Communist Party of Great Britain (Provisional Central Committee)
Political party in the United Kingdom
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB-PCC) is a political group which publishes the Weekly Worker newspaper.
Communist Party of Great Britain (Provisional Central Committee) | |
|---|---|
| |
| Founded | 1989 |
| Split from | Communist Party of Great Britain |
| Headquarters | London, England[1] |
| Newspaper | Weekly Worker |
| Political position | Far-left |
| Colours | Red |
| Website | |
| https://communistparty.co.uk/ | |
The group originated around The Leninist, a factional journal inside the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) before forming a "Provisional Central Committee" in 1989.
History
The CPGB-PCC originated as a faction of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB), in opposition to the Eurocommunists within the party.[2] The faction was grouped around the journal The Leninist, which began publishing in November 1981. The journal was published by Leninists in the CPGB alongside the youth wing of the New Communist Party of Britain which had been expelled from that party in 1979.[3] The Leninist's founding statement declared that there was an "ideological crisis that has become chronic in our ranks."[4] The faction related the instability in the CPGB at the time on Stalinism and the Popular Front.[5]
The Leninist held its first conference in January 1984, in which the journal switched to a monthly paper in order to better propagandise Leninism and advocate for pro-Partyism.[6]
In November 1989, the group held a conference to form a revolutionary wing of the CPGB, renaming itself to the "Provisional Central Committee of the Communist Party of Great Britain"[3]
During the August Coup, the group showed support for the State Emergency Committee, stating that their actions were done to prevent a counterrevolution.[7]
The CPGB dissolved itself in 1991, and The Leninist group continued as an independent organisation. The group began calling itself the Communist Party of Great Britain in 1992. In 1993, the paper became the Weekly Worker, a newspaper which included contributions from people who were not members of the group, like Boris Kagarlitsky and Paul Le Blanc.
In the mid 1990s, the group was active in the Socialist Alliance.[8]
The party stood in four seats at the 1992 United Kingdom general election, and in the 1993 Newbury by-election.[9]
In 1999, the group stood candidates for two UK constituencies in the European elections. Prevented from using the CPGB name it stood as 'Weekly Worker'.[10] The "Communist Party" label had been awarded to the Communist Party of Britain.[11]
The party has promoted groups like the Scottish Socialist Alliance and the London Socialist Alliance.[11]
In 2015, the CPGB (PCC) supported Jeremy Corbyn in his successful campaign to be elected leader of the Labour Party.[12][13]
Platform
The CPGB-PCC claims to have "an internationalist duty to uphold the principle, 'One state, one party'. To the extent that the European Union becomes a state then that necessitates EU-wide trade unions and a Communist Party of the EU".[14] In addition, it is in favour of the unification of the entire working class under a new Communist International.[14]
While the party is seen as similar to the Communist Party of Britain, its platform is more focused on anti-Stalinism and building alliances on the far-left.[15] It sees Stalinism as counterrevolutionary, and is more aligned with the ideas presented by Karl Kautsky, expressed through the writings of Mike Macnair whom sits on the central committee of the party.[2]
The "Provisional" label was used due to the party's aim to re-establish the CPGB.[3]