The Internationalist Communist Organisation (, OCI) was a

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 ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. Its successor was the Internationalist Communist Current of the Workers Party.

History

Origins

The group's origins lay in the Internationalist Communist Party (PCI), the French 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 ...

. In 1952, the Fourth International removed the Central Committee of the PCI, and replaced it with one built around Michele Mestre and

Pierre Frank Pierre Frank (24 October 1905 – 18 April 1984) was a French Trotskyist leader. He served on the secretariat of the Fourth International from 1948 to 1979. Biography Educated as a chemical engineer, Frank was one of the first French Trotskyist ...

, who were more favourable to the International's policies. This led the majority of the PCI to form a new organisation, also known as the Internationalist Communist Party, and led by

Pierre Lambert : Pierre Lambert (; real name Pierre Boussel ; June 9, 1920 – January 16, 2008) was a French Trotskyist leader, who for many years acted as the central leader of the French Courant Communiste Internationaliste (CCI) which founded the Worke ...

and Marcel Bleibtreu. In 1953, the Fourth International suffered a major split, and the Socialist Workers Party of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

group The Club and some smaller groups forming the

International Committee of the Fourth International The International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) is a public faction of the Fourth International founded in 1953. Today, two Trotskyist List of Trotskyist internationals, internationals claim to be the continuations of the ICFI; o ...

, with Lambert's PCI. The PCI supported the FLN during the

Algerian War of Independence The Algerian War (also known as the Algerian Revolution or the Algerian War of Independence) ''; '' (and sometimes in Algeria as the ''War of 1 November'') was an armed conflict between France and the Algerian National Liberation Front (Algeri ...

. Disagreements over which faction to support led Lambert to expel Bleibtreu from the PCI in 1955. Future

Prime Minister of France The prime minister of France (), officially the prime minister of the French Republic (''Premier ministre de la République française''), is the head of government of the French Republic and the leader of its Council of Ministers. The prime ...

Lionel Jospin Lionel Robert Jospin (; born 12 July 1937) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 1997 to 2002. Jospin was First Secretary of the French Socialist Party, First Secretary of the Socialist Party from 1995 to 1997 and th ...

, joined the group in 1960 and remained an active member for over ten years.

1960s and 1970s

In 1967, the PCI renamed itself the "Internationalist Communist Organisation". It grew rapidly during the

May 1968 The following events occurred in May 1968: May 1, 1968 (Wednesday) *In Dallas, at its first meeting since its creation through a merger, the United Methodist Church removed its rule that Methodist ministers could not drink alcohol nor sm ...

student demonstrations, but was banned alongside other

far left Far or FAR may refer to: Government * Federal Acquisition Regulation, US * Federal Aviation Regulations, US * Florida Administrative Register, US Military and paramilitary * Rebel Armed Forces (Spanish: '), a defunct guerilla organization ...

groups, such as the ''

Gauche prolétarienne The (GP) was a French Maoist political party which existed from 1968 to 1974. As Christophe Bourseiller put it, "Of all the Maoist organizations after May 1968, the most important numerically as well as in cultural influence was without question ...

'' (Proletarian Left). Members temporarily reconstituted the group as the Trotskyist Organisation, but soon obtained a state order permitting the reformation of the OCI. By 1970, the OCI was able to organise a 10,000-strong youth

rally Rally or rallye may refer to: Gatherings * Political demonstration, a political rally, a political demonstration of support or protest, march, or parade * Pep rally, an event held at a North American school or college sporting event Sport ...

br>
The group also gained a strong base in

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

s. The majority of the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) joined the

reunified Fourth International The Fourth International (FI), founded in 1938, is a Trotskyist international. Following a ten-year schism, in 1963 the majorities of the two public factions of the Fourth International, the International Secretariat of the Fourth Internationa ...

in 1963, leaving the OCI and the British

Socialist Labour League The Workers Revolutionary Party (WRP) is a Trotskyist group in Britain once led by Gerry Healy. In the mid-1980s, it split into several smaller groups, one of which retains possession of the name. The Club The WRP grew out of the faction Ger ...

as the only two sections continuing the ICFI. Despite attempts to expand the ICFI, the two sides developed opposing policies on many issues, including

Arab nationalism Arab nationalism () is a political ideology asserting that Arabs constitute a single nation. As a traditional nationalist ideology, it promotes Arab culture and civilization, celebrates Arab history, the Arabic language and Arabic literatur ...

- the OCI adopting a

dual defeatist Dual or Duals may refer to: Paired/two things * Dual (mathematics), a notion of paired concepts that mirror one another ** Dual (category theory), a formalization of mathematical duality *** see more cases in :Duality theories * Dual number, a nu ...

position in the

Six-Day War The Six-Day War, also known as the June War, 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states, primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan from 5 to 10June ...

. The OCI left the ICFI in 1971, the Socialist Labour League accusing it of fetishing

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 '' Transitional Programme'' over

Marxist theory Marxist philosophy or Marxist theory are works in philosophy that are strongly influenced by Karl Marx's materialist approach to theory, or works written by Marxists. Marxist philosophy may be broadly divided into Western Marxism, which drew f ...

. It set up a new group, the Organising Committee for the Reconstruction of the Fourth International, with some supporters the following year.

Internationalist Communist Party

In 1981, the OCI again renamed itself as the "Internationalist Communist Party". In 1984, it formed a Movement for a Workers Party, with various independent socialists. However, Stephane Just opposed this new initiative, and was expelled with some supporters. Further splits ensued: in 1986, several hundred members, led by

Jean-Christophe Cambadélis Jean-Christophe Cambadélis (born 14 August 1951) is a French politician of the Socialist Party (PS) who served as the party's First Secretary from April 2014 to June 2017. He was a member of the National Assembly of France, representing the c ...

, left to join the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

. In 1989, historian Pierre Broué was expelled, with around one hundred supporters.

Internationalist Communist Current

In 1991, the Movement for a Workers Party declared itself the Workers Party and the Internationalist Communist Party joined it as the Internationalist Communist Current. Dissenting members including Andre Langevin, Pedro Carrasquedo and Alexis Corbière were expelled by 1992, and the Current has since occupied a leading role in the Workers Party. Its central figure is Daniel Gluckstein, although Lambert remained a member until his death in 2008.

References

{{Authority control 1952 establishments in France Communist parties in France Defunct political parties in France International Committee of the Fourth International Political parties established in 1952 Political parties with year of disestablishment missing Trotskyist organizations in France Trotskyist parties