The International Communist League (Fourth Internationalist), popularly referred to as the Spartacist League and by its critics as "The Sparts", is a Trotskyist international organisation based primarily in the United States. The group originated within the Revolutionary Tendency of the Socialist Workers Party. Upon its expulsion from the SWP it became known as the international Spartacist tendency in 1964 basing its name on the Spartacist League of Weimar Republic-era Germany, though the current League has no formal descent from its namesake. Depending on the context, the League will often self-identify as a "revolutionary communist" organization. Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism as advocated by Leon Trotsky. ... The Socialist Workers Party is a small communist political party in the United States. ... The Spartacist League (Spartakusbund in German) was a left-wing Marxist revolutionary movement organized in Germany during and just after the politically volatile years of World War I. It was founded by Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg (nicknamed Red Rosa) along with others such as Clara Zetkin. ... Anthem: Das Lied der Deutschen The Länder of Germany during the Weimar Republic, with the Free State of Prussia (Freistaat Preußen) as the largest Capital Berlin Language(s) German Government Republic President  - 1919-1925 Friedrich Ebert  - 1925-1933 Paul von Hindenburg Chancellor  - 1919 Philipp Scheidemann  - 1933 Adolf Hitler... This article is about communism as a form of society and as a political movement. ...

There are smaller sections of the Spartacist League in Mexico, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, South Africa, Australia, Greece and the United Kingdom. The Spartacist League characterizes itself as a revolutionary fighting propaganda group and devotes much attention to polemicizing against both capitalist parties and other groups that consider themselves to be Marxist-Leninist. An Australian anti-conscription propaganda poster from World War One U.S. propaganda poster, which warns against civilians sharing information on troop movements (National Archives) The much-imitated 1914 Lord Kitchener Wants You! poster Swedish Anti-Euro propaganda for the referendum of 2003. ... Look up Polemic in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Polemic is the art or practice of inciting disputation or causing controversy, for example in religious, philosophical, or political matters. ... Vladimir Lenin in 1920 Leninism is a political and economic theory which builds upon Marxism; it is a branch of Marxism (and it has been the dominant branch of Marxism in the world since the 1920s). ...

Since the early 1980s the League and affiliates have also organized mobilizations against Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan; in the late-1980s it was an early campaigner to save Mumia Abu-Jamal from death row.[1] The Spartacist League regards what they term the "struggle for black liberation" as central to communist revolution in the U.S.; to that end, they promote "revolutionary integrationism"[2] and also prominently support the right to bear arms. Their publications frequently criticize the Christian Right's opposition to abortion and homosexuality as examples of an attempt to establish a "sex police," though less popularly, the Spartacist League has defended groups like the North American Man-Boy Love Association on civil libertarian grounds and have called for an end to age-of-consent laws. The 1980s refers to the years of and between 1980 and 1989. ... National Socialism redirects here. ... Members of the second Ku Klux Klan at a rally during the 1920s. ... The 1980s refers to the years of and between 1980 and 1989. ... Mumia Abu-Jamal photo Mumia Abu-Jamal (born Wesley Cook April 24, 1954) is a journalist and political activist from Philadelphia who was on Death Row after having been convicted of the murder of Philadelphia Police Department Officer Daniel Faulkner, but is now serving life in a Pennsylvania State Prison. ... For information about the Record company see Death Row Records For information about the computer game see Deathrow (game) Death Row is a term which refers to the section of a prison that houses individuals awaiting execution. ... It has been suggested that Proletarian revolution be merged into this article or section. ... The Christian right is a term collectively referring to a spectrum of right-wing Christian political and social movements and organizations characterized by their strong support of social values they deem in line with traditional Christian values in [[Western world by a wide range of commentators. ... Homosexuality refers to sexual interaction and / or romantic attraction between individuals of the same sex. ... A NAMBLA logo. ... A civil libertarian is one who is actively concerned with the protection of individual civil liberties and civil rights. ... Worldwide age of consent laws. ...

Publications

The League operates the Prometheus Research Library in New York City, which includes the tendency's archives and other material on the history of Trotskyism. The U.S. group publishes the newspaper Workers Vanguard, which is known for its acerbic running commentary on the activities of other leftist groups, its sarcastic wit, and its obituaries of leftist figures whose lives often are inadequately analyzed and/or memorialized in the mainstream media, recently including Bill Epton, Richard Fraser, Robert F. Williams, and Myra Tanner Weiss. Since the 1990s Workers Vanguard has also featured original essays on the history of Marxist and pre-Marxist radical ideas written under the party name Joseph Seymour. Spartacist is the official theoretical journal of the Spartacists and is published in four languages. The Prometheus Research Library is the central reference archive of the Spartacist League (US). ... Nickname: Big Apple, Gotham, NYC, City That Never Sleeps, The Concrete Jungle, The City So Nice They Named It Twice Location in the state of New York Coordinates: Country United States State New York Boroughs The Bronx Brooklyn Manhattan Queens Staten Island Settled 1676 Government  - Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) Area... Bill Epton in a crowd William Leo Epton Jr. ... For other persons named Robert Williams, see Robert Williams (disambiguation). ... Myra Tanner Weiss (May 17, 1917 - September 13, 1997) was an American Communist and leader of the Socialist Workers Party. ...

Positions

Regarding similar groups

The League rejects left-wing political coalitions and campaigns on the grounds that they are popular fronts aimed at providing platforms for bourgeois politicians from the Democratic Party and the U.S. Green Party, a strategy the SL's ideas abhor. Instead, the League denounces all support to "capitalist parties," especially the left-wing ones founded through popular front formation, and instead argue for an independent workers' party aiming for state power. In politics, left-wing, political left, leftism, or simply the left, are terms which refer (with no particular precision) to the segment of the political spectrum typically associated with any of several strains of socialism, social democracy, or liberalism (especially in the American sense of the word), or with opposition... A coalition is an alliance among entities, during which they cooperate in joint action, each in their own self-interest. ... Popular Fronts comprise broad coalitions of political and other groups, often made up of oppositioners or left wingers, and often united against particularly stringent circumstances. ... The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States; the other being the Republican Party. ... In United States politics, the Green Party has been active as a third party since the 1980s. ... In economics, a capitalist is someone who owns capital, presumably within the economic system of capitalism. ... In politics, left-wing, political left, leftism, or simply the left, are terms which refer (with no particular precision) to the segment of the political spectrum typically associated with any of several strains of socialism, social democracy, or liberalism (especially in the American sense of the word), or with opposition... In the context of international relations and diplomacy, power (sometimes clarified as international power, national power, or state power) is the ability of one state to influence or control other states. ...

The Spartacists also devote much attention to polemicizing against other communist and socialist groups. These polemics are usually exceptionally forceful and are often seen by the groups being attacked as unnecessarily disruptive of their activities. The Spartacist League is also highly critical of groups associated with the reunified Fourth International, whose politics they characterize as Pabloite. Look up Polemic in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Polemic is the art or practice of inciting disputation or causing controversy, for example in religious, philosophical, or political matters. ... This article is about communism as a form of society and as a political movement. ... Socialism is a social and economic system (or the political philosophy advocating such a system) in which the economic means of production are owned and controlled collectively by the people. ... The reunified Fourth International was created in 1963 by the reunification of the majorities of two public factions of the Fourth International: the International Secretariat of the Fourth International (ISFI) and the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI). ... Michel Pablo (August 24, 1911 - February 17, 1996 ) was the pseudonym of Michel N. Raptis, a Greek Trotskyist leader. ...

In a book entitled Death Agony of the Fourth International, Workers Power and the Irish Workers Group claim the iSt's strategy was/is based on, and they quote from an iSt document, "destroying" other left wing groups. They claim this involves occupying rooms where other left groups are due to have meetings as well as other methods. Furthermore, they argue that the Sparacists, while developing a correct position that the SWP were centrist, did not recognise that the Fourth International had degenerated before it split, and therefore were more critical of one section than of the other. Workers Power is an orthodox Trotskyist group, affiliated to the League for the Fifth International, which they were prime movers in founding. ... There have been two groups which have used the name Irish Workers Group. ...

On Islamic states

Much of the left supported Ayatollah Khomeini during the Islamic Revolution in Iran as "anti-imperialist," but the Spartacists gave no support to this. However, the League was one of the few communist groups other than the Workers World Party to hail the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 and the occupation that followed. At the time the Spartacists believed it provided an opportunity to extend the gains of the October Revolution to the Afghan people, especially women, in a struggle against the misogynistic Islamic fundamentalists of the U.S.-backed Mujahideen. Later, when the U.S. intervention led to the formation of the successive Islamic governments of the Mujahideen and the Taliban, the League shifted to an echo of its condemnation of the Islamic Revolution in Iran and denounced these governments as theocratic, capitalist and anti-woman. Ayatollah Khomeini founded the first modern Islamic republic Ayatollah Seyyed Ruhollah Khomeini (آیت‌الله روح‌الله خمینی in Persian) (May 17, 1900 – June 3, 1989) was an Iranian Shia cleric and the political... 1980 Iranian stamp commemorating the Islamic Revolution Protestors take to the street in support of Ayatollah Khomeini. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Workers World Party (WWP) is a communist party in the United States founded in 1959 by Sam Marcy. ... A Soviet soldier on guard in Afghanistan in 1988. ... For the song by the Smashing Pumpkins, see 1979 (song). ... Red October redirects here. ... Misogyny is an exaggerated pathological aversion towards women. ... Mujahideen ( Arabic: ‎, , literally strugglers) is a term for Muslims fighting in a war or involved in any other struggle. ... Mujahideen ( Arabic: ‎, , literally strugglers) is a term for Muslims fighting in a war or involved in any other struggle. ... Armed Taliban in pickup truck in Herat, July 2001. ... Theocracy is a form of government in which a religion and the government are allied. ... In economics, a capitalist is someone who owns capital, presumably within the economic system of capitalism. ...

On communist states

The League also fought hard in mobilizing to defend the Soviet Union and East Germany from capitalist restoration, though they were obviously unsuccessful. Their group in Germany waged a campaign in 1989 calling for political revolution against Stalinism and opposition to the capitalist reunification. Today, the Spartacists maintain a position of defending what they see as the remaining deformed workers states, including, more recently, its call for defense of North Korea's right to nuclear arms as a necessary component keeping North Korea free of U.S. military intervention. This is a continuation of their earlier positions on what they consider the deformed workers states of the Republic of Cuba, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Socialist Republic of Vietnam, and the People's Republic of China. On these countries they continue to call for political revolution against the ruling communist parties while at the same time calling for the defense of these revolutions from imperialism and internal capitalist counter-revolution. This article is about a form of government in which the state operates under the control of a Communist Party. ... GDR redirects here. ... In the Trotskyist movement, the term political revolution refers to an unpheaval in which the government is replaced, or the form of government altered, but in which property relations are predominantly left intact. ... The Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) German reunification (German: ) took place on October 3, 1990, when the areas of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR, in English commonly called East Germany) were incorporated into the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, in English... In Trotskyist political theory, deformed workers states are states where capitalism has been overthrown through social revolution and the property forms have changed into a collectivized planned economy, but where the working class has never held political power (as it did in Russia shortly after the Russian Revolution). ... The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945 lifted nuclear fallout some 18 km (60,000 feet) above the epicenter. ... In Trotskyist political theory, deformed workers states are states where capitalism has been overthrown through social revolution and the property forms have changed into a collectivized planned economy, but where the working class has never held political power (as it did in Russia shortly after the Russian Revolution). ... In the Trotskyist movement, the term political revolution refers to an unpheaval in which the government is replaced, or the form of government altered, but in which property relations are predominantly left intact. ...

History

Background

A group of left wing youth recruited to the American Socialist Workers Party in the late 1950's formed the Independent Socialist League led by Max Shachtman which was then about to dissolve in order to join the Socialist Party of America. This small group included James Robertson, who would go on to be the central leader of the Spartacist League, and Tim Wohlforth. Also important in the early days were Shane Mage and Geoff White. The Socialist Workers Party is a small communist political party in the United States. ... The Workers Party was a Trotskyist group in the United States. ... Max Shachtman (September 10, 1904 - November 4, 1972) was an American Marxist theorist. ... The Socialist Party of America (SPA) is a socialist political party in the United States. ... James Robertson is the National Chairman of the Spartacist League in the United States and leader of the International Communist League (Fourth Internationalist) which is an international organization of small Trotskyist groups. ... Timothy Andrew Wohlforth is a former Trotskyist politician. ...

By 1960 this grouping, mostly active in the youth group associated with the SWP, had become worried by what they saw as the opportunism of the leadership of the SWP headed by Farrell Dobbs and by overtures by the SWP to the International Secretariat of the Fourth International. Particular issues in the dispute included the character of the Cuban revolution, characterized by the majority as a "healthy workers' state," and proper orientation towards the Civil Rights Movement, where the majority attitude was that of uncritical support from afar. Farrell Dobbs (July 25, 1907 – October 31, 1983) was an American Trotskyist politician and trade unionist. ... Initially the title International Secretariat of the Fourth International was the name given to the executive committee responsible for the regular operation of the Fourth International (FI) founded in 1938. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

Rather than continue as leadership of the youth group, Robertson and the others formed an opposition caucus named the Revolutionary Tendency and made clear their loyalty to the International Committee of the Fourth International in 1962. Differences developed in the Revolutionary Tendency as to how to characterise the SWP, leading to a split within the caucus. A minority closer to the ICFI left to form the Reorganised Minority Tendency, led by Tim Wohlforth, just as the Robertson-led grouping was being expelled from the SWP. The RMT played a role in the expulsion of the Robertson grouping, on grounds of "party disloyalty." It has been suggested that Orthodox Trotskyism be merged into this article or section. ... 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar). ...

Lyndon LaRouche, who would ultimately head what many categorize as a fascist movement, was briefly a member of the Revolutionary Tendency and then the Spartacist League as he circulated through various groupings on the Left in the 1960s. Lyndon LaRouche at a news conference in Paris in February 2006. ... Fascism (in Italian, fascismo), capitalized, was the authoritarian political movement which ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943 under the leadership of Benito Mussolini. ...

Having been expelled in 1964 the Robertson group were swift to publish a magazine entitled Spartacist from which they would later take their name. They still stressed their loyalty to the International Committee for the Fourth International, and attended that body's conference held in London, England in 1966, only to find themselves shut out from the conference's ranks. 1964 (MCMLXIV) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1964 calendar). ... London — containing the City of London — is the capital of the United Kingdom and of England and a major world city. With over seven million inhabitants (Londoners) in Greater London area, it is amongst the most densely populated areas in Western Europe. ... 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1966 calendar). ...

Setbacks

Following founding of the Spartacist League the small group found itself isolated and failed to recruit new members. This resulted in a degree of demoralisation on the part of some members including the groups leading West Coast figure Geoff White who resigned in 1968. By this time another leading figure, Shane Mage, had also quit the group. 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday. ...

Meanwhile the New York branch was developing work in the unions through the Militant Labor Civil Rights Committee. This work being advocated by Harry Turner, real name Tanzer, and Rose Jersawitz, aka Kay Ellens, who had spent a year working with Voix Ouvrière in France. Robertson opposed the MLCRC and a faction fight developed which ended when a most of the minority, that is those who supported Ellens, resigned from the League in time founding The Spark group. Harry Turner tried to forestall this split and briefly remained in the Spartacists and formed a faction. Turner and his remaining two supporters split off within a few months and began publishing Vanguard Newletter. By the end of this split, James Robertson was the only leader of the former Revolutionary Tendency to remain central to the League. Workers Struggle (Lutte Ouvrière) is the usual name under which the Communist Union (Trotskyist) (Union Communiste (Trotskyste)), a French Trotskyist political party, is known (technically, it is the name of the weekly paper edited by the party). ... The Spark is a small Trotskyist group in the United States. ...

Early Activities and Expansion

Initially the Spartacists sought to intervene in the Civil Rights protests, on the basis of their support for the idea of revolutionary integrationism, but as small as they were, this activity foundered. They also developed a small presence in the Students for a Democratic Society; within the SDS they opposed all the major factions that developed from that body as these factions turned more and more towards Maoist ideas by 1969. SDS Button Logo The Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) was, historically, a student activist movement in the United States that was one of the main iconic representations of the countrys New Left. ... Maoism or Mao Zedong Thought (Chinese: 毛澤東思想, pinyin: Máo Zédōng Sīxiǎng), also called Marxism-Leninism–Mao Zedong Thought or Marxism-Leninism-Maoism (MLM), is a variant of communism derived from the teachings of Mao Zedong (1893&#8211... For the Stargate SG-1 episode, see 1969 (Stargate SG-1). ...

As the student and anti-Vietnam war movements passed their late 1960s peak the Spartacists did begin to recruit from the then large milieu of radicalised students. This led to substantial growth and the development of a national presence as they expanded from their initial branches in New York and the San Francisco Bay Area. In part this process involved the recruitment of former students who had formed local Maoist collectives which had then come across Trotskyist ideas, including the Communist Working Collective, led by Marv Treiger, in southern California and Buffalo Marxist Collective, led by Jan Norden, in Buffalo, New York. USGS satellite photo of the San Francisco Bay Area. ...

Some years time later they recruited a not dissimilar "Gay Left" group based in the Bay area called the Red Flag Union. Throughout the 1970s the Spartacists did develop a series of what they described as exemplary interventions in industry and the trade unions. For example, there were supporters involved with the ILWU in the Bay Area, Auto in California, Telephones and others.

Modest growth continued through the early to mid-1970's but was punctuated by the loss of several leading cadres in 1972. Dissatosfoed with the groups regime a number of senior members gathered around Moore, Stewart, Dave Cunningham, and Marv Treiger challenged Robertson only to find themselves expelled from the SL. They then formed a short-liverd group, the International Group, which issued a single pamphlet and then dissolved. Curiously the SL reissued the dissidents pamphlet as part of their series Hate Trotskyism, Hate the Spartacist League. Look up cadre in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Spartacist Stalled

The late 1970's saw the growth of the league stalled as the radical tide of the 1960's began to ebb. In 1978 internal disagreements led to what was later refered to by the International Bolshevik Tendency as the "the Clone Purge" [3]. This being the term given to the expulsion or demotion of a number of leading members of the SL collectively known as the clones. The International Bolshevik Tendency is a Trotskyist international organisation. ...

For the Spartacist League these were years of retrenchment in the face of what they saw as a world wide offensive on the part of the capitalist class. Although they maintained their, sometimes intensive, polemical efforts directed at to the membership of what they described as ostensible Revolutionary Organisations, ORO's for short, they began to withdraw their members from union work. In time the union fractions once the most boasted of element of the SL's work were dismantled as detailed by the IBT in their second bulletin Stop the Liquidation of the Trade Union Work in 1983.

Later Splits

1. The International Bolshevik Tendency formed in 1982 from members who had variously quit and been expelled, claims that since they left the Spartacist League has engaged in very little trade union activity. The IBT also claims that the Spartacists have degenerated into an "obedience cult" centered around Robertson.
2. In 1996 the founders of the League for the Fourth International were expelled, allegedly for maneuvering with a group from Brazil involved in bringing court suit against a trade union.[4] In the United States their group is called the Internationalist Group and their newspaper the Internationalist.

The International Bolshevik Tendency is a Trotskyist international organisation. ... A Trade Union (Labour union) ... is a continuous association of wage-earners for the purpose of maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment. ... This article is becoming very long. ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... The League for the Fourth International is a Trotskyist international organisation. ... A Trade Union (Labour union) ... is a continuous association of wage-earners for the purpose of maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment. ...

International Affiliates

The current members of the ICL include:

• Spartacist Group Japan
• Spartacist League of Britain
• Spartacist League (US)
• Trotskyist Group of Greece
• Trotskyist League of Canada
• Spartacist League of Australia
• Spartakist-Arbeiterpartei Deutschlands
• Spartacist Group Ireland
• Lega trotskista d'Italia
• Grupo Espartaquista de México
• Spartacist/South Africa
• Ligue trotskyste de France

Former sections include: The Spartacist League of Britain is a Trotskyist political party in Britain. ... The Trotskyist League of Canada is a Canadian Trotskyist group affiliated with the International Communist League (Fourth Internationalist). ...

• Spartacist League (Sweden)

The Spartacist League was a small Trotskyist political party in Sweden. ...

External links

• International Communist League (Fourth Internationalist)
• International Bolshevik Tendency
• Internationalist Group (League for the Fourth International)
• Workers Vanguard biweekly paper of the Spartacist League
• Trotskyist Work in the Trade Unions, by Chris Knox
• Sect appeal Scott McLemee of Salon on the entertainment value of the 1996 split in the ICL.

See also: List of Trotskyist internationals This is a list of the many Trotskyist international tendencies. ...