The Revolutionary Workers League () was a Canadian Trostkyist party formed on 8 August 1977 by the fusion of the Revolutionary Marxist Group and its

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

counterpart, the Groupe Marxiste Revolutionnaire, with the

League for Socialist Action The League for Socialist Action (LSA) was the principal Trotskyist organization in Canada for much of the 20th century. Throughout its history the LSA went through many different names and iterations. In chronological order it was known as: the ...

. The organization marked the reunification of the Canadian section of the

Fourth International The Fourth International (FI) was a political international established in France in 1938 by Leon Trotsky and his supporters, having been expelled from the Soviet Union and the Communist International (also known as Comintern or the Third Inte ...

and had a membership of several hundred people. The group published a monthly newspaper in English, ''Socialist Voice'', as well as a French-language publication, ''La Lutte Ouvrière''.Statement of Principles (RWL)
Socialist History Project The RWL was heavily influenced by the Socialist Workers Party of the United States. When the SWP moved away from Trotskyism in the early 1980s, a faction fight broke out in the RWL between supporters of the SWP and supporters of a Trotskyist position over the issue of

Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky,; ; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky'' was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, and political theorist. He was a key figure ...

's theory of

permanent revolution Permanent revolution is the strategy of a revolutionary class pursuing its own interests independently and without compromise or alliance with opposing sections of society. As a term within Marxist theory, it was first coined by Karl Marx and ...

and the nature of the

Cuban Revolution The Cuban Revolution () was the military and political movement that overthrew the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, who had ruled Cuba from 1952 to 1959. The revolution began after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état, in which Batista overthrew ...

. While the Trotskyists argued that Cuba was a

deformed workers' state In Trotskyist political theory, deformed workers' states are states where the capitalist class has been overthrown, the economy is largely state-owned and planned, but there is no internal democracy or workers' control of industry. In a defor ...

, the supporters of the SWP argued that Cuban Revolution was a full workers' revolution and that the Cuban state was a genuine workers' state. The Trotskyists were expelled beginning in the early 1980s and formed what became

Gauche Socialiste Gauche Socialiste () is an officially recognised faction within the political party Québec solidaire and an affiliate of the reunified Fourth International. Origins It was formed in 1983 by Trotskyists who left or were expelled from the Re ...

and Socialist Challenge in English Canada. In 1990, the RWL left the Fourth International and changed its name to the

Communist League The Communist League ( German: ''Bund der Kommunisten)'' was an international political party established on 1 June 1847 in London, England. The organisation was formed through the merger of the League of the Just, headed by Karl Schapper, and th ...

.League for Socialist Action, Revolutionary Workers League, Communist League of Canada
William Ready Division, Archives Collection, McMaster University

References

External links

Canada Socialist History Project documents on Revolutionary Workers League, 1977-1988
{{DEFAULTSORT:Revolutionary Workers League Ligue Ouvriere Revolutionnaire 1977 establishments in Canada Political parties established in 1977 Trotskyist organizations in Canada Fourth International (post-reunification) Political parties disestablished in 1990

See also

References

External links