Revolutionary Communist Party of Britain (Marxist–Leninist)

Revolutionary Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist)
Leader National Spokesperson:
Chris Coleman
Collective Leadership:
(Central Committee)
Founded 1979
Headquarters John Buckle Centre,
170 Wandsworth Road,
London SW8 2LA
Newspaper Workers Daily [online]
Workers Weekly [online]
Ideology Communism,
Anti-Revisionism
Hoxhaism
Marxism-Leninism
Political position Far-left
International affiliation None
Website
http://www.rcpbml.org.uk/

The Revolutionary Communist Party of Britain (Marxist–Leninist) (RCPB-ML) is a British communist political party. It was named the Communist Party of England (Marxist-Leninist) from March 1972, until it was reorganised in 1979 after rejecting Maoism as revisionist and embracing the former communist regime in Albania instead.[1] The party's thinking is based on the politics of Hardial Bains, who died in 1997. Born in India, Bains travelled the world founding anti-revisionist communist parties.

History

Like other Bains-inspired parties, the then CPE(ML) took the Chinese side in the Sino-Soviet split, thus being endorsed by Albania, then allied with Maoist China, and opposing both the capitalist West and the Soviet bloc. As a result, it supported the Three Worlds Theory promoted by Beijing and, as a consequence of this anti-Soviet line, supported British membership of NATO. However, during the deterioration in Sino-Albanian relations, it increasingly sided with the Party of Labour of Albania. It developed party to party relations with the Party of Labour of Albania and renounced Maoism.

In 1973 the CPE(ML) put forward 2 candidates in parliamentary by-elections, and in 1974 stood in 6 constituencies in the February general election and 8 seats in the October general election. Their highest recorded vote was 612 (1.2%) in Portsmouth South during the second 1974 general election.[1] RCPBML official Roger Nettleship has stood in several recent elections, including Jarrow in 2005[2] and South Shields in 2001 and 2010.[3]

It is a small party, is closely related to the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) and has good relations with the New Communist Party of Britain. It produces an internet newspaper called Workers' Daily Internet Edition (WDIE), and has a bookshop in south London named John Buckle Books[4] (named after the RCPB(ML) founding general secretary). It is active in promoting solidarity with North Korea. In 2004, the party declared electoral support for the Respect Coalition, but RCPB(ML) calls for an end to the system that brings parties to power and calls on workers' and peoples' collectives to intervene directly in the political process. The party therefore supports candidates of the alternative to the political system of the bourgeoisie. The party has a system of collective leadership; its current National Spokesperson is Chris Coleman.

The party had links with the progressive music milieu in the 1970s, avant-garde composers such as Cornelius Cardew [5] and Michael Chant having been leading members.[6] The party's logo is a black hammer and sickle within a yellow star on a red background.

Election results[7]

By-elections, 1970-1974

Election Candidate Votes Percentage Position
Manchester Exchange by-election, 1973 Pushkin, RuthRuth Pushkin 109 1.1 4
Hove by-election, 1973 Reakes, CaroleCarole Reakes 128 0.3 5

February 1974 UK general election

Constituency Candidate Votes Percentage Position
Battersea North Reakes, CaroleCarole Reakes 208 0.7 4
Birmingham Handsworth Thompson, S.S. Thompson 334 1.0 4
Brighton Kemptown Buckle, JohnJohn Buckle 170 0.3 4
Lambeth Central Brome, Ekins DentonEkins Denton Brome 107 0.4 5
Manchester Moss Side Pushkin, RuthRuth Pushkin 206 0.6 4
Portsmouth South Rifkin, A. D.A. D. Rifkin 394 0.7 4

October 1974 UK general election

Constituency Candidate Votes Percentage Position
Battersea North Reakes, CaroleCarole Reakes 102 0.4 5
Birmingham Handsworth Hutchinson, J. L.J. L. Hutchinson 103 0.3 5
Brighton Kemptown Buckle, JohnJohn Buckle 125 0.3 5
Bristol South East Rowe, P.P. Rowe 79 0.1 6
Cardiff South East Harris, B. C. D.B. C. D. Harris 75 0.2 5
Lambeth Central Bratton, Peter JohnPeter John Bratton 88 0.3 5
Leicester South Rousseau, G. H.G. H. Rousseau 136 0.3 5
Portsmouth South Rifkin, A. D.A. D. Rifkin 612 1.2 4

By-elections, 1974-1979

Election Candidate Votes Percentage Position
Ilford North by-election, 1978 Rowe, CaroleCarole Rowe 89 0.2 6
Lambeth Central by-election, 1978 Munro, StuartStuart Munro 38 0.2 10

Rowe stood as "East London Peoples Front", and Munro stood as "South London Peoples Front".

See also

References

  1. 1 2 David Boothroyd The History of British Political Parties, London: Politicos, 2001, p.244
  2. ↑ "Workers Daily Internet Edition Year 2005 No. 43". rcpbml.org.uk.
  3. ↑ "Workers Daily Internet Edition Year 2010 No. 21". rcpbml.org.uk.
  4. ↑ http://www.rcpbml.org.uk/jbbooks.htm John Buckle Books
  5. ↑ Richard Gott, "Liberation Music" .A review of Cornelius Cardew: A Life Unfinished by John Tilbury, London Review of Books, 15 March 2009.
  6. ↑ "Leader". rcpbml.org.uk.
  7. ↑ Craig, F. W. S. (1975). Minor Parties in British By-elections, 1885-1974. London: Macmillan Press. p. 17.

External links

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