The
International Revolutionary Marxist Centre was an international association of left-socialist parties. The member-parties rejected both mainstream
social democracySocial democracy is a political ideology of the political left and centre-left on the classic political spectrum. Social democracy emerged in the late 19th century from the socialist movement and continues to exert influence worldwide....
and the Third International.
The International was formed in 1932, following a fringe meeting at the
Socialist InternationalThe Socialist International is a worldwide organisation of democratic socialist, social democratic, socialist, and labour political parties. It was formed in 1951.- History :...
conference in Vienna in 1931. The IRMC underwent a variety of names. It was initially called the
Committee of Independent Revolutionary Socialist Parties and later the
International Bureau of Revolutionary Socialist Unity, but throughout the period it was generally known simply as the
London Bureau (and nicknamed by some the
3½ International, in an analogy with the so-called
2½ InternationalThe International Working Union of Socialist Parties was a political international for the co-operation of socialist parties...
of 1921-3), although its headquarters were transferred from London to Paris in 1939 (on the grounds that in addition to the French affiliate, five parties-in-exile had their central committees there).
The
International Revolutionary Marxist Centre was an international association of left-socialist parties. The member-parties rejected both mainstream
social democracySocial democracy is a political ideology of the political left and centre-left on the classic political spectrum. Social democracy emerged in the late 19th century from the socialist movement and continues to exert influence worldwide....
and the Third International.
Organizational history
The International was formed in 1932, following a fringe meeting at the
Socialist InternationalThe Socialist International is a worldwide organisation of democratic socialist, social democratic, socialist, and labour political parties. It was formed in 1951.- History :...
conference in Vienna in 1931. The IRMC underwent a variety of names. It was initially called the
Committee of Independent Revolutionary Socialist Parties and later the
International Bureau of Revolutionary Socialist Unity, but throughout the period it was generally known simply as the
London Bureau (and nicknamed by some the
3½ International, in an analogy with the so-called
2½ InternationalThe International Working Union of Socialist Parties was a political international for the co-operation of socialist parties...
of 1921-3), although its headquarters were transferred from London to Paris in 1939 (on the grounds that in addition to the French affiliate, five parties-in-exile had their central committees there). Its youth wing was the
International Bureau of Revolutionary Youth OrganizationsInternational Bureau of Revolutionary Youth Organizations was an international organization of socialist youth, formed in 1934...
.
For a period, the IRMC was close to the Trotskyist movement and the International Left Opposition. In the early 1930s,
Leon TrotskyLeon Trotsky , born Leyba Davidov Bronstein , was a Bolshevik revolutionary and Marxist theorist. He was one of the leaders of the Russian October Revolution, second only to Lenin...
and his supporters believed that Stalin's influence over the Third International could still be fought from within and slowly rolled back. They organised themselves into the International Left Opposition in 1930, which was intended to be a group of anti-Stalinist dissenters
within the Third International. Stalin's supporters, who dominated the International, would no longer tolerate dissent. All Trotskyists, and those suspected of being influenced by Trotskyism, were expelled.
Trotsky claimed that the
Third PeriodThe Third Period was the policy adopted by the Comintern at the end of the Soviet Union's New Economic Policy in 1928 and was in place until the adoption of the Popular Front policy in 1935....
policies of the Comintern had contributed to the rise of
Adolf HitlerAdolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , popularly known as the Nazi Party...
in Germany, and that its turn to a
popular frontA popular front is a broad coalition of different political groupings, often made up of leftists and centrists. Being very broad, they can sometimes include centrist and liberal forces as well as socialist and communist groups...
policy (aiming to unite all ostensibly anti-fascist forces) sowed illusions in
reformismReformism is the belief that gradual democratic changes in a society can ultimately change a society's fundamental economic relations and political structures...
and
pacifismPacifism is the opposition to war or violence as a means of settling disputes or gaining advantage. Pacifism covers a spectrum of views ranging from the belief that international disputes can and should be peacefully resolved; to calls for the abolition of the institutions of the military and war;...
and "clear[ed] the road for a fascist overturn". By 1935 he claimed that the Comintern had fallen irredeemably into the hands of the Stalinist bureaucracy. He and his supporters, expelled from the Third International, participated in a conference of the London Bureau. Three of those parties joined the Left Opposition in signing a document written by Trotsky calling for a Fourth International, which became known as the "Declaration of Four". Of those, two soon distanced themselves from the agreement, but the
DutchThe Netherlands is a country in Northwestern Europe, constituting the major portion of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east...
Revolutionary Socialist PartyThe Revolutionary Socialist Party was a Dutch socialist political party.-Predecessors:The oldest predecessor of the Revolutionary Socialist Party is the Revolutionary Socialist Union , a group of dissidents from the Communist Party Holland led by Henk Sneevliet...
worked with the International Left Opposition to declare the
International Communist LeagueThe Fourth International is an international communist organisation which opposes both capitalism and Stalinism. Consisting of followers of Leon Trotsky, it is dedicated to helping the working class bring about socialism....
.
This position was contested by
Andrés NinAndreu Nin Pérez, was a Spanish Communist revolutionary.-Early life:...
and some other members of the League who did not support the call for a new International. This group prioritised regroupment with other communist oppositions, principally the International Communist Opposition (ICO), linked to the
Right OppositionThe Right Opposition was the name given to the tendency made up of Nikolai Bukharin, Alexei Rykov and their supporters within the Soviet Union in the late 1920s...
in the Soviet Party, a regroupment which eventually led to the formation of the
'International Bureau for Revolutionary Socialist Unity'. Trotsky considered those organisations to be centrist. Despite Trotsky, the Spanish section merged with the Spanish section of ICO, forming the
POUMPoum is a commune in the North Province of New Caledonia, an overseas territory of France in the Pacific Ocean.Poum sits within the world's largest lagoon and is rich in Kanak culture...
. Trotsky claimed the merger was to be a capitulation to centrism. The
Socialist Workers' Party of GermanyThe Socialist Workers' Party of Germany , was a political party in Germany. It was formed by a left-wing splinter group which split off from the SPD in the autumn of 1931. In 1931 the remnants of USPD merged into the party, and in 1932 some Communist Party dissenters joined the group too, as well...
, a left split from the
Social Democratic Party of GermanyThe Social Democratic Party of Germany is Germany's oldest political party. The party governed at the federal level in a grand coalition with the Christian Democratic Union and the Christian Social Union until conceding defeat in the federal election of September 2009...
founded in 1931, co-operated with the International Left Opposition briefly in 1933 but soon abandoned the call for a new International.
The secretariat of the International Centre remained with the British
Independent Labour PartyThe Independent Labour Party was a socialist political party in the United Kingdom established in 1893. The ILP was affiliated as a constituent part of the Labour Party federation from its origin in 1906 until 1932, at which time the ILP left the larger group to pursue its own political path...
for all but one of the eight years 1932-1940. Fenner Brockway, ILP leader, was chairman of the Bureau for most of this period, while in 1939,
Julian GorkinJulián Gómez García-Ribera, better known as Julián Gorkin was a Spanish revolutionary socialist, and a central leader of the Workers' Party of Marxist Unification during the Spanish Civil War. He was also a writer of many books on political and cultural themes, as well as novels and some plays...
of the POUM became its secretary. By this time, the Bureau had member parties in more than 20 countries, including the
NetherlandsThe Netherlands is a country in Northwestern Europe, constituting the major portion of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east...
,
AustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.3 million people in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west...
,
CzechoslovakiaCzechoslovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
, the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, and Palestine.
Member-parties
- Austria - Red Front within the Revolutionary Socialist Party of Austria
- France - Party of Proletarian Unity
The Party of Proletarian Unity was a French socialist political party.-History:It was formed on December 21, 1930 by leftists expelled from the French Communist Party , together with some who had previously belonged to the left-wing of the Section française de l'Internationale ouvrière...
(PUP)
- France - Workers and Peasants Socialist Party (PSOP) (from 1939?)
- Germany - Socialist Workers Party
The Socialist Workers' Party of Germany , was a political party in Germany. It was formed by a left-wing splinter group which split off from the SPD in the autumn of 1931. In 1931 the remnants of USPD merged into the party, and in 1932 some Communist Party dissenters joined the group too, as well...
(SAPD) (until mid-1930s: split from the Centre over the question of its support for Popular Fronts, which the ILP opposed)
- Germany - Communist opposition
The Communist Party Opposition was a communist organisation functioning in Germany, formed during the Weimar Republic, and in existence between 1928 and 1939 . It stood in opposition to the mainstream Communist Party of Germany...
(Observer only, unaffiliated)
- Germany - Neuer Weg (opposition faction within SAPD) (from the mid-1930s)
- Great Britain - Independent Labour Party
The Independent Labour Party was a socialist political party in the United Kingdom established in 1893. The ILP was affiliated as a constituent part of the Labour Party federation from its origin in 1906 until 1932, at which time the ILP left the larger group to pursue its own political path...
(ILP)
- Netherlands - Independent Socialist Party
The Independent Socialist Party was a revolutionary socialist political party in the Netherlands.-History:...
(OSP) (until 1935)
- Netherlands - Revolutionary Socialist Workers Party
The Revolutionary Socialist Party was a Dutch socialist political party.-Predecessors:The oldest predecessor of the Revolutionary Socialist Party is the Revolutionary Socialist Union , a group of dissidents from the Communist Party Holland led by Henk Sneevliet...
(RSAP) (from 1935)
- Norway - Norwegian Labour Party
The Norwegian Labour Party is a social democratic political party in Norway. It is the senior partner in the current Norwegian government and its leader, Jens Stoltenberg, is the current Prime Minister of Norway.The Labour Party is officially a social democratic party committed to social...
(DNA) (until 1933?)
- Palestine - Labour Party (then known as Mapai
Mapai was a left-wing political party in Israel, and was the dominant force in Israeli politics until its merger into the Israeli Labor Party in 1968.-Background:...
, the Workers Party)
- Palestine - Hashomer Hatzair
Hashomer Hatzair is a Socialist-Zionist youth movement founded in 1913 in Galicia, Austria-Hungary, and was also the name of the group's political party in the Yishuv in the pre-1948 British Mandate of Palestine.-Early formation:Hashomer Hatzair came into being as a result of...
- Poland - the General Jewish Labor Union
The General Jewish Labour Bund of Lithuania, Poland and Russia , generally called The Bund or the Jewish Labour Bund, was a secular Jewish socialist party in Central and Eastern Europe operating predominantly between the 1890s and the 1930s...
(Bund)
- Poland - the Independent Labour Party
- Romania - Independent Socialist Party
- Spain - the Workers' Party of Marxist Unification
The POUM or Partido Obrero Unificación Marxista was a Spanish communist political party formed during the Second Republic, and mainly active around the time of the Spanish Civil War...
(POUM)
- Sweden - the Socialist Party
The Socialist Party , initially known as the Communist Party of Sweden , was a political party in Sweden active from 1929 to 1948. The party was founded in 1929 by the major faction of the Communist Party of Sweden, led by Karl Kilbom and Nils Flyg, as the party split into two parties with the same...
(from 1933)
- United States - Independent Labor League of America
The Independent Labor League of America was one of the factions which grew up within the American communist party in the late 1920s and early 1930s, paralleling the factional differences within the Soviet leadership....
(from 1939?)
External links