Revolutionary Workers Headquarters (RWH) was a U.S. Marxist-Leninist organization that formed out of a split from the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP) in 1977. After

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ...

, leader of the

Communist Party of China The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Civil ...

, died in 1976, the majority of the RCP's leadership criticized the post-Mao Chinese leadership as "revisionist" and "capitalist-roaders", saying that China was no longer a socialist country. A sizable minority of the RCP believed China was still a socialist country, and continued to support the post-Mao Chinese Communist Party under new leader

Hua Guofeng Hua Guofeng (; born Su Zhu; 16 February 1921 – 20 August 2008), alternatively spelled as Hua Kuo-feng, was a Chinese politician who served as Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party and Premier of the People's Republic of China. The desig ...

. They left the RCP to form the RWH. Aside from differences on how to assess the changes in China, the RWH also criticized the RCP for ultra-leftism, or left-idealism in their approach to political work in the U.S. After leaving the RCP, the RWH also did an extensive critique of the RCP's line on the national question, criticizing the RCP for being "white chauvinist". The RWH published this critique in a lengthy pamphlet titled ''Build the Black Liberation Movement'', which itself was subsequently criticized by Amiri Baraka of the

League of Revolutionary Struggle League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

in a pamphlet titled ''RWH on the BLM: Wrong Again!'' as having white chauvinist errors. The RWH made efforts to unite in the early 1980s with the Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist), but then the CP(M-L) dissolved. In 1985, the RWH merged with the Proletarian Unity League and the Organization for Revolutionary Unity to form the

Freedom Road Socialist Organization The Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) is a Marxist–Leninist organization in the United States. It formed in 1985 amid the collapse of the Maoist-oriented New Communist movement that emerged in the 1970s. The FRSO's component groups ...

. During its brief existence, RWH cadre were active in various movements, including the labor movement, struggles of oppressed nationalities, the

women's movement The feminist movement (also known as the women's movement, or feminism) refers to a series of social movements and political campaigns for radical and liberal reforms on women's issues created by the inequality between men and women. Such is ...

, the

student movement Student activism or campus activism is work by students to cause political, environmental, economic, or social change. Although often focused on schools, curriculum, and educational funding, student groups have influenced greater political e ...

, the struggle for divestiture from companies doing business in then-apartheid dominated

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

, and others. Through its cadres who worked in the

Revolutionary Student Brigade {{unreferenced, date=November 2014 The Revolutionary Student Brigade (RSB) was a Marxist-Leninist student organization active in the 1970s in the United States. The RSB was founded at a conference on June 15–17, 1974 which was attended by about ...

, the RWH was directly involved with the founding of the Progressive Student Network. Initially, RWH activity was almost exclusively found in urban areas of the Midwest and the

East East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...

; it expanded to the West Coast when it absorbed the Bay Area Communist Union in 1979. While the RWH was structured according to the principles of democratic centralism, it did not consider itself a communist party ''per se'', but rather a "pre-party organization."

References

{{Reflist Political parties established in 1977 Anti-revisionist organizations Defunct Maoist organizations in the United States 1977 establishments in the United States 1985 disestablishments in the United States Revolutionary Communist Party, USA

See also

Further reading

References