Revolutionary Communist League (Palestine)
Encyclopedia
The Revolutionary Communist League (RCL) or 'Brit Kommunistim Mahapchanin' was a Trotskyist party in Palestine
in the late 1930s and 1940s.
It was built out of three components: exiled German Jewish members of Heinrich Brandler
’s KPO (Communist Party Opposition
– which emerged out of the Right Opposition
within the Comintern
) who became supporters of the International Left Opposition; youth in the Hugim Marxistiim
(Marxist Circles), the youth section of a wing of Left Poale Zion
, which at the time was linked to the 'centrist' London Bureau; and elements coming from the left Zionist kibbutz
movement, Hashomer Hatzair
, which was also linked to the London Bureau. Later, in the 1940s, they were joined by Jabra Nicola
, an Arab Communist who broke with the Palestine Communist Party
over the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact
.
The Brit Kommunistim Mahapchanin published a newspaper, Kol Hama’amad (Voice of the Class).
Tony Cliff
was a member, before moving to Britain and joining the RCL's sister party in the Fourth International
, the Revolutionary Communist Party (UK) and later leading the International Socialists
.
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
in the late 1930s and 1940s.
It was built out of three components: exiled German Jewish members of Heinrich Brandler
Heinrich Brandler
Heinrich Brandler was a German communist trade unionist, politician, revolutionary activist, and writer. Brandler is best remember as the head of the Communist Party of Germany during the party's ill-fated "March Action" of 1921 and aborted uprising of 1923, for which he was held responsible by...
’s KPO (Communist Party Opposition
Communist Party Opposition
The Communist Party of Germany was a communist opposition organisation established at the end of 1928 and maintaining its existence until 1939 or 1940...
– which emerged out of the Right Opposition
Right Opposition
The Right Opposition was the name given to the tendency made up of Nikolai Bukharin, Alexei Rykov, Mikhail Tomsky and their supporters within the Soviet Union in the late 1920s...
within the Comintern
Comintern
The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...
) who became supporters of the International Left Opposition; youth in the Hugim Marxistiim
Mifleget Poale Zion VeHaHugim HaMarksistim beEretz Yisrael
Mifleget Poale Zion VeHaHugim HaMarksistim beEretz Yisrael was the youth group of a faction of Poale Zion, the labour Zionist movement, in Mandate Palestine in the 1930s, which later merged into the Revolutionary Communist League...
(Marxist Circles), the youth section of a wing of Left Poale Zion
Poale Zion
Poale Zion was a Movement of Marxist Zionist Jewish workers circles founded in various cities of the Russian Empire about the turn of the century after the Bund rejected Zionism in 1901.-Formation and early years:Poale Zion parties and organisations were started across the Jewish diaspora in the...
, which at the time was linked to the 'centrist' London Bureau; and elements coming from the left Zionist kibbutz
Kibbutz
A kibbutz is a collective community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economic branches, including industrial plants and high-tech enterprises. Kibbutzim began as utopian communities, a combination of socialism and Zionism...
movement, Hashomer Hatzair
Hashomer Hatzair
Hashomer Hatzair is a Socialist–Zionist youth movement founded in 1913 in Galicia, Austria-Hungary, and was also the name of the group's political party in the Yishuv in the pre-1948 British Mandate of Palestine...
, which was also linked to the London Bureau. Later, in the 1940s, they were joined by Jabra Nicola
Jabra Nicola
Jabra Nicola was an Arab Israeli and Palestinian Trotskyist leader, the author of numerous articles and pamphlets who also translated some of the classics of Marxism into Arabic...
, an Arab Communist who broke with the Palestine Communist Party
Palestine Communist Party
The Palestine Communist Party was a political party in British Mandate of Palestine formed in 1923 through the merger of the Palestinian Communist Party and the Communist Party of Palestine...
over the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, named after the Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and the German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, was an agreement officially titled the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Soviet Union and signed in Moscow in the late hours of 23 August 1939...
.
The Brit Kommunistim Mahapchanin published a newspaper, Kol Hama’amad (Voice of the Class).
Tony Cliff
Tony Cliff
Tony Cliff , was a Trotskyist who was a founding member of the Socialist Review Group which went on to become the Socialist Workers Party...
was a member, before moving to Britain and joining the RCL's sister party in the Fourth International
Fourth International
The Fourth International is the communist international organisation consisting of followers of Leon Trotsky , with the declared dedicated goal of helping the working class bring about socialism...
, the Revolutionary Communist Party (UK) and later leading the International Socialists
International Socialist Tendency
The International Socialist Tendency is an international grouping of unorthodox Trotskyist organisations based around the ideas of Tony Cliff, founder of the Socialist Workers Party in Britain...
.
Further reading
- The Reds: the Communist Party in Israel by S. Dotan 1991 p.498
- Michel Warschawski Response: The Israeli Communist Party and the Radical Anti-Zionist Left, MERIP Reports, No. 66 (Apr., 1978), pp. 24-25
Texts by the Revolutionary Communist League (Palestine)
- "Against Partition", text by the RCL(P) 1947
- "Against the Stream", text by the RCL(P) 1948
- "On the Irresponsible Handling of the Palestine Question" by Tony Cliff of the RCL(P) 1948
- "Palestine Strike: Arabs and Jews Unite" by T. Cliff, Socialist AppealRevolutionary Communist Party (UK, 1944)The Revolutionary Communist Party was a British Trotskyist group, formed in 1944 and active until 1949, which published the newspaper Socialist Appeal, a theoretical journal Workers International News and an entrist paper for its Labour Party work The Militant .- Collapse of the RSL and founding of...
, Mid-May 1946, p3.