The Workers' International League (WIL) 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 ...

group that existed in Britain from 1937 to 1944.

Formation

The WIL was formed in 1937 by members of the

Militant Group The Militant Group was an early British Trotskyist group, formed in 1935 by Denzil Dean Harber, former leader of the entrist Marxist Group in the ILP, as a separate entrist group inside the Labour Party. Initially known as the Bolshevik-Leni ...

, who had split due to false allegations from the leadership of that group that Ralph Lee (born Raphael Levy), then a newly arrived South African member, had misled a strike and used the strike funds to move to England. The split took around a third of the membership of the Militant Group and four of its branches,Bornstein, S. & Richardson, A. (1986) ''War and the International'', London: Socialist Platform, pg.5 including

Jock Haston James "Jock" Ritchie Haston (1913–1986) was a Trotskyist politician and General Secretary of the Revolutionary Communist Party in Great Britain. Early years Haston was born in Edinburgh and went to sea in the merchant navy where he became a m ...

and

Ted Grant Edward Grant (born Isaac Blank; 9 July 1913 – 20 July 2006) was a South African Trotskyist who spent most of his adult life in Britain. He was a founding member of the group Militant and later Socialist Appeal. Early life Grant's father had s ...

. The group remained in the Labour Party, where they published ''Searchlight'' edited by

Gerry Healy Thomas Gerard Healy (3 December 1913 – 14 December 1989) was a political activist, a co-founder of the International Committee of the Fourth International and the leader of the Socialist Labour League and later the Workers Revolutionary Par ...

, which in September 1938 was replaced by the magazine ''Youth for Socialism'', which in its own turn was renamed ''Socialist Appeal'' in June 1941 as a result of the WIL's turn of focus away from the Labour Party. The group also produced a theoretical journal ''Workers International News''. The WIL grew with recruits from the Labour Party, the Communist Party of Great Britain, the

Independent Labour Party The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse working-class candidates ...

and the Militant Group. 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 ...

was formed in 1938, and the WIL refused to merge into the newly formed official British affiliate, the Revolutionary Socialist League itself a regroupment of the Militant Group and others. They requested either affiliate or sympathiser status to the International but were rejected.

Outbreak of World War II

Unlike the Revolutionary Socialist League, the WIL readily adopted the

Proletarian Military Policy The Proletarian Military Policy was a policy adopted by the Fourth International in response to World War II. It was an attempt to apply transitional demands such as trade union control of military training and the election of officers to transform ...

developed by Trotsky in his last writings and expanded upon and advocated by James P Cannon and the Socialist Workers Party. They campaigned for the creation of workers' militias instead of the

Home Guard Home guard is a title given to various military organizations at various times, with the implication of an emergency or reserve force raised for local defense. The term "home guard" was first officially used in the American Civil War, starting w ...

, deep air raid shelters for workers, and after 1941 against the pro-war, anti-strike position of the CPGB.

Proletarian Military Policy

The majority of British workers supported the war because they had a genuine fear of an invasion by Nazi Germany and a desire to defeat Nazism. At the same time, the British ruling class could not be trusted to fight a war that would decisively defeat Hitler since they had supported and helped Hitler before the war. Only the working class could successfully carry out such a struggle. Therefore, the WIL conducted revolutionary work in the armed forces upon conscription and agitated for a revolutionary war against fascism and for socialism. It was reflected in the slogan 'First Hitler, then Churchill'. The military establishment organised the

Army Bureau of Current Affairs The Army Bureau of Current Affairs (ABCA) was an organisation within the British Army during World War II to promote discussion among soldiers about current events, citizenship, and post-war reconstruction. In August 1940, Lord Croft, Under-Sec ...

, which was intended to educate soldiers about current events. Where WIL members were based, they took control of the classes and used them to promote revolutionary ideas. In the case of WIL member Frank Ward, his revolutionary work was so successful that the military was compelled to give him an "honourable discharge" from the air force and sent him home in order to prevent him from conducting revolutionary activity. In a similar incident, the

Cairo Forces Parliament The Cairo Forces Parliament was a meeting of British soldiers in Cairo, Egypt in February 1944 which voted for the nationalisation of banks, land, mines, and transport in the United Kingdom. Among those that took part was Leo Abse who later be ...

was shut down because of the growing support for the revolutionary ideas promoted by WIL members. They were elected to the positions of Prime Minister and Home Secretary. Their revolutionary work was successful in winning the support of many soldiers, as described by

"From the reports of our soldier comrades, the Eighth Army soldiers were saying that after the war they would refuse to disarm, and return to Britain with their guns to ensure that things would change. This was the mutinous mood that was developing amongst these troops. At the 1943 conference of our tendency, I made the point, to illustrate the thing graphically, that the military establishment though it their army, but in fact, the soldiers of the Eighth Army were in rebellion. This reflected the revolutionary developments in the army. It was our Eighth Army in that it was being transformed. It was becoming revolutionary and in the process of moving over to the side of the working class."

Question of the Leadership

Due to its adoption of the Proletarian Military Policy, the WIL argued that its members should go through the experience of the war with other members of their class by joining the army when called-up. But if this was applied to the whole membership it meant they could be dispersed and provide no real leadership and therefore the organisation took measures to preserve the leading cadres outside the forces.McIlroy, J. 'Fred Jackson (1916-2004)' In McIlroy, J. eds ''Revolutionary History'', Vol. 8:4 pg.277 With the outbreak of

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 ...

, the WIL expected to be banned and so temporarily moved a few members (Tommy Reilly, Jock Haston, Gerry Healy, John Williams and George Noseda) to Dublin. It soon became obvious that the group would not be persecuted, and they were allocated paper for their publications. On their own initiative, Arthur Carford, who had gained employment as an orderly at the Medical Examination Centre, where potential conscripts fitness was reviewed, and three other members from Sheffield attempted to steal cards to exempt the bearer from military service for medical reasons.Bornstein, S. & Richardson, A. (1986) ''War and the International'', London: Socialist Platform, pg.11 The four were arrested and charged at Sheffield Magistrates Court with "stealing, receiving, conspiring to steal and conspiring to receive these cards, to which later was added a fifth charge of doing those acts "with intent to assist the enemy". Realising the seriousness of these charges (especially the fifth charge which carried a charge of 20 years imprisonment), one of the defendants, Fred Jackson, defended himself arguing that by virtue of the political ideals, it was impossible for Trotskyists to do anything deliberately to assist Nazi Germany, leading to no guilty verdicts on the fifth charge.Bornstein, S. & Richardson, A. (1986) ''War and the International'', London: Socialist Platform, pg.12 He was sentenced to 2 years imprisonment, with Carford receiving 18 months, however, given the irresponsibility of their initial action, they were barred from holding office within the WIL for a year and reduced to supporter status respectively.Bornstein, S. & Richardson, A. (1986) ''War and the International'', London: Socialist Platform, pg.19 Of the other two defendants, Ward received 6 months and Beet was acquitted, but as both had given statements to the police that could have implicated the WIL they were expelled.

Trade Union Activities

The WIL began to orient towards the trade unions, and deprioritised

entrism 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 ...

into the Labour Party. After the appointment of Roy Tearse as industrial organiser (replacing Gerry Healy), the WIL found itself involved through him in setting up a solidarity committee in support of victimised workers called the Clyde Workers Committee after the original organisation bearing that name which had led the revolt on the Clyde during World War I.Bornstein, S. & Richardson, A. (1986) ''War and the International'', London: Socialist Platform, pg.70 This body called a conference in Glasgow on 5–6 June 1943, which attracted delegates from "Yorkshire's West Riding, Newcastle, Nottingham, Huddersfield, Barrow and London" and set up the Militant Workers Federation with Tearse as Secretary and offices in Nottingham near the Royal Ordnance Factory. By 1944, the

had realised that the WIL were far more effective and closer to the FI's policies than the RSL which had disintegrated into a set of warring factions, and so coordinated a unity conference. This produced the Revolutionary Communist Party, which adopted all the WIL's positions.Bornstein, S. & Richardson, A. (1986) ''War and the International'', London: Socialist Platform, pg.106-110

References

External links

Archive of the Socialist Appeal, paper of the RCP from Bill Hunter's website

* ttp://entdinglichung.wordpress.com/2010/06/21/workers%e2%80%99-international-league-wil-workers%e2%80%99-international-news-november-1940/ ''Workers' International News'', November 1940 {{Authority control Political parties established in 1937 Political parties disestablished in 1944 Defunct Trotskyist organisations in the United Kingdom 1937 establishments in the United Kingdom 1944 disestablishments in the United Kingdom