The Revolutionary Communist League (; LCR) 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 in

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 ...

. It was the French section of the

Fourth International (post-reunification) The Fourth International (FI), founded in 1938, is a Trotskyism, Trotskyist Political international, international. Following a ten-year schism, in 1963 the majorities of the two public factions of the Fourth International, the International Se ...

. It published the weekly newspaper ''Rouge'' and the journal ''Critique communiste''. Established in 1974, it became the leading party of the French far-left in the 2000s. It officially abolished itself on 5 February 2009 to merge with smaller factions of the far-left and form a

New Anticapitalist Party The New Anticapitalist Party ( , NPA ) is a far-left political party in France founded in February 2009. The party launched with 9,200 members and was intended to unify the fractured movements of the French radical Left, and attract new activ ...

History

It was founded in 1974, after its forerunner the Communist League (Ligue Communiste) was banned in 1973. The Communist League was itself founded in 1969 after the Revolutionary Communist Youth (Jeunesses Communistes Révolutionnaires), which was banned in 1968, had merged with

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 ...

's Internationalist Communist Party. The group included members of other Trotskyist tendencies who were able to organise openly within its ranks to gain support for their views. Its official spokespersons were

Alain Krivine Alain Krivine (; 10 July 1941 – 12 March 2022) was a French Trotskyist leader. Early life Krivine was born in July 1941 in Paris, France, the child of Pierre Léon Georges Krivine, a stomatologist, and Esther Lautman, the sister of French ...

, Roseline Vachetta, who are former members of the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

, and Olivier Besancenot who was the party's candidate for the presidential elections in 2002 and 2007. A major issue in the party's latter years was the possibility and conditions of electoral alliances with other left wing forces, such as the fellow Trotskyist party

Lutte Ouvrière Lutte Ouvrière (, ) is a Trotskyist communist party in France, named after its weekly paper. Arlette Laguiller was the party's spokeswoman from 1973 to 2008 and ran in each presidential election until 2012, when Nathalie Arthaud was the candi ...

. In the past the two had at times run joint candidates (for example in the last regional and European elections), and at times ran separately (for example in the 2002 and 2007 presidential elections). In a situation where massive campaigns against government policy have brought millions into the streets, but established political parties have lost a lot of credibility, the idea of unifying the radical Left in an electoral alliance was much discussed. There were for example talks for an alliance with the

French Communist Party The French Communist Party (, , PCF) is a Communism, communist list of political parties in France, party in France. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its Member of the European Parliament, MEPs sit with The Left in the ...

, after both parties worked together on the victorious campaign of the 'No' in the 2005 French referendum on the Constitution of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

. Relations between the two parties had been improving since

Marie-George Buffet Marie-George Buffet (née Kosellek; born 7 May 1949) is a French politician. She was the head of the French Communist Party (PCF) from 2001 to 2010. She joined the Party in 1969, and she served in the government as Minister of Youth Affairs an ...

took over the leadership of the PCF. LCR militants openly worked within

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

groups such as ATTAC and the

Solidaires Unitaires Démocratiques The Union syndicale Solidaires, Solidaires or Solidaires Unitaires Démocratiques (SUD) is a French group of trade unions. Political position They tend to favor progressive or even radical views and work with the alter-globalization or anti ...

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, although both are independent from political parties (and have members from other political backgrounds).

Dissolution

The Revolutionary Communist League was the leading force in the creation of the

, launched in June 2008, which was intended to unify the parties and movements of the far left. On 5 February 2009, 87,1% of party members voted to dissolve the Revolutionary Communist League, with 11.5% voting against. The dissolution was intended solely to enable the LCR to become the New Anticapitalist Party. Alain Krivine, who had been one of the party's founders, said: "We're not dissolving, as such. We'll continue the revolutionary struggle, with a tool that's much better suited for it than the LCR.""La LCR se dissout aujourd’hui, le NPA naît demain"
''Libération'', 5 February 2009

Presidential elections (2002 and 2007)

In France's 2002 presidential election, the LCR's candidate Olivier Besancenot won 4.25% of the vote. Thus the far left (LCR,

and Parti des travailleurs) gained a total of more than 10%. The run-off election provided voters with only a choice between the right-wing Chirac and the far-right Le Pen. The left in its vast majority voted for Chirac. The LCR did not call for abstention: the LCR campaigned t
"minimize the vote to Le Pen"
The LCR campaign was run under the slogan "Beat Le Pen on the streets and in the ballot box". A minority within the LCR were opposed to this slogan, believing that it amounted to a call to vote for Chirac. For the

2007 French presidential election Presidential elections were held in France on 21 and 22 April 2007 to elect the successor to Jacques Chirac as president of France (and ''ex officio'' Co-Prince of Andorra) for a five-year term. As no candidate received a majority of the vot ...

, the LCR's candidate was again Olivier Besancenot, gaining around 4.1% at the first round. As he fell under the 5% barrier, the state did not cover the campaign's expenses above 800,000 euros. However, as the party spent approximatively this sum, according to Pierre-François Grond, a member of the direction, it will not be financially affected by Besancenot's lower score.

Notes

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Revolutionary Communist League (France) 1974 establishments in France 2009 disestablishments in France Communist parties in France Defunct political parties in France Far-left politics in France Fourth International (post-reunification) Political parties disestablished in 2009 Political parties established in 1974 Political parties of the French Fifth Republic *Main Trotskyist organizations in France Trotskyist parties