The founding of the Revolutionary Communist League of Britain is a threefold victory. It is a threefold victory in our struggle to rebuild the revolutionary Communist Party of the working class, which is the central task in Britain today.
FIRSTLY, IT IS A VICTORY IN UNITING TWO FORMER ORGANIZATIONS, the Communist Federation of Britain (Marxist-Leninist) and the Communist Unity Association (Marxist-Leninist). This has centralized their forces. It enables them to concentrate the most correct ideas and best experience and spread them again to all branches of the organization. It enables them to give a stronger lead to the working class with a single voice. It will help propel forward the work of Party-building among all genuine Marxist-Leninists in Britain.
How was the unity won? It was won through struggle. Those who are still deeply affected by bourgeois liberalism will not believe this apparent paradox; but we insist it is true. The founding of the Revolutionary Communist League was a victory for Chairman Mao’s line that “unity is the aim of struggle; struggle is the means to unity”. Or as he put it at the beginning of “Combat Liberalism”, “active ideological struggle...is the weapon for ensuring unity within the Party and the revolutionary organizations in the interest of our fight”.
It is necessary to thrash over differences in order to reach unity of thinking about what is really in the interests of the working class. That is the only way to build principled unity, unity that will live, not unity that will perish.
That is how the C.F.B.M.L. and the C.U.A.M.L. achieved unity. With the support and supervision of rank and file comrades in both organizations, the leading comrades took the particular responsibility to lead the work towards unity, using criticism and self-criticism as the method for overcoming differences.
Contrast this with the liberal approach that some opportunist voices are pushing in the Marxist-Leninist movement in Britain – the opportunist line of unity through joint action.
At first this opportunist line looks very practical, but on closer examination it turns out to be quite idealist. Because people have handled the same leaflet does that make them really united? No. It may help, but it is not the decisive factor in winning unity. In fact many attempts at joint action crumble because real unity of thinking has not been won. What is decisive in uniting people is unity of thinking, and for that we must be prepared to discuss our differences as well as our common beliefs, and thrash out unity through struggle and criticism and self-criticism.
So the apparently very practical line of “unity through joint action” is really an opportunist way of dodging principled struggle.
To be quite clear: the Revolutionary Communist League will be ready to take part in joint action in suitable circumstances, but it will not agree that joint action is the principal way to unite the Marxist-Leninist movement. On the contrary it will uphold Mao Tsetung’s line that the weapon for ensuring unity is active ideological struggle. It is this that opportunist elements cannot stomach.
The founding of the R.C.L. is a victory for active ideological struggle. The R.C.L. will work hard to unite with other genuine Marxist-Leninist organizations in the same principled way in order to propel forward the building of the revolutionary Communist Party of the working class.
SECONDLY, THE FOUNDING CONGRESS OF THE R.C.L. IS A VICTORY IN OVERCOMING SMALL GROUP MENTALITY.
Historical experience shows that it is common in the early years of its existence for a revolutionary movement to be organized in a large number of small circles. These have many characteristic weaknesses. For example, small group mentality, which is really a form of petty bourgeois selfishness at a group level. Mountain stronghold mentality, where the comrades often have an excellent fighting spirit but because they are isolated from the rest of the movement they pride themselves on the compact nature of their little band. Ultra-democracy or anarchism are also common in the internal life of these circles. A single leader comes to dominate instead of leadership teeing formally elected and systematically strengthened through criticism and self-criticism. These local circles often engage in intense local activity but usually without concentrating it and guiding it by developing policies. Because there are no policies or disciplined organization local work cannot be coordinated in one area with another. There is little specialization of work but as Lenin said in “What Is To Be Done?” we find “the primitive democracy of a primitive circle in which everybody does everything”.
All this is pretty well useless for the working class, which must have a disciplined, far-sighted and nationally organized vanguard Party in order to fight back effectively and overthrow the bourgeoisie. But the circles have their attractions for the petty bourgeoisie because they appeal to the petty bourgeoisie’s individualistic aversion to discipline.
Such small group mentality does not die on its own. It has to be defeated. There has to be a battle of proletarian ideology against bourgeois and petty bourgeois ideology.
The C.F.B.M.L. was a federation of such circles held together with the thin jelly of federalism. But for two years before the founding of the R.C.L. it had been waging a battle against small group mentality. The C.U.A.M.L. has also been carrying out a rectification campaign against features of the circle level of organization.
The unity of the C.F.B.M.L. and C.U.A.M.L. is a victory over small group mentality. The Revolutionary Communist League is now a firm, nationally organized, democratic centralist, Party-building organization.
THIRDLY, THE FOUNDING CONGRESS OF THE R.C.L. HAS VICTORIOUSLY ADOPTED A MANIFESTO. This Manifesto is a major step towards the programme of the future revolutionary Communist Party.
The Manifesto is an important advance in integrating the universal truths of Marxism-Leninism with the concrete practice of the British revolution. It spells out firmly the general line on the way forward for the working-class in Britain and on the part it must play in the struggle in the world as a whole.
It is an important and practical step towards a Party programme. Such a programme will give firm and correct guidance on the immediate demands of the struggle as well as on the general line and strategy. It is not accidental that in uniting their forces the C.F.B.M.L. and the C.U.A.M.L. made an important advance towards a programme. As Lenin wrote in “A Draft Programme of Our Party”, “At the present time the urgent question of our movement is no longer that of developing the former scattered “amateur” activities, but of uniting – of organization. This is a step for which a programme is a necessity”.
By struggling over their differences the C.U.A.M.L. and the C.F.B.M.L. not only united but also raised their political grasp to a higher level. The Manifesto is the outcome of this work. It is also a basis from which to advance further.
The Revolutionary Communist League will struggle hard with other genuine Marxist-Leninist organizations in Britain to unite in an even larger democratic centralist organization and to carry the work of hammering out a programme for the Party to an even higher level.
The founding of the Revolutionary Communist League of Britain is therefore a threefold victory in Party building, the central task in Britain today. It has united two former Marxist-Leninist organizations. It has overcome small group mentality, and it has adopted an important Manifesto.
We call on all genuine Marxist-Leninist organizations and all revolutionary workers and individuals in Britain to warmly welcome these victories and work closely with us in rebuilding the revolutionary Communist Party of the working class.