First Published: The Call, Vol. 2, No. 7, April 1974.
Transcription, Editing and Markup: Paul Saba
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A significant new step forward was taken last month in efforts to strengthen the unity of the communist movement when the Tampa Socialist Collective and the Cincinnati Workers Unity League announced their merger with the October League (M-L).
The Tampa Socialist Collective has had an active history in the past year in various union organizing drives in the Florida area and were active participants in the November, 1973 labor conference on “Communists in the Present Crisis” sponsored by the October League.
In their formal unity statement, the TSC said that their decision to unite with the O.L. “reflects the general trend towards consolidation within the ranks of the young communist forces in the U.S.” The statement said that the sharpening economic and political crisis has underscored the need for communists to link up the various mass struggles of the people under the leadership of the working class and to take up the struggle against opportunism to build a new communist party.
“The October League,” the statement reads, “has waged a relentless struggle against modern revisionism and its twin brother, ’left’ opportunism. By joining with the O.L., we hope to be better able to contribute to the growing communist unity and the process of building a new party.”
The Cincinnati Workers Unity League has an extensive history in the Ohio area of active participation in the workers’ movement and in the fight against racial discrimination as well as for democratic rights for Afro-Americans. They were among the main organizers of the January 20 demonstration to “Dump Nixon” in Cincinnati.
At a public meeting on March 6, they formally announced their merger with the O.L., saying “We feel the establishment of the October League here in Cincinnati is a definite step forward in the efforts to build a new party as well as in forging a united front movement against imperialism and its policies of war and fascism and moving towards a proletarian revolution and a socialist society.”