Revolutionary Communist Tendency

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RCT logo circa 1979

The Revolutionary Communist Tendency was a faction that formed in 1977 after being expelled from the Revolutionary Communist Group in 1976. It later changed its name to the Revolutionary Communist Party in 1981/2.[1]

The first publication of the RCT, March 1977.

From the beginning RCT members used 'party names' in addition to their own names. Thus Frank Richards and Mike Freeman were cover names for Frank Furedi and Michael Fitzpatrick. The RCT also created a number of front groups, a pattern the RCP and later the LM Network would continue. Thus in 1977 and 1978 they had already formed the Smash the Prevention of Terrorism Act Campaign and Workers Against Racism, the latter of which carried on through the name change to the RCP. The former was replaced by the Irish Freedom Movement.

A strong focus on Ireland from the beginning: Special issue on Ireland: British imperialism in Ireland and anti-imperialism in Britain, Revolutionary Communist Papers No. 2: May 1978, Revolutionary Communist Tendency, London: Junius Publications.

Formation

The RCT originated in a split in the Revolutionary Communist Group in November 1976. The RCG itself had been created following a split in the International Socialists (the forerunner of the Socialist Workers' Party) in the early 1970s. The grouping that became the RCT was expelled for opposing the attempt of the RCG to gain influence with the Communist Party of Great Britain and the Anti-Apartheid Movement. A right wing critic of the Left such as Blake Baker claims that the RCT was formed following the 'expulsion of a large minority of members in 1976 for attacking the Communist Party'.[2] Left critics, such as Denver Walker (a journalist at that time for the New Worker the paper of the New Communist Party), have a similar account: 'It was apparently their demand that the RCG publicly attack the African National Congress of South Africa... that led to the expulsion of the Tendency from its parent body'.[3]

'Workers against imperialism : the British labour movement and Ireland'. Revolutionary Communist Tendency, May 1979
Cover of Ireland's Victory Means Britain's Defeat: the Role of the Labour Movement (Revolutionary communist Pamphlets) Revolutionary Communist Tendency 1980 Junius Publications Ltd 24p.
Collage from The next step from p. 12-13 of Ireland's Victory Means Britain's Defeat: the Role of the Labour Movement (Revolutionary communist Pamphlets) Revolutionary Communist Tendency 1980 Junius Publications Ltd 24p.

According to another account of its creation by John Sullivan a left critic of small left groups, but a lifelong socialist activist:

THE RCT was expelled from its parent, the RCG, for challenging that group’s grovelling before the Communist Party and the Anti-Apartheid Movement on its way towards becoming a consistent defender of anti-working-class regimes. The RCG was then conducting entry work in Anti-Apartheid. The people who became the RCT wanted to criticise the African National Congress.[4]

Elsewhere Sullivan had written that the falling out also had an economic dimension:

Yaffe’s plunge into full fledged Stalinism, combined with a disagreement over the mathematics in Capital with his chief lieutenant Frank Richards produced a split, [5] which eventually became the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP).

Following the expulsion the expelled group seems to have split again around the time of the creation of the RCT with a small grouping called the Committee for a Communist Programme leaving according to some sources.[6]

At the time (1981) Sullivan put the strength of the RCT at 'around 70'[4], a figure with which Walker more or less concurs writing that the RCT 'perhaps' 60 members.[3] Sullivan wrote of the later development of the RCT/P:

The new group declared itself anti-Stalinist, and took several steps sideways in an attempt to differentiate its product... The group dropped Yaffe’s hostility to the working class and adopted an agnostic attitude to the historic divide between Stalinism and Trotskyism. At first sight it is a much less repellent group than its parent, but its essential eclecticism has landed it in some strange company. Opponents translate the initials RCP as Ray Chadburn Party, after the leader of Nottinghamshire NUM, because of the group’s support for a ballot during the miners’ strike.[5]
... its weekly journal The Next Step... is a kind of Left wing answer to Marxism Today, sharing that journal’s eclecticism. ... What then gives the RCP’s eclectic mishmash the appeal which made it the fastest growing group of the 1980s, with a dynamism notably absent from both the RCG and the Discussion Group? The answer is style. The group is part of the harder aggressive, post-punk move away from peace and love and the average RCPer looks very different from the grotty SWPers. They have been described as "the SWP with hair gel", and many a parent, pleased at the improvement in their child’s appearance, has welcomed the move from one to another.[5]

One early observer (in an article published in the January 1978 edition of Marxism Today) noted that at that stage the RCT were almost indistinguishable from the RCG from which they had split:

In recent months the RCG has not only suffered a breakaway—the Revolutionary Communist Tendency, or RCT—but also witnessed a further split within the breakaway—the Committee for a Communist Programme, or CCP. The rationale behind the splits does not seem to lie in any major disagreement on political orientation, but only over how sectarian the organisation should be towards other left groups, particularly the CPGB. For the purposes of this article, therefore, the three groups are treated as one. This is not unfair, for the three organisations share a common perspective on nearly all issues; for instance, both the RCG and the RCT publish a journal on Ireland called Hands off Ireland and the contents of the first issues of both journals are very nearly identical, the same signed articles appearing in both.[6]

This similarity did continue for some time, but the RCP did diverge in marked respects over the years. However, though the two groups did produce journals with similar titles (Revolutionary Communist published by the RCG from January 1975 and Revolutionary Communist Papers and Revolutionary Communist Pamphlets, produced by the RCT from 1977) it seems that Hands off Ireland!was only produced by the RCG (from December 1976).

Activities

Ireland

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.'[7]

Bring the War to Britain Event

TUC Hands off Ireland. Smash the Prevention of Terrorism Act Campaign. Revolutionary Communist Pamphlets No.8. Junius Publications Ltd, March 1981.

According to former RCP member James Heartfield, the secretary of Tameside trades council at the time Dave Hallsworth was at some point a member of the RCP (though it was still the RCT at the time and it is not clear if Hallsworth joined the RCP before or after the event)

Dave was secretary of the Tameside trades council at this time, committing it to a policy of supporting Irish freedom and a conference to discuss the Northern Ireland troubles. As a result, the TUC sent its future general secretary John Monks to disband the council.[8]

1980 Workers Against Racism

See main article Workers Against Racism

Imperialism in the Eighties conference, September 1980

Publications

The RCT created several strands of publication, one of which was the monthly 'review' of the RCT, titled The next step (without capitalisation), first published in December 1979. The next step would remain in publication through the following years as the paper (for some time a weekly paper) of the RCP. They also published two series of pamphlets, one of which was titled 'Revolutionary Communist Papers' and was described as their 'theoretical journal'.

The publisher of all this material from late 1977 was a company called Junius Publications (Company No.: 01339999) which had a date of incorporation of 22 November 1977 (and was eventually dissolved on 25 January 2000 some four years after demise of the RCP).[9]

The list below is compiled from a variety of sources.[10]

Transition from RCT to RCP. Appeal for funds for the RCP from the party theoretical journal Revolutionary Communist Papers, Issue 7, July 1981, p. 21.


Inside back cover of Ireland's Victory Means Britain's Defeat: the Role of the Labour Movement (Revolutionary Communist Pamphlets) Revolutionary Communist Tendency 1980 Junius Publications Ltd 24p.

Revolutionary Communist Papers

  • Documents On The Split Within The Revolutionary Communist Group Revolutionary Communist Papers No. 1: March 1977, London: Revolutionary Communist Tendency. ISSN 0309-4634.
1. Chris Davies and Judith Harrison 'A retrograde step for the Marxist movement - a reply to Cde Yaffe';
2. Frank Richards and Phil Turner 'Stalinsim, the Communist party and the RCG's new turn';
Appendix I, 'Cde Yaffe's "A Turning Point"';
Appendix II, 'Cde Dornhorst's "The CPGB - a comment on comrade Turner's article"'
'Editorial', p. 1-2
Mary Masters and Phil Turner 'British Imperialism and the Irish Crisis', p. 3-20.
Frank Richards, 'No Equivocation!', p. 21-28
  • The Recession: Capitalist Offensive and the Working class - a Marxist analysis of the crisis and reformism in the labour movement, Revolutionary Communist Papers No. 3: 1978, London: Junius Publications.
  • Revisionism, Imperialism and the State: A critique of the revisionist dogma of State Monopoly Capitalism, Revolutionary Communist Papers No. 4: 1979, London: Junius Publications.
  • Frank Richards, Alan Harding, Andre Robinson, Peter Wilson, Charles Longford THE BATTLE FOR AFRICA: Showdown in Zimbabwe: The Rape of Zaire: The Scramble for Africa Revolutionary Communist Papers No. 5: 1979 Junius Publications Ltd 48 p.
  • Khomeini's Capitalism: The Imperialists close In, Revolutionary Communist Papers No. 6: 1980, London: Junius Publications.
Frank Richards 'Editorial: The Middle East heads for war', 19 May 1980, p. 1-3
Nick Jenkins and Inez Landa 'Khomeini's capitalism: the imperialists close in', p. 4-27
No author listed, 'Iran's national minorities', p. 28.
Reviews
Tony Allen, 'Rereading Capital' Review of 'Revising Capital', B Fine and L Harris, p. 29.
Charles Longford Review of R H Davies Capital, State and white labour in South Africa 1900-1960, p. 30.
Bela Horvat, 'The impenetrable curtain', p. 30.
  • World in Recession Revolutionary Communist Papers, No 7 July 1981.
Frank Richards, 'Editorial: Their alternative and ours', p. 1-2.
Tony Allen, 'World in recession', p. 3-21.
Mike Freeman '"Self-activity" makes you blind: A reply to Alex Callinicos and the SWP', p. 22-26
Andrew Clarkson and Phil Murphy 'The Loyalist working class', p. 27-36.
Reviews: Frank Richards, 'Imperialism and the crisis' Warren, Mandel, Day and Hilferding, p. 36-7
Tony Allen, 'Philosphy and revolution': G Pilling, Marx's Capital, p. 37-8.
  • Prolonging the death agony: The rise, fall and reconstitution of social democracy, Revolutionary Communist Papers No.8., Revolutionary Communist Party, Sept 1981.

Revolutionary Communist Pamphlets

This series began life as 'Revolutionary Communist Tendency Pamphlets' in 1977. There appear to have been two publications in the series before the word 'Tendency' was dropped. The series continued from number two with the first publication being a second edition of the second pamphlet from the first series.[11]

RCT Pamphlets

  • Sabina Norton and Keith Tompson The struggle for a revolutionary propaganda group, RCT Pamphlets No. 1, October 1977, London: Revolutionary Communist Tendency BM RCT, WC1V 6XX [1],11p 30cm. Copy held in the Librarry of Social History collection in the archives of the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, California.
  • Frank Richards Under a national flag fascism, racism and the labour movement, 1978, London: R.C.T. Association BM RCT, WC1V 6XX, 26,[3]p 30cm sd, RCT pamphlets Revolutionary Communist Tendency no.2.

Revolutionary Communist Pamphlets

Misc publications

Leaflets and other materials

Resources

Notes

  1. ↑ Many accounts date the RCT/P from 1978. This is incorrect. The expulsion from the RCG was in 1976 according to Baker (Blake Baker, The Far Left: An Expose of the Extreme Left in Britain,London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1981, p. 87) as well as according to the RCG itself ('Statement on the expulsion of a chauvinist grouping in the RCG', RCG Executive Committee, Nov 1976) and the creation of the RCT was in 1977, according to Denver Walker (Quite right Mr. Trotsky: Some Trotsky myths debunked, and how Trotskyists today hamper the fight for peace and socialism, London: Harney and Jones, 1985, p. 46) a date supported by Gerry Leversha in a piece published in January 1978 (Some Reflections on the 'Revolutionary Communist Group', Marxism Today, January 1978.) The clinching evidence is that the RCT published the first edition of its 'theoretical journal', Revolutionary Communist Papers' in March 1977
  2. ↑ Blake Baker, The Far Left: An Expose of the Extreme Left in Britain,London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1981, p. 87
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Denver Walker Quite right Mr. Trotsky: Some Trotsky myths debunked, and how Trotskyists today hamper the fight for peace and socialism, London: Harney and Jones, 1985, p. 46
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 John Sullivan Revolutionary Communist Party, Formerly Revolutionary Communist Tendency From John Sullivan, Go Fourth and Multiply/When This Pub Closes, Socialist Platform, London 2004.First published in 1981 by Dialogue of the Deaf, Box 99, Full Marks Bookshop, 110 Cheltenham Road, Bristol 6.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 John Sullivan, 'RCP' in As Soon As This Pub Closes ..., 1986.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Gerry Leversha Some Reflections on the 'Revolutionary Communist Group', Marxism Today, January 1978.
  7. ↑ Mike Freeman Ireland's Victory Means Britain's Defeat: the Role of the Labour Movement (Revolutionary communist pamphlets) Revolutionary Communist Tendency Association June 1980 Junius Publications Ltd, p. 7
  8. ↑ James Heartfield 'Dave Hallsworth' Obituary, Guardian, 20 December 2007
  9. ↑ Data at Companies House, accessed 22 October 2010.
  10. ↑ Sources include documents in the possession of Powerbase; searches on abebooks.com and amazon.co.uk; Hull University Library Catalogue entry Revolutionary Communist papers, accessed 22 October 2010; Linenhall Library, Northern Ireland Political Collection; Irish Left Archive: “TUC Hands off Ireland!” Revolutionary Communist Tendency (UK) – later the Revolutionary Communist Party, c.1981 October 19, 2009; British Library catalogue Revolutionary Communist Tendency, accessed 24 September 2010
  11. ↑ See catalogue details in the British Library catalogue: Revolutionary Communist Tendency, accessed 24 October 2010.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Noted in Documents On The Split Within The Revolutionary Communist Group Revolutionary Communist Papers No. 1: March 1977, London: Revolutionary Communist Tendency. ISSN 0309-4634. p. 56
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