Revolutionary Workers Headquarters (RWH) was a U.S. Marxist-Leninist organization that formed out of a split from the

Revolutionary Communist Party Revolutionary Communist Party may refer to: Active *Revolutionary Communist Party (Argentina) * Revolutionary Communist Party (Brazil) *Voltaic Revolutionary Communist Party *Revolutionary Communist Party of China *Revolutionary Communist Party of ...

(RCP) in 1977. After

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...

Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party The chairman of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party ( zh, s=中国共产党中央委员会主席, p=Zhōngguó Gòngchǎndǎng Zhōngyāng Wěiyuánhuì Zhǔxí) was the party leader, leader of the Chinese Communist Party. The ...

, died in 1976, the majority of the RCP's leadership criticized the post-Mao Chinese leadership as "revisionist" and "capitalist-roaders", saying that

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

was no longer a socialist country. A sizable minority of the RCP (led by Micky Jarvis and Leibel Bergman) believed China was still a socialist country, and continued to support the post-Mao Chinese Communist Party under new leader

Hua Guofeng Hua Guofeng (born Su Zhu (); 16 February 1921 – 20 August 2008) was a Chinese politician who served as chairman of the Chinese Communist Party and the 2nd premier of China. The designated successor of Mao Zedong, Hua held the top offices of t ...

. They left the RCP to form the RWH. Aside from differences on how to assess the changes in China, the RWH also criticized the RCP for ultra-leftism, or left-idealism in their approach to political work in the U.S. After leaving the RCP, the RWH also did an extensive critique of the RCP's line on the national question, criticizing the RCP for being "white chauvinist". The RWH published this critique in a lengthy pamphlet titled ''Build the Black Liberation Movement'', which itself was subsequently criticized by

Amiri Baraka Amiri Baraka (born Everett Leroy Jones; October 7, 1934 – January 9, 2014), previously known as LeRoi Jones and Imamu Amear Baraka, was an American writer of poetry, drama, fiction, essays, and music criticism. He was the author of numerous b ...

of the

League of Revolutionary Struggle League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Leagues (band), ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football * ''League of Legends'', a 2009 multiplayer ...

in a pamphlet titled ''RWH on the BLM: Wrong Again!'' as having white chauvinist errors. The RWH made efforts to unite in the early 1980s with the Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist), but then the CP(M-L) dissolved. In 1985, the RWH merged with the

Proletarian Unity League The Proletarian Unity League was formed in Boston in 1975 by Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) members who had been associated with the Revolutionary Youth Movement II grouping that emerged from the split in SDS at its summer 1969 conventi ...

and the

Organization for Revolutionary Unity The Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) is communist political party in the United States. FRSO formed in 1985 as a merger of several Maoist-oriented New Communist movement organizations. FRSO describes itself as a revolutionary social ...

to form the

Freedom Road Socialist Organization The Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) is communist political party in the United States. FRSO formed in 1985 as a merger of several Maoist-oriented New Communist movement organizations. FRSO describes itself as a revolutionary social ...

. During its brief existence, RWH cadre were active in various movements, including the

labor movement The labour movement is the collective organisation of working people to further their shared political and economic interests. It consists of the trade union or labour union movement, as well as political parties of labour. It can be considere ...

, struggles of oppressed nationalities, the

women's movement The feminist movement, also known as the women's movement, refers to a series of social movements and political campaigns for radical and liberal reforms on women's issues created by inequality between men and women. Such issues are women's ...

, the

student movement Student activism or campus activism is work by students to cause political, environmental, economic, or social change. In addition to education, student groups often play central roles in democratization and winning civil rights. Modern stu ...

, the struggle for divestiture from companies doing business in then-apartheid dominated

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, and others. Through its cadres who worked in the

Revolutionary Student Brigade The Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade (RCYB) was the former youth group of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA. History The Attica Brigade was an anti-imperialist student organization in the United States in the early 1970s. It was initia ...

, the RWH was directly involved with the founding of the Progressive Student Network. Initially, RWH activity was almost exclusively found in urban areas of the

Midwest The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. It ...

and the

East East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that ea ...

; it expanded to the West Coast when it absorbed the Bay Area Communist Union in 1979. While the RWH was structured according to the principles of

democratic centralism Democratic centralism is the organisational principle of most communist parties, in which decisions are made by a process of vigorous and open debate amongst party membership, and are subsequently binding upon all members of the party. The co ...

, it did not consider itself a communist party ''per se'', but rather a "pre-party organization."

References

{{Reflist

External links

Revolutionary Workers Headquarters Online Archive

Political parties established in 1977 Anti-revisionist organizations Defunct Maoist organizations in the United States 1977 establishments in the United States 1985 disestablishments in the United States Revolutionary Communist Party, USA

See also

References

External links