandria, Egypt – 17 February 1996, Athens) was the pseudonym of Michalis N. Raptis ( el, Μιχάλης Ν. Ράπτης), a Trotskyist leader of Greek origin. Early activism ...

International Revolutionary Marxist Tendency The International Revolutionary Marxist Tendency was an international Marxist group based in France led by Michel Pablo, also known as Michael Raptis, the former secretary of the Trotskyist Fourth International. It resulted as a regroupment of acti ...

. Until 1980, the group moved away from Trotskyism towards a "distinctly libertarian type of socialism", focusing on advancing Socialist politics through municipal activity. In late 1980, the Charist minority faction around figures such as

Graham Bash Graham and Graeme may refer to: People * Graham (given name), an English-language given name * Graham (surname), an English-language surname * Graeme (surname), an English-language surname * Graham (musician) (born 1979), Burmese singer * Clan ...

and

Keith Veness Keith may refer to: People and fictional characters * Keith (given name), includes a list of people and fictional characters * Keith (surname) * Keith (singer), American singer James Keefer (born 1949) * Baron Keith, a line of Scottish barons ...

left the RCL to found the journal ''

London Labour Briefing ''Labour Briefing'' is a monthly political magazine produced by members of the British Labour Party. History and profile The magazine began in 1980 as ''London Labour Briefing''. The founders were the members of the Chartist Minority Tendency, w ...

''.

References

Defunct Trotskyist organisations in the United Kingdom Political parties established in 1970 Entryists {{UK-party-stub