Committee to Defeat Revisionism, for Communist Unity was a small

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English ...

Marxist-Leninist group that left the

Communist Party of Great Britain The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist organisation in Britain and was founded in 1920 through a merger of several smaller Marxist groups. Many miners joined the CPGB in the 1926 general strike. In 1930, the CPGB ...

in 1963. CDRCU was led by Michael McCreery, the son of

General A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". O ...

Sir

Richard McCreery General Sir Richard Loudon McCreery, (1 February 1898 – 18 October 1967) was a career soldier of the British Army, who was decorated for leading one of the last cavalry actions in the First World War. During the Second World War, he was chi ...

. CDRCU was sympathetic towards the

Chinese Communist Party 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 Ci ...

and the

Party of Labour of Albania The Party of Labour of Albania ( sq, Partia e Punës e Shqipërisë, PPSh), sometimes referred to as the Albanian Workers' Party (AWP), was the ruling and sole legal party of Albania during the communist period (1945–1991). It was founded o ...

, with CDRCU members attending May Day celebrations in Tirana in May 1964. The group began publishing ''Vanguard'' in 1963.John Moorhouse, ''A Historical Glossary of British Marxism'' (Pauper's Press, 1987)

History

CDRCU reached the height of its activity from February 1964 to February 1965, during which CDRCU cells were established in London, the Thames Valley, Scotland, West Yorkshire, Manchester and Cardiff, and public meetings were arranged. CDRCU had split with other CPGB members, some of them based around the ''Forum'' publication, who wanted to remain inside the CPGB to conduct the anti-revisionist struggle. In October 1964, the CDRCU stood a candidate in

Huyton Huyton ( ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley, Merseyside, England. Part of the Liverpool Urban Area, it borders the Liverpool suburbs of Dovecot, Knotty Ash and Belle Vale, and the neighbouring village of Roby, with which ...

in the

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

, gaining 899 votes. After McCreery died (at the age of only 36) from cancer in 1965 in New Zealand, the activity of the group declined sharply. Most of the members of CDRCU regrouped into the

Action Centre for Marxist-Leninist Unity __NOTOC__ The Communist League of Great Britain was an anti-revisionist group in the United Kingdom. It origins were in the Communist Party of Great Britain, where a faction formed around Bill Bland. Initially Maoist, it joined the majority of ...

, which evolved into the

Marxist-Leninist Organisation of Britain __NOTOC__ The Communist League of Great Britain was an anti-revisionist group in the United Kingdom. It origins were in the Communist Party of Great Britain, where a faction formed around Bill Bland. Initially Maoist, it joined the majority of ...

. A small number formed the Finsbury Communist Association. Others later formed the

Workers' Party of Scotland The Workers Party of Scotland or Workers Party of Scotland (Marxist-Leninist) was a small anti-revisionist Marxist-Leninist political party formed in 1966 and based in Scotland. History The Workers Party of Scotland (Marxism, Marxist-Leninism, Len ...

and the London Workers' Committee. In 1966 the London Workers' Committee split, becoming the

Working People's Party of England The Working People's Party of England (WPPE) was a Marxist-Leninist political party in England. History Its origins lay in the break-up of the Committee to Defeat Revisionism, for Communist Unity. Of those who had not joined the Action Centre fo ...

. Some of the Irish members of the CDRCU later joined the Irish Communist Group in 1965. When the latter organisation split, they went on to form the

Irish Communist Organisation The British and Irish Communist Organisation (B&ICO) was a small group based in London, Belfast, Cork, and Dublin. Its leader was Brendan Clifford. The group produced a number of pamphlets and regular publications, including ''The Irish Comm ...

. Noel Jenkinson, a Protestant from

Meath Meath may refer to: General * County Meath, Republic of Ireland **Kingdom of Meath, medieval precursor of the county ** List of kings of Meath ** Meath GAA, including the intercounty football and hurling teams ** Diocese of Meath, in the Roman Cath ...

,. was another Ireland-born member of CDRCU who had joined from the Communist Party of Great Britain. He later joined the

Official IRA The Official Irish Republican Army or Official IRA (OIRA; ) was an Irish republicanism, Irish republican paramilitary group whose goal was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and create a "socialist state, workers' republic" en ...

and was convicted for carrying out the 1972 Aldershot bombing. ''Vanguard'' continued publication until 1972.

References

Bibliography

* {{Authority control Defunct communist parties in the United Kingdom Communist Party of Great Britain breakaway groups Anti-revisionist organizations Political parties established in 1963 1963 establishments in the United Kingdom Maoist organisations in the United Kingdom

History

See also

References

Bibliography