Misplaced Pages

Communist League (1930)

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by JASpencer (talk | contribs) at 06:13, 25 December 2024 (Moving split to body). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Revision as of 06:13, 25 December 2024 by JASpencer (talk | contribs) (Moving split to body)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) For other uses, see Communist League (disambiguation).
Communist League

The Communist League (Ligue communiste) was a French Trotskyite party established in 1930, which published the journal La Vérité. It brought together members of the Left Opposition (Trotskyist) before the proclamation of the Fourth International. Following the far-right riots of February 6, 1934, it joined the SFIO as an organized tendency, forming the "Bolshevik-Leninist group" (BL), which was expelled at the SFIO Congress in Mulhouse in June 1935. During this period, the Ligue communiste officially continued to exist but was dormant and its members split.

Formation

Created in April 1930 as a secret entryist tendency within the PCF, the Ligue communiste organized around the magazine La Vérité, launched in August 1929 under the direction of Alfred Rosmer. Rosmer, under direct instruction from Leon Trotsky, sought to unify two rival factions of French Trotskyism, divided primarily by personal disputes. These factions included Pierre Naville and Gérard Rosenthal on one side, and Raymond Molinier and Pierre Frank on the other.

The Ligue communiste initially comprised about fifty militants, with a small leadership circle around Pierre Naville and Raymond Molinier. After disputes, Naville and Rosenthal ousted Molinier and Frank from leadership roles, angering Trotsky, who sought arbitration through an international delegation including Andrés Nin and Amadeo Bordiga in 1931. Rosmer eventually resigned from the Ligue communiste in December 1930.

Entryism into the SFIO

After the 6 February 1934 riots, Trotsky advocated for entryism, which led the Ligue communiste to join the SFIO and form the Bolshevik-Leninist group. This strategy, known as the French Turn, mirrored similar efforts worldwide, such as the Workers Party of the United States joining the Socialist Party of America in 1936.

The approach faced challenges, and at the SFIO Congress in Mulhouse (June 1935), Trotskyists were sidelined as Léon Blum favored alignment with the French Communist Party.

Splits and reorganizations

In August 1935, after insurrectionary strikes, Trotsky abandoned entryism, advocating for an independent revolutionary party. The Ligue communiste fragmented into groups such as the Workers' International League (POI) and Internationalist Communist Party (PCI), with some focusing on direct worker soviet structures.

After being expelled from the SFIO, most members, including Pierre Naville, joined the Workers and Peasants' Socialist Party (POI) founded in 1936, while others, such as Raymond Molinier and Pierre Frank, joined the Internationalist Communist Party (PCI).

Notes and References

  1. ^ Christophe Nick (2002). Les Trotskistes. Fayard. p. 181.
  2. Christophe Nick (2002). Les Trotskistes. Fayard. p. 199.
  3. Christophe Nick (2002). Les Trotskistes. Fayard. p. 204.
  4. Christophe Nick (2002). Les Trotskistes. Fayard. p. 206.
  5. Christophe Nick (2002). Les Trotskistes. Fayard. p. 208.

See Also

Bibliography

  • Michel Roger, Envers et contre tout, de l'opposition de gauche à l'union communiste (1924-1939), Ni patrie ni frontières, Paris, 2017.

External Links

Categories: