Communist Workers' Organisation (UK)
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The Communist Workers' Organisation (CWO) is a British
left communist Left communism, or the communist left, is a position held by the left wing of communism, which criticises the political ideas and practices held by Marxist–Leninists and social democrats. Left communists assert positions which they regard ...
group, founded in 1975, and an affiliate of the Internationalist Communist Tendency, formerly the International Bureau for the Revolutionary Party. It publishes a quarterly magazine called ''Revolutionary Perspectives'' and distributes the agitational broadsheet ''Aurora''. Works of the CWO and ICT have been cited in various academic and political sources internationally, across several countries and languages. The organisation has its origins in north England and
Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
(Liverpool, Newcastle, Aberdeen, Edinburgh), though it has since grown to encompass other areas with members and sympathisers across the world.


History


Founding

The group was founded in the mid-1970s with the union of ''Workers' Voice'', based in
Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
, and ''Revolutionary Perspectives'', a group based in the North of
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
and
Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
– some of whose members had previously been active in
Solidarity Solidarity or solidarism is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. True solidarity means moving beyond individual identities and single issue politics ...
. Both groups were influenced by German left communism and in particular the
KAPD The Communist Workers' Party of Germany (; KAPD) was an anti-parliamentarian and left communist party that was active in Germany during the Weimar Republic. It was founded in 1920 in Heidelberg as a split from the Communist Party of Germany (KP ...
. Both also published articles on the
German Revolution German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
. Additionally, Revolutionary Perspectives translated Otto Ruhle's "From the Bourgeois to the Proletarian Revolution" into English as well. By 1975 the two groups coalesced broadly around the positions of the
KAPD The Communist Workers' Party of Germany (; KAPD) was an anti-parliamentarian and left communist party that was active in Germany during the Weimar Republic. It was founded in 1920 in Heidelberg as a split from the Communist Party of Germany (KP ...
's "Essen Tendency". Both groups had also taken part in international conferences sponsored by the French group ''Révolution Internationale'' with the British group
World Revolution World revolution is the Marxist concept of overthrowing capitalism in all countries through the conscious revolutionary action of the organized working class. For theorists, these revolutions will not necessarily occur simultaneously, but whe ...
. These two groups formed the
International Communist Current The International Communist Current (ICC) is a left communist international organisation. It was founded at a conference in January 1975 where it was established as a centralised organisation with sections in France, Britain, Spain, United State ...
, but the Workers' Voice group denounced this as "counter-revolutionary" over its defence of the
October Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...
and its position on the period of transition. Revolutionary Perspectives had tried to mediate between Workers' Voice and World Revolution but was now forced to choose. As World Revolution had already rejected its draft platform and it had disagreements on several other positions, most notably the ''
tendency of the rate of profit to fall The tendency of the rate of profit to fall (TRPF) is a theory in the crisis theory of political economy, according to which the rate of profit—the ratio of the profit to the amount of invested capital—decreases over time. This hypothesis ...
'', Revolutionary Perspectives chose to unite with Workers' Voice to form the Communist Workers' Organisation.


Early growth

For a year the organisation grew, publishing ten issues (the journals ''Workers' Voice'' and ''Revolutionary Perspectives'') as well as distributing thousands of leaflets at factory gates and establishing groups in several factories. However, by the end of 1976 it was clear that the wave of working class struggle which had led to the rebirth of left communism in
Britain Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...
was over. The Liverpool section now began to retreat into local activity and, without issuing a document or giving any political explanation, abandoned joint political work and dissolved. This loss was followed in 1977 by the demand of the Aberdeen section that the CWO should now join the
International Communist Current The International Communist Current (ICC) is a left communist international organisation. It was founded at a conference in January 1975 where it was established as a centralised organisation with sections in France, Britain, Spain, United State ...
, which they now claimed was the communist movement. Although the majority were prepared to discuss this the Aberdeen section left within a month (it would split from the ICC within a few years to form the Communist Bulletin Group).


Merger with PCInt

In 1977 the CWO majority adhered to the international conferences initiated by the Internationalist Communist Party from
Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
, also known as the PCInt. In the course of these conferences, the CWO became convinced by the PCInt that the positions the latter had defended since 1943 were the best product of the left communist tradition. The two organisations formed the ''International Bureau for the Revolutionary Party'' in 1983. Due to their opposition to
Stalinism Stalinism (, ) is the Totalitarianism, totalitarian means of governing and Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union (USSR) from History of the Soviet Union (1927–1953), 1927 to 1953 by dictator Jose ...
/
Marxism–Leninism Marxism–Leninism () is a communist ideology that became the largest faction of the History of communism, communist movement in the world in the years following the October Revolution. It was the predominant ideology of most communist gov ...
,
Maoism Maoism, officially Mao Zedong Thought, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed while trying to realize a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic o ...
, and
Trotskyism Trotskyism (, ) is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Russian revolutionary and intellectual Leon Trotsky along with some other members of the Left Opposition and the Fourth International. Trotsky described himself as an ...
– as well as their theoretical basis originating in the Italian left – the CWO has erroneously been referred to as a " Bordigist" or " council–communist" organisation by some authors. A key distinction between the politics of the CWO/ICT and that of Bordigists is that the former do not view the party as the class itself, but an important tool used to fight for a communist perspective in the mass organs of proletarian power that are the workers' councils. For some time in the 1990s it was Sheffield that became a temporary HQ for the organisation.


ICT and later growth

The International Bureau for the Revolutionary Party was eventually joined by left communist groups in
France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
,
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
, the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
and
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
. In recognition of this expansion it moved towards a closer coordination of its activities in 2009 with the formation of the Internationalist Communist Tendency. The CWO remains an integral part of the ICT. An initiative that the organisation was at the centre of in 2003–2004, known as ''No War But the Class War'' (NWBCW), was revived in 2018 by the CWO with the Anarchist Communist Group; the goal behind this move was to highlight the need to oppose all imperialist wars, including efforts of national liberation and other forms of lesser evilism espoused by
social democratic Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...
and other left-wing groups – and instead focusing on workers' unity and
class struggle In political science, the term class conflict, class struggle, or class war refers to the economic antagonism and political tension that exist among social classes because of clashing interests, competition for limited resources, and inequali ...
. The views of NWBCW can be succinctly summed up by a 2017 statement from the CWO: "The only war which is worth fighting is the class war ... if the workers of all countries united and refused to fight, there would be no war!". In its long-time history, the CWO circulated hundreds of thousands of leaflets and publications that it had produced over the years.


See also

*An earlier British organisation with the same name in the late 1960s was a
Maoist Maoism, officially Mao Zedong Thought, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed while trying to realize a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic o ...
group that merged with the
Irish Communist Organisation The British and Irish Communist Organisation (B&ICO) was a small group based in London, Belfast, Cork (city), Cork, and Dublin. Its leader was Brendan Clifford. The group produced a number of pamphlets and regular publications, including ''Th ...
in 1971. * British left


References


External links

* {{Left communism Communist parties in the United Kingdom 1970s establishments in the United Kingdom Organizations established in the 1970s Left communist organizations Left communism