The Revolutionary Workers League (RWL) was a radical left group in the United States , lasting from 1935 through 1946. It was led by Hugo Oehler and published The Fighting Worker newspaper.
18-597: RWL may refer to: Revolutionary Workers League (Oehlerite) Revolutionary Workers League (in Manitoba) Revolutionary Workers League/Ligue Ouvrière Révolutionnaire Revolutionary Workers League (U.S.) Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title RWL . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change
36-664: A centrist group." The MWL published a "theoretical organ" out of New York called The Spark , and then Power , from February 1938 to 1940. According to Walter Goldberg, The Spark lasted from Vol. I #1 Feb. 1938 to Vol. II #3 May 1939. In 1940, the MWL merged with another small sect, the Revolutionary Marxist League , led by Meldon Joerger, to create a group called the Workers Party . This new sect appears to have died out quickly, such that it had gone out of existence before
54-593: A final warning to cease their violations of " organizational discipline ". Oehler and his faction then withdrew to form the Revolutionary Workers League. By this time a majority of the National Committee come around to support the French turn. The RWL originally thought of itself as an "opposition" within the official Trotskyist movement, in the same manner as Trotskyism originally conceived of itself as
72-641: A group headed by David Atkins that merged into the Bordigists , and the Revolutionary Communist Vanguard . The Revolutionary Workers League was active inside a number of trade unions, particularly the United Auto Workers . They succeeded in having one of their members Zygmount "Ziggy" Dobrycinski elected as head of Local 205. However, when the RWL began to make demands for the "politicalization" of
90-743: A tendency within the Workers Party of the United States , which had been formed by the merger of the Trotskyist Communist League of America (CLA) and A. J. Muste 's American Workers Party in December 1934. Some within the new party were advocating an application of Leon Trotsky 's French Turn by having the enter in the Socialist Party of America . The issue was first raised at the "Active Workers Conference" at Pittsburgh in March 1935. Though
108-596: The Revolutionary Communist Organisation (Austria) , both groups close to Oehler. The outbreak of World War II led to a severe decline in the group. Its youth section, the Young Workers League appears to have been wound up in about 1940, the international disbanded in 1946, and The Fighting Worker ceased publication in 1947, although an attempt at a relaunch was made in 1950. Marxist Workers League (US) The Marxist Workers League
126-570: The "Left Opposition" within the Comintern. They focused, in their early years, to recruiting within the Trotskyist ranks, and may have created the "Marxist Policy Committee" within the Trotskyists' Socialist Appeal Association for that purpose. The group went through a number of splits, both of organized factions and individuals. A small Marxist Workers League left early in 1936 and quickly rejoined
144-675: The RWL was of its analysis of the Spanish Civil War , which it believed was an imperialist war . Its principal leader was Karl Mienov . Mienov advocated for a revolutionary defeatist position in Spain, rather than the critical support of the Republican government advocated by the RWL, declaring "to be wrong on the Spanish war means to open the door wide open to social-patriotism in the coming imperialist world war... We are proud that we split from such
162-653: The Revolutionary Workers League, sometimes called RWL (Revolt) after its periodical. They had small groups in New York, Philadelphia, Detroit, Chicago and elsewhere. After an attempted merger with the Fieldites and some Socialist Labor Party dissidents failed, the Stammites disbanded in 1941. Other groups to split from the RWL included the Leninist League , led by George Marlen, a second Marxist Workers League led by Karl Mienov,
180-705: The Socialist, with Cannon and Shachtman favoring the proposal. The group led by Oehler and Tom Stamm were not entirely opposed to work among the left wing members of the Socialist party, but wanted to bring them into the WP as a group, rather than have the Workers Party dissolve into the Socialist Party. To that end they began negotiations with the Revolutionary Policy Committee . When they reported their talks to
198-535: The Trotskyists. Joseph Zack then renounced Marxism completely, and founded a new group called the One Big Union Club . The majority of the group apparently renounced Trotskyism at its third Plenum in October–November 1938. However this caused a spit between Oehler, who believed that Trotsky had degenerated from Marxism in 1934, and Stamm who felt that Trotsky had degenerated in 1928. Others reasons given for
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#1732852849743216-723: The anti-Stalinist Left. Oehler and Negrete were both imprisoned by the Loyalist regime, and only returned to the US after the intervention of the US embassy. With the declaration of the Trotskyist Fourth International , the RWL instead founded the Provisional International Contact Commission for the New Communist (Fourth) International . Besides themselves, this included the Leninist League (UK) and
234-609: The idea was favored by James Cannon and Max Shachtman , the two former leaders of the CLA, it was opposed by Joseph Zack Kornfeder and Muste. The issue was again brought up at the WPUS June National Committee Plenum. Though the party issued a declaration denouncing "false rumors" of factionalism and moves toward merger with the socialists, a struggle did apparent take place, Muste, Oehler, and Martin Abern against joining
252-406: The link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=RWL&oldid=613691172 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Revolutionary Workers League (Oehlerite) The RWL originated as
270-497: The members, including a six-hour day and workers management of the industry, "Ziggy" quit the RWL. The group sent a man named Russel Blackwell (using the pseudonym Rosalio Negrete) to Spain during the early part of the Spanish Civil War , who made contacts to the Workers' Party of Marxist Unification ( POUM ) left wing. Later they sent Oehler, who was present during the May 1937 suppression of
288-525: The party's Political Committee, they set up their own negotiating committee without any members of the Oehler-Stamm group on it. When Oehler-Stamm group continued their talks with RPC they were censured by the party's Control Commission. Things came to a head at the October 4–9, 1935 Plenum of the party's National Committee, at which the Oehler-Stamm group was forbidden to issue a factional periodical and were given
306-409: The split included questions over democratic centralism as well as a supposed tendency to focus too much on European events, but Sidney Lens stated that Stamm's motivation was more personal: he simply did not wish to relocate from New York to Chicago, where the RWL's headquarters was being transferred to become closer to the heart of America industry. The Stammites set up another organization, also called
324-533: Was the name of two splinter groups from the Revolutionary Workers League (RWL) in the 1930s. The first group split in early 1936. After "a sensational existence of both its members for 19 days", they rejoined the RWL. The second group formed in early 1938, containing elements from the RWL, Albert Weisbord's Communist League of Struggle , and the Trotskyist YPSL . Its central criticism of
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