The Communist League was one of the first

Trotskyist Trotskyism (, ) is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Russian revolutionary and intellectual Leon Trotsky along with some other members of the Left Opposition and the Fourth International. Trotsky described himself as an ...

groups in Britain, formed in 1932 by members of the

Communist Party of Great Britain The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist organisation in Britain and was founded in 1920 through a merger of several smaller Marxist groups. Many miners joined the CPGB in the 1926 general strike. In 1930, the CPGB ...

South London South London is the southern part of Greater London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the Districts of England, boroughs, in whole or in part, of London Borough of Bexley, Bexley, London Borough of Bromley, Bromley, Lon ...

, including Harry Wicks, who had been expelled after forming a loose grouping inside the CPGB known as the Balham Group. This became the British Section of the

International Left Opposition The International Left Opposition (ILO) was an organisation founded by Leon Trotsky in 1930. It was meant to be an opposition group within the Comintern, but members of the Comintern were immediately expelled as soon as they joined (or were sus ...

and adopted the name Communist League in June 1933.Barberis, Peter; McHugh, John; Tyldesley, Mike. ''Encyclopedia of British and Irish Political Organizations: Parties, Groups and Movements of the 20th Century.'' A&C Black, 2000, p145 They published a monthly newspaper, ''Red Flag'', and a quarterly journal, ''The Communist''. In 1933,

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 ...

suggested the group should enter the

Independent Labour Party The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberal Party (UK), Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse work ...

, but the leadership decided against, leading to a split that December. In 1934, a small group led by

Denzil Dean Harber Denzil Dean Harber (25 January 1909 – 31 August 1966) was an early United Kingdom, British Trotskyist leader and later in his life a prominent British ornithologist. Biography Denzil Dean Harber was born in Streatham on 25 January 1909. Hi ...

did enter the ILP, as the Bolshevik-Leninist Fraction, and formed the core of the Marxist Group which

C. L. R. James Cyril Lionel Robert James (4 January 1901 – 31 May 1989), Fraser, C. Gerald (2 June 1989)"C. L. R. James, Historian, Critic And Pan-Africanist, Is Dead at 88" ''The New York Times''. . who sometimes wrote under the pen-name J. R. Johnson ...

joined. Slow progress led to more splits, with the formation of the

entrist Entryism (also called entrism, enterism, infiltration, a French Turn, boring from within, or boring-from-within) is a political strategy in which an organization or state encourages its members or supporters to join another, usually larger, organiz ...

Bolshevik-Leninist Group in the Labour Party, the core of the later

Militant Group The Militant Group was an early British Trotskyist group, formed in 1935 by Denzil Dean Harber, former leader of the Marxist Group (UK), Marxist Group in the Independent Labour Party, ILP, as a separate entrism, entrist group inside the Labour Pa ...

. The Communist League dissolved in 1936 and its members entered the Labour Party as the Marxist League (not to be confused with the earlier, unconnected Marxist League aka Marxian League of FA Ridley and Hugo Dewar), led by Harry Wicks. Wicks began working closely with James, by then leader of the Marxist Group, and in 1938 the two merged to form the Revolutionary Socialist League, into which the Militant Group (now Militant Labour League) merged the same year.

References

Communist Party of Great Britain breakaway groups Political parties established in 1932 Political parties disestablished in 1936 Political parties established in 1936 Political parties disestablished in 1938 Defunct Trotskyist organisations in the United Kingdom 1932 establishments in the United Kingdom 1936 disestablishments in the United Kingdom 1936 establishments in the United Kingdom 1938 disestablishments in the United Kingdom {{Europe-communist-party-stub