Committee for a Workers' International

Committee for a Workers' International
Name	Committee for a Workers' International
Founded	1974
Dissolved	2019
Headquarters	London
Ideology	Trotskyism
Position	Far-left
International	International

Committee for a Workers' International was an international Trotskyist organization founded in 1974 that sought to coordinate revolutionary socialist activity across Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas. It traced roots to pre-1974 Trotskyist tendencies associated with figures linked to Leon Trotsky, Vladimir Lenin, Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Marx, and the tradition of the Fourth International, engaging with parties such as the Socialist Workers Party (UK), Militant (British political group), Workers Revolutionary Party (UK), International Marxist Group, and groups influenced by the Russian Revolution, Spanish Civil War, and May 1968 events.

History

The organization emerged from splits involving activists around the International Socialists (UK), Militant tendency, Liga Comunista Revolucionaria (Argentina), Revolutionary Communist League (France), and figures associated with the Trotskyist Fraction–Fourth International, Larry Portis, Tony Cliff, Ted Grant, and debates over the legacy of the Fourth International (United Secretariat), United Secretariat of the Fourth International and the politics of the Soviet Union. During the 1970s and 1980s it confronted the politics of the Cold War, the Vietnam War, the Iranian Revolution, and the rise of neo-liberalism as debated in relation to parties like Labour Party (UK), Spanish Socialist Workers' Party, French Socialist Party, and social movements such as the Polish Solidarity, Anti-Apartheid Movement, and campaigns in Ireland and Greece.

Ideology and Politics

The group's theory synthesized interpretations of Marxism, Leninism, and Trotskyism with analysis of events such as the Russian Revolution of 1917, October Revolution, Stalinism, the Chinese Cultural Revolution, and the politics of permanent revolution attributed to Leon Trotsky. It took positions on struggles including the anti-apartheid struggle, anti-colonial movements in Algeria and Vietnam, and the dynamics of parties like Communist Party of Great Britain, French Communist Party, Italian Communist Party, and Workers' Party (Brazil). Debates within the organization referenced theorists and activists such as Ernest Mandel, Nahuel Moreno, Michel Pablo, Ted Grant, and Tony Cliff.

Organization and Structure

The body organized through an international committee, sections, and national organizations modeled after historical bodies like the Fourth International and inspired by traditions from the British labour movement, Trade Union Congress (TUC), United Auto Workers, and the industrial organizing of the Industrial Workers of the World. Leadership and cadre development drew on experiences of groups including the Socialist Workers Party (Ireland), New Communist Party of Britain, Workers Revolutionary Party (UK), and interactions with unions such as Unite the Union and Amalgamated Engineering Union as well as student networks linked to National Union of Students (UK) and cultural fronts influenced by the Workers' Sport movement.

Notable Campaigns and Activities

Sections and affiliates engaged in electoral interventions, trade union work, anti-fascist mobilizations, solidarity with the Palestinian Liberation Organization, support for the Sandinista National Liberation Front, campaigns against apartheid in South Africa, and opposition to interventions like the Iraq War, Falklands War, and NATO policies. Publications and periodicals produced by affiliated organizations intersected with debates involving Marxism Today, International Socialism Journal, Socialist Appeal, The Militant, and coverage of events in Chile, Argentina, Greece, Portugal, and Turkey.

Factions, Splits, and Successor Groups

Internal disputes produced notable splits leading to formations such as groups aligned with the International Socialist Tendency, factions around the 2009 split, and successor organizations that claimed continuity with traditions from the Fourth International and national realignments involving the Socialist Workers Party (UK), Socialist Alternative (UK), Spark (Trotskyist group), International Socialist Alternative, and reorganizations in Brazil, Spain, Greece, and Ireland. Tensions echoed historical splits like those between Pabloite currents, Orthodox Trotskyism, and tendencies associated with Entryism versus independent party-building as seen in the histories of the Militant tendency and Lambertist currents.

International Affiliates and Sections

National sections and sympathizers included organizations in United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Italy, Germany, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Bolivia, Venezuela, South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Australia, New Zealand, United States, Canada, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Turkey, Israel, Palestine, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Japan, South Korea, and Philippines, interacting with movements like the Zapatista Army of National Liberation, Maoist currents, Shining Path, and indigenous struggles including those in Bolivia and Ecuador.

Category:Trotskyist organizations