Revolutionary Communist Party

Preparing for Power: The Programme of the Revolutionary Communist Party, London: Junius Publications, first published July 1983

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The Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP) was the forerunner of the libertarian LM network. Led by University of Kent sociologist Frank Furedi, it was created in 1977 after a sizeable minority were expelled from the Revolutionary Communist Group in 1976 and formed a grouping called the Revolutionary Communist Tendency. The RCG itself was formed after a split from the International Socialists (the forerunner of the Socialist Workers' Party). The RCT was renamed the RCP in 1981 and disbanded in 1996. Its activities were continued through its main publication Living Marxism, which in early 1997 changed its name to LM. When it was shut down by a libel action in 2000 many of those associated with the RCP/LM created a range of new organisations centred around Spiked and the Institute of Ideas, which form a continuing network described here as the LM network. Though the class politics have gone, much of the position taking, tone and tactics of the deeply sectarian RCP remain.

The cover of the RCP's The Red Front: A platform for working class unity, their 1987 election manifesto.

Cover of Poland's black December, by Frank Richards published for the Revolutionary Communist Party by Junius Publications, January 1982.

Activities

RCP badge circa 1984.

Mike Freeman, Malvinas Are Argentina's Junius Publications (June 1982)

Cover of Kate Marshall, Real freedom, 1982

Frank Richards, The miners' next step, 1984, Junius Publications

Mick Hume, After the Brighton bomb, RCP, Junius Publications, November 1984

Mike Freeman, Our day will come, published after the end of the Miners' Strike in 1985

1977-1981 - Revolutionary Communist Tendency

See main article Revolutionary Communist Tendency

The RCT changed its name to the Revolutionary Communist Party in 1981. Before this it had mainly been active in relation to the conflict in Ireland, racism and state violence and in attacking the Labour Party.

1979-1982 - Smash the Prevention of Terrorism Act Campaign

See main article Smash the Prevention of Terrorism Act Campaign

The Smash the Prevention of Terrorism Act Campaign was created in late 1979 by the Revolutionary Communist Tendency. According to their own account: 'Towards the end of 1979 we decided to focus our activity in the labour movement on opposition to the PTA. We organised a national demonstration in November and the Smash the PTA Campaign was launched shortly afterwards.'

1979 Workers Against Racism

See main article: Workers Against Racism

Created in 1979, according to leading activist Keith Teare (using his party name Keith Tompson).

1982-1994 Irish Freedom Movement

See main article Irish Freedom Movement

1983 - Preparing for Power

Preparing for Power was the RCP manifesto produced for the 1983 election and subsequently reprinted over the following months.

1986-1990 - Confrontation - the 'theoretical journal'

See main article: Confrontation

The RCP only started publishing a 'theoretical journal' in 1986 some five years after it changed its name from the Revolutionary Communist Tendency. The journal was short-lived apparently only continuing until 1989, by which time Living Marxism had started publication and seems to have absorbed much of the effort of the Party.

1987 - The Red Front

See main article The Red Front

1988 - Living Marxism

See main article Living Marxism

1992 - Campaign Against Militarism

See main article Campaign Against Militarism

1994-1995 - No More Hiroshima's

See main article No More Hiroshima's

No More Hiroshima's was a 'year of action' launched by the RCP in August 1994 in the run up to the fiftieth anniversary of the dropping of the bomb on Japan. It was launched under the banner of the Campaign Against Militarism.

1996 - Dissolution

Workers Against Racism pamphlet published after what they describe as 'riots' in Handsworth, Brixton and Tottenham in October 1985.

Charles Longford South Africa: Black blood on British hands, 1985.

The RCP campaigns in the Knowsley North by-election in November 1986.

Joan Phillips, Social control in Thatcher's Britain, 1988.

Mike Freeman, The empire strikes back, 1993, a call to build an 'new' anti-war movement via the Campaign Against Militarism. One of the RCP's least successful ventures.

The logo of LM Magazine after it changed its name from Living Marxism at issue 97 in February 1997.

The announcement of the end of the RCP which apparently happened in 1996, but was only announced in LM magazine in March 1998

The RCP was dissolved in 1996, though this seems not to have been announced at the time. In an email written in December 1997 leading RCP member James Heartfield gave the following account of the demise of the party:

The RCP was disbanded over a fairly long period. The last time we stood in an election was 1992. The last public campaign we were involved in was the Campaign Against Militarism (which again was set up in 1992, but carried on until around 1995). The RCP sold LM to Helene Guldberg at the end of 1996.

Since the end of the Cold War, we were involved in discussions about the appropriateness of a democratic centralist organisation in today's conditions. The decision to wind down the party is not a ruse or subterfuge, it is the practical outcome of those discussions. If you follow the articles in LM, such as the one you posted on Pen-L, you can see the debate we had, re-presented for public consumption. I'm sure I have already argued on these lists that the Leninist style of organisation just is not appropriate when there is no substantial struggle for working class leadership.

I'm involved in LM, as you know, which seems to me the best way to promote critical and progressive ideas today.

The RCP suicide note: Living Marxism, The point is to change it, Junius Publications, 1996.

The first public announcement of the end seems to have been in LM in March 1998. Editor Mick Hume noted almost in passing that LM had developed from the review of 'the (now wound-up) Revolutionary Communist Party.'

1997- the present - Life after death

After the demise of the Party Living Marxism became LM, and many of the core cadre of the Party continued to work together. LM launched itself in January 1997 with the cover story that would three years later provide its nemesis, the allegations that ITN and other mainstream media outlets had 'fooled the world' in their reporting of Bosnian Muslims apparently imprisoned behind Serb barbed wire. After LM was closed the same network of people associated with the Party continued to work together in a series of organisations which can be termed the LM network, the nucleus of which are Spiked and the Institute of Ideas. In 2011 both still operate from the same offices occupied back in the 1980s and 1990s by the RCP, Living Marxism and then LM: Signet House, 49-51 Farringdon Road, London, EC1M 3JP.

Resources and Publications

Publications

Almost all RCP publications were published with the party publishing company set up in late 1977, Junius Publications. The 'Theoretical journal' of the RCT seems not to have continued and it was not until Summer 1986 that the RCP began producing the short lived Confrontation, described as the Party 'theoretical journal'. In addition to a range of pamphlets the principal publications of the RCP were The next step, its monthly 'review' (later a weekly paper) and later (from November 1988) Living Marxism (later renamed LM magazine). The RCP also produced numerous leaflets, posters, newsletters and other materials for its front groups and election literature.

Revolutionary Communist Pamphlets

This series began with the creation of the Revolutionary Communist Tendency and continued for a short while under the RCP banner. Soon, however, the pamphlets continued without any labelling as part of a series.

1982

• Frank Richards, Poland's black December /​ [Revolutionary Communist Party]. Revolutionary Communist Party (Great Britain) London (BCM, JPLTD, WC1N 3XX) : Junius, January 1982. 27 p. : ill. ; 22cm. Revolutionary Communist pamphlets ; no.12
• Mike Freeman, Malvinas Are Argentina's (Revolutionary Communist Pamphlets No. 13) [Paperback] Revolutionary Communist Party (Author) Paperback: 32 pages Junius (June 1982)

RCP pamphlets

1982

• Kate Marshall, Real freedom: Women's liberation and socialism, London: Junius Publications, 1982, 139 pages. ISBN 0-9508404-0-8

1983

• James Wood, (1983) [ Slump Socialism: The Depression, the war and the working class], Revolutionary Communist Party discussion pamphlet, London: Junius Publications, ISBN 0-9508404-3-2.
• Preparing for Power: The Programme of the Revolutionary Communist Party, London: Junius Publications, first published July 1983, Second ed. November 1983, Third ed, August 1984. ISBN 0 9508404 2 4

1984

• Mike Freeman, A Handbook for trade unionists: Taking Control, London: Junius Publications, July 1984 275 pages, ISBN 0-950 8404-5-9
• Frank Richards The miners' next step, London: Junius Publications, July 1984, ISBN 0-950 8404-6-7
• Mick Hume, After the Brighton bomb. London : Junius (Revolutionary Communist Party), 1984. ISBN 0950840475, 19p ; 30 cm

1985

• Workers Against Racism, The Roots of Racism, London: Junius Publications, January 1985. ISBN 0-950 8404-8-3
• Mike Freeman, The miners' fight for jobs: Our day will come, London: Junius Publications, March 1985, ISBN 0-9508 404-9-1
• Charles Longford, Black Blood on British Hands, London, Junius, September 1985.
• Kate Marshall, Moral Panics and Victorian Values, 1985, 2nd ed., 1986, Junius Publications.

1987

• Revolutionary Communist Party, The Red Front: A platform for working class unity, London: Junius, February 1987: 7
• Michael Fitzpatrick and Don Milligan, The Truth about the Aids Panic, London: Junius Publications, March 1987, ISBN 0 948392 07 X

1988

• Mick Hume and Derek Owen, Is there a Scottish solution?: The working class and the Assembly debate [Paperback], 127 pages, London: Junius (January 1988) ISBN-10: 0948392096 ISBN-13: 978-0948392092
• Joan Phillips, Policing the Family: Social control in Thatcher's Britain, London: Junius Publications, March 1988. ISBN 9780948392108

1990

Jenny Graham The end of apartheid? Revolutionary Communist Party (Great Britain), 39 Pages, Published 1990 ISBN: 0948392126 / 0‑948392‑12‑6, ISBN‑13: 9780948392122 / 978‑0‑948392‑12‑2

1993

• Mike Freeman, The Empire Strikes Back: Why we need a new Anti-War Movement, London, Junius, April 1993.

1996

• The Point is to Change It: A Manifesto for a World Fit for People, London: Junius (1996), x-xiii.

Books

• Frank Furedi, The Soviet Union Demystified: A Materialist Analysis, Junius Publications, 1986.
• Keith Tompson, Under Siege: Racism and Violence in Britain Today., with a foreword from John Pilger, Penguin, 1988

Resources

For a full list of reading and resources see LM network: Bibliography