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Communist Party of Great Britain (Provisional Central Committee)
Encyclopedia
The Communist Party of Great Britain (Provisional Central Committee) is a political group which publishes the Weekly Worker
newspaper. The party favours the creation of a unified "Communist Party of the European Union". It is not to be confused with the now-defunct Communist Party of Great Britain
or the Communist Party of Britain
.
which split from the Communist Party of Great Britain
(CPGB) in 1977. Under the influence of a faction of the Communist Party of Turkey
, a handful led by NCP youth section leader John Chamberlain (who uses the pseudonym Jack Conrad) attempted to rejoin the then CPGB.
Few actually regained party cards but the grouping began to publish The Leninist, first as a journal, then as a more or less monthly paper. Initially The Leninist appeared to some to be a Stalinist publication in its politics, but over time it mutated into something very different. This may be due to their interaction with various Trotskyist groups including a series of exchanges with the Spartacist League
.
By the early 1990s, the group was working closely with the tiny Revolutionary Democratic Group
and the Open Polemic discussion magazine. They sought to deepen their links with a group of recent ex-members of the Socialist Workers Party
who called themselves the International Socialist Group. The CPGB (PCC) described this process as communist rapprochement. The attempt failed as the ISG collapsed and Open Polemic briefly enrolled a few of its supporters in the CPGB (PCC), only for them to quit in a row over money.
, but left to join the Socialist Alliance
, in which they came to work closely with the Alliance for Workers' Liberty
, and proposed a merger of their papers, rejected by the AWL. The two have since politically drifted apart.
In 2004 the group affiliated to the Respect Coalition
. A minority disagreed with the tactic of working within Respect and formed a faction called the Red Platform. The new faction called instead for the CPGB (PCC) to rejoin a Socialist Alliance reform current called the Socialist Alliance Democracy Platform
. The Red Platform won their aim but the CPGB (PCC) majority continued to work within Respect. Members of the Red Platform subsequently left to create the Red Party
in August 2004 over a disagreement about their views being published in the paper.
The group was active in the Campaign for a Marxist Party
and is critical of the Campaign for a New Workers' Party
and the Convention of the Left
. The CPGB (PCC) was heavily involved in founding the Hands Off the People of Iran
(HOPI) campaign; Mark Fischer, National Organiser of the CPGB (PCC), is HOPI secretary. The CPGB (PCC) also enjoys close links with Communist Students
.
The CPGB (PCC) endorsed the Labour Party
in the June 2009 European Parliament elections
and criticised the No to the EU – Yes to Democracy
coalition as "left-wing nationalist
."
Non-members such as former Soviet dissident Boris Kagarlitsky, Matzpen
founder Moshé Machover
and Professor Hillel Ticktin — editor of Critique
and chairman of the Centre for the Study of Socialist Theory and Movements, University of Glasgow
— have spoken at CPGB (PCC) events.
, The Leninist advanced sharp criticisms of the Soviet Union and the Eastern bloc
countries, while strongly opposing movements it considered to be in support of capitalism. Today, leading member Jack Conrad calls these societies "bureaucratic socialist", in a view strongly influenced by Hillel Ticktin and the Critique
journal, while Mike Macnair argues that the USSR was a peasant based society frozen in transition from feudalism
to capitalism. However, the CPGB (PCC) does not formally endorse any particular theoretical analysis of the USSR.
During the Kosovo War
of the late 1990s, the party supported the ethnic-Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army
(KLA) and supports the complete secession of Kosovo
from Serbia
. The party refers to the Serbian province as "Kosova", the Albanian and Ottoman Turkish
name for Kosovo.
The party calls for the abolition of age of consent laws arguing for "the right of individuals to enter into the sexual relations they choose provided this does not conflict with the rights of others. Alternative legislation to protect children from sexual abuse."
campaign, Ken Livingstone
— later Mayor of London
— claimed that the CPGB (PCC) were "MI5
agents". Others have also claimed that the convicted KGB
spy Michael Bettaney
is still working for MI5 within the party, under the name 'Michael Malkin'.
Weekly Worker
The Weekly Worker is a newspaper published by the Communist Party of Great Britain . The paper is well known on the left for its polemical articles, close attention to Marxist theory and the politics of other Marxist groups...
newspaper. The party favours the creation of a unified "Communist Party of the European Union". It is not to be confused with the now-defunct Communist Party of Great Britain
Communist Party of Great Britain
The Communist Party of Great Britain was the largest communist party in Great Britain, although it never became a mass party like those in France and Italy. It existed from 1920 to 1991.-Formation:...
or the Communist Party of Britain
Communist Party of Britain
The Communist Party of Britain is a communist political party in Great Britain. Although founded in 1988 it traces its origins back to 1920 and the Communist Party of Great Britain, and claims the legacy of that party and its most influential members Harry Pollitt and John Gollan as its...
.
Formation
The origins of the CPGB (PCC) lie in the New Communist Party of BritainNew Communist Party of Britain
The New Communist Party of Britain is a communist political party in Britain. The origins of the NCP lie in the Communist Party of Great Britain from which it split in 1977.-Formation:...
which split from the Communist Party of Great Britain
Communist Party of Great Britain
The Communist Party of Great Britain was the largest communist party in Great Britain, although it never became a mass party like those in France and Italy. It existed from 1920 to 1991.-Formation:...
(CPGB) in 1977. Under the influence of a faction of the Communist Party of Turkey
Communist Party of Turkey
The Communist Party of Turkey was a political party in Turkey. The party was founded by Mustafa Suphi in 1920, and was soon to be banned. It worked as a clandestine opposition party throughout the Cold War era, and was persecuted by the various military regimes. Many intellectuals, like Nazım...
, a handful led by NCP youth section leader John Chamberlain (who uses the pseudonym Jack Conrad) attempted to rejoin the then CPGB.
Few actually regained party cards but the grouping began to publish The Leninist, first as a journal, then as a more or less monthly paper. Initially The Leninist appeared to some to be a Stalinist publication in its politics, but over time it mutated into something very different. This may be due to their interaction with various Trotskyist groups including a series of exchanges with the Spartacist League
International Communist League (Fourth Internationalist)
The International Communist League , earlier known as the international Spartacist tendency is a Trotskyist international. Its largest constituent party is the Spartacist League...
.
Post CPGB Dissolution
After the break-up of the CPGB, the group declared their intention to reforge the party on what they declared to be "firm Leninist principles". They organised an "emergency conference", at which they claimed the CPGB name, but not its assets. They also changed the name of their paper, increasing its regularity to weekly.By the early 1990s, the group was working closely with the tiny Revolutionary Democratic Group
Revolutionary Democratic Group
The Revolutionary Democratic Group is a socialist organisation in the United Kingdom. They were founded in the early 1980s as a split from London and Scottish branches of the Socialist Workers Party, of which, for many years, they considered themselves an "external faction".The ideological centre...
and the Open Polemic discussion magazine. They sought to deepen their links with a group of recent ex-members of the Socialist Workers Party
Socialist Workers Party (Britain)
The Socialist Workers Party is a far left party in Britain founded by Tony Cliff. The SWP's student section has groups at a number of universities...
who called themselves the International Socialist Group. The CPGB (PCC) described this process as communist rapprochement. The attempt failed as the ISG collapsed and Open Polemic briefly enrolled a few of its supporters in the CPGB (PCC), only for them to quit in a row over money.
Current activities
The group was for a short while embedded in the Socialist Labour PartySocialist Labour Party (UK)
The Socialist Labour Party is a far left socialist political party in the United Kingdom. The party is led by former trade union leader Arthur Scargill, who established it in 1996 as a breakaway from the Labour Party...
, but left to join the Socialist Alliance
Socialist Alliance (England)
The Socialist Alliance was a left-wing electoral alliance in England between 1992 and 2005.In late 2005, a small group reformed with the name "Socialist Alliance", with a mutual affiliation with the larger Alliance for Green Socialism.-Origins:...
, in which they came to work closely with the Alliance for Workers' Liberty
Alliance for Workers' Liberty
The Alliance for Workers' Liberty , also known as Workers' Liberty, is a Trotskyist group in Britain. The group has a complex history but has always been identified with the theorist Sean Matgamna...
, and proposed a merger of their papers, rejected by the AWL. The two have since politically drifted apart.
In 2004 the group affiliated to the Respect Coalition
RESPECT The Unity Coalition
Respect is a socialist political party in England and Wales founded in 2004. Its name is a contrived acronym standing for Respect, Equality, Socialism, Peace, Environmentalism, Community and Trade Unionism.-Policies:...
. A minority disagreed with the tactic of working within Respect and formed a faction called the Red Platform. The new faction called instead for the CPGB (PCC) to rejoin a Socialist Alliance reform current called the Socialist Alliance Democracy Platform
Socialist Alliance Democracy Platform
The Socialist Alliance Democracy Platform was a faction of the Socialist Alliance , a left-wing political group of England and Wales which existed between 1999 and 2005....
. The Red Platform won their aim but the CPGB (PCC) majority continued to work within Respect. Members of the Red Platform subsequently left to create the Red Party
Red Party (UK)
Red Star is a revolutionary socialist organisation in Britain formed by former members of the Communist Party of Great Britain , the Alliance for Workers' Liberty, and the Peace Party...
in August 2004 over a disagreement about their views being published in the paper.
The group was active in the Campaign for a Marxist Party
Campaign for a Marxist Party
The Campaign for a Marxist Party was a campaign of several organisations on the British left for a political party with explicitly Marxist goals as part of a rebuilt workers' international .-Principles:...
and is critical of the Campaign for a New Workers' Party
Campaign for a New Workers' Party
The Campaign For A New Workers' Party is an initiative of the Socialist Party of England and Wales that argues for the establishment of a new mass workers' party, involving trade union activists, socialists, anti-capitalists, and community, anti-war and environmental activists. It was launched at...
and the Convention of the Left
Convention of the Left
The Convention of the Left is an annual conference of British left, socialist, progressive and green parties and organisations, first held in Manchester in September 2008. The format of the conference was that it 'shadowed' the Labour Party's 2008 Annual Conference, also being held in the city...
. The CPGB (PCC) was heavily involved in founding the Hands Off the People of Iran
Hands Off the People of Iran
Hands Off the People of Iran is a leftist anti-war group led mostly by exiled Iranian and British socialists, based in the United Kingdom. It is opposed to Western military intervention in Iran, which it considers imperialist. It also criticises the government of Iran, while advocating radical...
(HOPI) campaign; Mark Fischer, National Organiser of the CPGB (PCC), is HOPI secretary. The CPGB (PCC) also enjoys close links with Communist Students
Communist Students
Communist Students may refer to two existing organisations:* Communist Students * Communist Students...
.
The CPGB (PCC) endorsed the Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
in the June 2009 European Parliament elections
European Parliament election, 2009 (United Kingdom)
The European Parliament election was the United Kingdom's component of the 2009 European Parliament election, the voting for which was held on Thursday 4 June 2009, coinciding with the 2009 local elections in England. Most of the results of the election were announced on Sunday 7 June, after...
and criticised the No to the EU – Yes to Democracy
No to the EU – Yes to Democracy
No2EU – Yes to Democracy is a left-wing electoral alliance which was initiated by the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers to contest the June 2009 European elections in the United Kingdom. The party fielded candidates only in Great Britain...
coalition as "left-wing nationalist
Left-wing nationalism
Left-wing nationalism describes a form of nationalism officially based upon equality, popular sovereignty, and national self-determination. It has its origins in the Jacobinism of the French Revolution. Left-wing nationalism typically espouses anti-imperialism...
."
Non-members such as former Soviet dissident Boris Kagarlitsky, Matzpen
Matzpen
Matzpen is the name of an anti-capitalist and anti-Zionist organisation, founded in Israel in 1962 which was active until the 1980s. Its official name was the Israeli Socialist Organisation, but it became better known as Matzpen after its monthly publication....
founder Moshé Machover
Moshé Machover
Moshé Machover is a mathematician, philosopher, and socialist activist, noted for his writings against Zionism. Born to a Jewish family in Tel Aviv, then part of the British Mandate of Palestine, Machover moved to Britain in 1968 where he became a naturalised citizen...
and Professor Hillel Ticktin — editor of Critique
Critique (Journal of Socialist Theory)
Critique: Journal of Socialist Theory is a Marxist academic journal published by the Centre for the Study of Socialist Theory and Movements . The journal was established in May 1973 by founding editor Hillel H...
and chairman of the Centre for the Study of Socialist Theory and Movements, University of Glasgow
University of Glasgow
The University of Glasgow is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ancient universities. Located in Glasgow, the university was founded in 1451 and is presently one of seventeen British higher education institutions ranked amongst the top 100 of the...
— have spoken at CPGB (PCC) events.
Policies
The party has been involved in a rethinking of the class nature of the former USSR. Despite its origins in the NCPNew Communist Party of Britain
The New Communist Party of Britain is a communist political party in Britain. The origins of the NCP lie in the Communist Party of Great Britain from which it split in 1977.-Formation:...
, The Leninist advanced sharp criticisms of the Soviet Union and the Eastern bloc
Eastern bloc
The term Eastern Bloc or Communist Bloc refers to the former communist states of Eastern and Central Europe, generally the Soviet Union and the countries of the Warsaw Pact...
countries, while strongly opposing movements it considered to be in support of capitalism. Today, leading member Jack Conrad calls these societies "bureaucratic socialist", in a view strongly influenced by Hillel Ticktin and the Critique
Critique (Journal of Socialist Theory)
Critique: Journal of Socialist Theory is a Marxist academic journal published by the Centre for the Study of Socialist Theory and Movements . The journal was established in May 1973 by founding editor Hillel H...
journal, while Mike Macnair argues that the USSR was a peasant based society frozen in transition from feudalism
Feudalism
Feudalism was a set of legal and military customs in medieval Europe that flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries, which, broadly defined, was a system for ordering society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labour.Although derived from the...
to capitalism. However, the CPGB (PCC) does not formally endorse any particular theoretical analysis of the USSR.
During the Kosovo War
Kosovo War
The term Kosovo War or Kosovo conflict was two sequential, and at times parallel, armed conflicts in Kosovo province, then part of FR Yugoslav Republic of Serbia; from early 1998 to 1999, there was an armed conflict initiated by the ethnic Albanian "Kosovo Liberation Army" , who sought independence...
of the late 1990s, the party supported the ethnic-Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army
Kosovo Liberation Army
The Kosovo Liberation Army or KLA was a Kosovar Albanian paramilitary organization which sought the separation of Kosovo from Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in the 1990s....
(KLA) and supports the complete secession of Kosovo
Kosovo
Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...
from Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
. The party refers to the Serbian province as "Kosova", the Albanian and Ottoman Turkish
Ottoman Turkish language
The Ottoman Turkish language or Ottoman language is the variety of the Turkish language that was used for administrative and literary purposes in the Ottoman Empire. It borrows extensively from Arabic and Persian, and was written in a variant of the Perso-Arabic script...
name for Kosovo.
The party calls for the abolition of age of consent laws arguing for "the right of individuals to enter into the sexual relations they choose provided this does not conflict with the rights of others. Alternative legislation to protect children from sexual abuse."
Criticisms and Allegations
During the 1992 general electionUnited Kingdom general election, 1992
The United Kingdom general election of 1992 was held on 9 April 1992, and was the fourth consecutive victory for the Conservative Party. This election result was one of the biggest surprises in 20th Century politics, as polling leading up to the day of the election showed Labour under leader Neil...
campaign, Ken Livingstone
Ken Livingstone
Kenneth Robert "Ken" Livingstone is an English politician who is currently a member of the centrist to centre-left Labour Party...
— later Mayor of London
Mayor of London
The Mayor of London is an elected politician who, along with the London Assembly of 25 members, is accountable for the strategic government of Greater London. Conservative Boris Johnson has held the position since 4 May 2008...
— claimed that the CPGB (PCC) were "MI5
MI5
The Security Service, commonly known as MI5 , is the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its core intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service focused on foreign threats, Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence...
agents". Others have also claimed that the convicted KGB
KGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
spy Michael Bettaney
Michael Bettaney
Michael John Bettaney was an intelligence officer working in the Counter-espionage branch of MI5 who was convicted at the Old Bailey in 1984 of offences under section 1 of the Official Secrets Act 1911 after passing sensitive documents to the Soviet Embassy in London and attempting to act as an...
is still working for MI5 within the party, under the name 'Michael Malkin'.