The tendency of Workers Fight in the UK continued to organize in and outside the British International Socialists and it resumed publication of Workers’ Fight, now as a printed paper, not as was previously the case as a duplicated journal, began publication of a theoretical journal entitled Permanent Revolution and made efforts to publish a small number of workplace–oriented publications in specific industries.
At the end of 1975, it fused with the smaller Workers Power group, formerly the Left Faction within the IS, to form the International–Communist League. A small group of members in Bolton and Wigan opposed to the merger formed the Marxist Worker group, which later fused with the International Marxist Group. Workers’ Fight was renamed Workers’ Action and went over to a weekly publication schedule and the group’s quarterly magazine was now entitled International–Communist. It joined with other groups that considered themselves to the left of the USFI in the Necessary International Initiative. In 1976, two–thirds of the ex–Workers Power group’s members left in a dispute over Labour Party work and resumed a separate existence. The I–CL increased its activity within the Labour Party, and in 1978 helped set up the Socialist Campaign for a Labour Victory. This campaign proved relatively popular and initially involved a range of figures on the left of the Labour Party who wrote for and supported its paper, Socialist Organiser. After a dispute over whether local government rates should be increased to offset cuts made by the Thatcher government, most of the Labour left figures – including Ken Livingstone – withdrew from Socialist Organiser until the I–CL was the only force involved in what was now its central publication. Both Workers’ Action and International–Communist were by 1979 discontinued, reflecting the group’s entrism into the Labour Party.
We have only a very fragmentary collection of International–Communist. We will add more as the Splits and Fusions blog adds them to their collection. We want to thank them for insuring the preservation of this valuable project by letting the ETOL copy this files.
Last updated on 5 May 2017