
Contents
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Contexts Contexts
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Emergence in the 1970s Emergence in the 1970s
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Early positions Early positions
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Who needs the Labour Party? Who needs the Labour Party?
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Against ‘narrow anti-fascism’ and against all immigration controls Against ‘narrow anti-fascism’ and against all immigration controls
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Ireland: ‘Troops Out Now!’ Ireland: ‘Troops Out Now!’
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‘Party-building’ in the 1980s ‘Party-building’ in the 1980s
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Key positions and controversies Key positions and controversies
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Taking sides against imperialism Taking sides against imperialism
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The miners’ strike and the call for a ballot The miners’ strike and the call for a ballot
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Against ‘the Aids panic’ Against ‘the Aids panic’
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The end of an era The end of an era
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‘The point is to change it’ ‘The point is to change it’
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The end of the party The end of the party
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Notes Notes
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12 The point is to change it: A short account of the Revolutionary Communist Party
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Published:February 2018
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Abstract
Like most organisations of the far left in Britain in the years after 1968, the RCP was small in size and marginal in influence. Starting out with only a few dozen supporters in the mid-1970s, membership peaked at around 200 before its demise in the mid-1990s. Though it emerged out of the left, in many ways it was not of the left and it developed in a struggle against it. In contrast with the spirit of amenable coexistence that prevailed among other factions, the RCP maintained a high level of polemical engagement with the left. Though other far left groups discreetly accepted the RCP’s characterisation of the official labour movement as ‘reformist’, the RCP pointed out that in practice these groups adapted to the reformism of the official movement, reinforcing rather than loosening its grip on militants and activists. The RCP aimed to promote an independent anti-capitalist outlook, thereby to give voice and effect to the interests of the working class and humanity as a whole. It engaged in workplace and trade union struggles and campaigns for women’s rights, and against racism and imperialism, seeking to develop and sustain a creative balance between activities around issues of exploitation and those of oppression.
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