- Revolutionary Communist League (Palestine)
The Revolutionary Communist League (RCL) or 'Brit Kommunistim Mahapchanin' was a
Trotskyist party inPalestine in the late 1930s and 1940s.It was built out of three components: exiled
German Jewish members ofHeinrich Brandler ’s KPO (Communist Party Opposition – which emerged out of theRight Opposition within theComintern ) who became supporters of theInternational Left Opposition ; youth in the "Hugim Marxistiim" (Marxist Circles), the youth section of a wing of LeftPoale Zion , which at the time was linked to the 'centrist 'London Bureau ; and elements coming from the left Zionistkibbutz movement,Hashomer Hatzair , which was also linked to the London Bureau. Later, in the 1940s, they were joined byJabra Nicola , an Arab Communist who broke with thePalestine Communist Party over theMolotov-Ribbentrop pact .The "Brit Kommunistim Mahapchanin" published a newspaper, "Kol Hama’amad" (Voice of the Class). [A long extract from a 1948 edition, republished in "Fourth International", can be found in [http://www.marxist.com/MiddleEast/arab_jewish_struggles2.html "Arab-Jewish workers' joint struggles prior to the partition of Palestine"] "
In Defence of Marxism ". 2003. Citing "The Reds: the Communist Party in Israel" by S. Dotan 1991 p.498]Tony Cliff was a member, before moving to Britain and joining the RCL's sister party in theFourth International , the Revolutionary Communist Party (UK) and later leading the International Socialists.References
Further reading
*"The Reds: the Communist Party in Israel" by S. Dotan 1991 p.498
*Michel Warschawski Response: The Israeli Communist Party and the Radical Anti-Zionist Left, "MERIP Reports", No. 66 (Apr., 1978), pp. 24-25External links
Texts by the Revolutionary Communist League (Palestine)
* [http://www.marxists.de/middleast/misc/partition.htm "Against Partition", text by the RCL(P) 1947]
* [http://www.marxists.de/middleast/misc/pal1948.htm "Against the Stream", text by the RCL(P) 1948]
* [http://www.marxists.org/archive/cliff/works/1947/xx/palestine.htm "On the Irresponsible Handling of the Palestine Question" by Tony Cliff of the RCL(P) 1948]
* [http://www.marxists.org/archive/cliff/works/1946/05/strike.html "Palestine Strike: Arabs and Jews Unite" by T. Cliff] , "Socialist Appeal", Mid-May 1946, p3.Information on the Revolutionary Communist League (Palestine)
* [http://www.internationalist.org/stream1948.html "The Fight for Trotskyism in Palestine", "The Internationalist", Summer 2001]
* [http://www.marxists.org/archive/cliff/works/2000/wtw/ch01.htm Tony Cliff's autobiography]
* [http://ito.gn.apc.org/ITO_Palestine.htm International Trotskyist Opposition Theses on Palestine]
* [http://www.marxist.com/MiddleEast/arab_jewish_struggles2.html Arab-Jewish workers' joint struggles prior to the partition of Palestine (mentions the Revolutionary Communist League)]
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