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{{ | {{Infobox political party|name=Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist–Leninist)|logo=Emblem of the Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist–Leninist) PNG.svg.png|founded=3 July, 2004|abbreviation=CPGB-ML|chairperson=[[Ella Rule]]|newspaper=''[[Proletarian (newspaper)|Proletarian]]''|youth_wing=Red Youth|political_orientation=[[Marxism–Leninism]]<br> | ||
[[Anti-revisionism]] (''de-jure'')<br/> | |||
[[Opportunism|Right-Opportunism]] (''de-facto'')|website=https://thecommunists.org|twitter=CPGBML|youtube=https://www.youtube.com/c/ProletarianCPGBML|Vice Chairperson(s)=}}{{Communist parties}} | |||
The '''Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist–Leninist)''' (CPGB-ML) is a [[Marxism-leninism|Marxist-Leninist]] political party based in the United Kingdom, specifically England, [[Scotland]] and Wales. It was founded in July 2004 by former members of the [[Socialist Labour Party (UK)|Socialist Labour Party]] who were expelled for supporting [[Actually Existing Socialism|AES]] states,<ref name=":0">{{News citation|date=2004-08|title=Formation of the CPGB-ML|url=https://archive.cpgb-ml.org/index.php?secName=proletarian&subName=display&art=10|newspaper=Proletarian}}</ref> as well as some members of the original [[Communist Party of Great Britain]].<ref>{{News citation|newspaper=Proletarian|title=Jack Shapiro lives forever in our hearts!|date=2009-12-01|url=https://thecommunists.org/2009/12/01/news/jack-shapiro-lives-forever-in-our-hearts/}}</ref><ref>{{News citation|newspaper=Proletarian|title=Remembering departed comrades|date=2008-12-01|url=https://thecommunists.org/2008/12/01/news/remembering-departed-comrades/}}</ref> Today the party is the largest and most prominent Marxist-Leninist party in the United Kingdom, mostly due to its extensive online and media outreach and the prolific activities of its founder and former chairman, [[Harpal Brar]]; he has founded and run a number of pro-communist organisations, including the [[Indian Workers' Association]] and the [[Stalin Society]]. | |||
The party runs two bi-monthly newspapers: ''[[Proletarian]]'', which mainly considers current affairs, and ''[[Lalkar]]'', which consists of more long-form theoretical content. The party also runs the YouTube channel [[Proletarian TV]] from which it uploads its conferences, speeches from its members, pro-communist documentaries it does not own, and other similar material. To support its written content, ''Proletarian'' articles are given voiceovers on ''[[Proletarian Radio]]''. The Party supports [[People's Republic of China|China]], and Harpal Brar, a Party founder, co-founded the [[Hands Off China (Campaign)|Hands Off China]] campaign and published a book on China: ''Socialism with Chinese Characteristics: Marketisation of the Chinese economy''.<ref>[https://shop.thecommunists.org/product/socialism-with-chinese-characteristics-2020/ ''Socialism with Chinese Characteristics: Marketisation of the Chinese economy''] by Harpal Brar</ref> | |||
== | ==History== | ||
===Formation of the party=== | |||
[[File:Cpgb-ml may day 2013.jpg|left|thumb|CPGB-ML [[International Workers' Day|May Day]] procession, 2013]] | |||
The CPGB-ML was formed in 2004, believing itself to be the "natural progression of the CPGB of the 1920s and 30s" (for they believe that the decline of that original party began with the publication of ''[[Communist Party of Britain#Britain's Road to Socialism|The British Road to Socialism]]'' in 1951).<ref>{{News citation|date=2021-04|title=A critique of “Britain’s Road to Socialism” in the 21st century – The Programme of the Communist Party of Britain (CPB): PART ONE|url=http://www.lalkar.org/article/3689/a-critique-of-britains-road-to-socialism-in-the-21st-century-the-programme-of-the-communist-party-of-britain-cpb-part-one|newspaper=Lalkar|quote=}}</ref> The party acknowledges that "there are already several parties in Britain who refer to themselves as communist", but believed that the existing parties (which were all formed slightly before the dissolution of the [[Soviet Union]]) were revisionist. | |||
On the one hand, the [[Communist Party of Britain]] (CPB) established itself as continuing the CPGB's original ''British Road to Socialism'' (now confusingly called ''Britain’s Road to Socialism''), which had in the CPGB-ML's view "allowed the [[Eurocommunism|euro-communists]] to take control in the first place. In fact the euro-communists were only a group of revisionists within what was then a revisionist party that took revisionism to its logical conclusion, ie, liquidation." On the other hand, the [[New Communist Party of Britain|New Communist Party]] (NCP)'s "decision never to stand in elections and their total support for the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] in elections set them only a wafer’s width apart from the revisionists that they had left".<ref name=":0" /> | |||
It claims that each party "fawn all over it [the Labour Party] in Lenin’s name", referring to Lenin's [[Library:"Left-wing" communism, an infantile disorder]]. The CPGB-ML hold that Lenin's advice here (for communists to canvass on the basis of supporting the Labour Party, but making clear that an impending Labour government would not truly represent the working class) was based on the material conditions of Britain at that time, and is not applicable to the present day. | |||
==Relations with other parties== | |||
== | ===International standing=== | ||
Joti Brar, | [[File:Cpgb-ml cpc 2021.jpg|thumb|Joti Brar attends CPC and World Political Parties Summit, 2021]] | ||
The CPGB-ML has a history of relationships with political (some communist) parties and the embassies of [[Actually Existing Socialism|AES states]], having met delegations from [[People's Republic of China|China]],<ref>{{News citation|date=2008-08|title=Spirited rally launches Hands off China campaign|url=https://archive.cpgb-ml.org/?art=419&secName=proletarian&subName=display|newspaper=Proletarian}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{News citation|date=2019-10-02|title=The Chinese revolution: ‘One of the greatest moments in human history’|url=https://thecommunists.org/2019/10/02/news/chinese-revolution-greatest-moments-human-history-mao/|newspaper=Proletarian}}</ref><ref>{{News citation|date=2009-10|title=CPGB-ML greets China’s communists on anniversary|url=https://archive.cpgb-ml.org/index.php?secName=proletarian&subName=display&art=544|newspaper=Proletarian}}</ref> [[Republic of Cuba|Cuba]],<ref>{{News citation|date=2018-10-05|title=Cuba and the October Revolution|url=https://thecommunists.org/2018/10/05/tv/cuba-and-the-october-revolution/|newspaper=Proletarian TV}}</ref> [[Venezuela]],<ref>{{News citation|author=Proletarian TV|date=2016-12-14|title=Venezuela - The Struggle continues!|url=https://youtu.be/uIkBMFIJ_ww|newspaper=YouTube}}</ref> [[Democratic People's Republic of Korea|North Korea]],<ref>{{News citation|author=Matt Drake|newspaper=Express|title=EXCLUSIVE: Hard-line UK communists openly SUPPORT Kim Jong-un and DENY atrocities|date=2018-02-04|url=https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/914398/North-Korea-UK-communist-party-war-USA-Kim-Jong-un-Stalin-nuclear-weapons-politics|archive-date=2018-02-04|retrieved=2022-04-22}}</ref><ref>{{News citation|date=2018-08-27|title=October 100: DPR Korea pays tribute|url=https://thecommunists.org/2018/08/27/tv/october-100-dpr-korea-pays-tribute/|newspaper=Proletarian TV}}</ref> [[Lao People's Democratic Republic|Laos]],<ref>{{News citation|date=2018-10-05|title=Laos independence and the October Revolution|url=https://thecommunists.org/2018/10/05/tv/laos-independence-and-the-october-revolution/|newspaper=Proletarian TV}}</ref> [[Socialist Republic of Vietnam|Vietnam]],<ref>{{News citation|author=Harpal Brar|date=2008-10-01|title=CPGB-ML meets Vietnamese Party delegation|url=https://thecommunists.org/2008/10/01/news/cpgb-ml-meets-vietnamese-party-delegation/|newspaper=Proletarian}}</ref> [[Nepal]],<ref>{{News citation|date=2009-12|title=October Revolution: beacon lighting the way forward for all humanity|url=https://archive.cpgb-ml.org/?secName=proletarian&subName=display&art=571|newspaper=Proletarian|quote=Comrade Ganesh Vikaria from the embassy of Nepal extended his greetings to the meeting}}</ref> [[Republic of Nicaragua|Nicaragua]],<ref>{{News citation|author=Nicaragua Embassy|date=2021-10-28|title=Nicaraguan ambassador: ‘In our country, democracy is in the hands of the people’|url=https://thecommunists.org/2021/10/28/news/nicaragua-ambassador-guisell-morales-sandinista-revolution-democracy-people/|newspaper=Proletarian}}</ref> [[Turkey]],<ref>{{News citation|date=2009-12|title=October Revolution: beacon lighting the way forward for all humanity|url=https://archive.cpgb-ml.org/?secName=proletarian&subName=display&art=571|newspaper=Proletarian|quote=Speaking next, a comrade from the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Turkey and Northern Kurdistan (MLKP) said that the October Revolution continues to guide the struggles of the working class and oppressed nations throughout the world.}}</ref> [[Sri Lanka]]<ref>{{News citation|author=Proletarian TV|date=2017-06-19|title=CPGB-ML Mayday message: in Sri Lanka with the JVP|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfGdDAlCTrU|newspaper=YouTube}}</ref> and [[Republic of Korea|South Korea]].<ref>{{News citation|author=Proletarian TV|date=2018-10-19|title=Red Youth in South Korea - Protest at US Army Base Daegu|url=https://youtu.be/Xn8xJxdEjqA}}</ref> Most of these meetings occurred at CPGB-ML events, with some exceptions. Amongst other international appearances, representatives of the party have attended the World Socialist Forum (Beijing, 2016).<ref>{{News citation|author=Proletarian TV|date=2019-06-17|title=The Fall of the USSR - Market Socialism|url=https://youtu.be/x6pCNLJrjpc|newspaper=YouTube}}</ref> In terms of television appearances, representatives of the party have spoken on [[TeleSUR]],<ref>{{News citation|author=Proletarian TV|date=2019-09-01|title=Vice-Chair of the CPGB-ML speaks to telesurenglish in Bolivar Square|url=https://youtu.be/z8sdmisoHzc|newspaper=YouTube}}</ref> [[Press TV]],<ref>{{News citation|author=Proletarian TV|date=2022-04-07|title=Ranjeet on ‘partygate’ scandal as Met Police issue fines over Downing Street lockdown parties|url=https://youtu.be/S580rcXv0FA|newspaper=YouTube}}</ref> [[Al-Mayadeen]],<ref>{{News citation|author=Proletarian TV|date=2022-04-01|title=Ella Rule appearing on Kalima Horra to discuss Ukraine|url=https://youtu.be/sK5BEkA7fh4|newspaper=Proletarian}}</ref> [[RT (TV Network)|RT]]<ref name=":4">{{News citation|author=Proletarian TV|date=2015-10-25|title=Xi Jinping in London - Keith Bennet talks to George Galloway on RT's Sputnik|url=https://youtu.be/ysMZHdaJCqQ|newspaper=YouTube}}</ref><ref>{{News citation|author=Peter Lavelle|date=2021-12-31|title=CrossTalk: Crystal Ball 2022|url=https://www.rt.com/shows/crosstalk/544590-new-year-2022-crystal-ball/|newspaper=RT}}</ref>, [[China Global Television Network|CGTN]],<ref>{{News citation|author=Proletarian TV|newspaper=YouTube|title=Joti Brar interview with CGTN on the Centenary of the CPC|date=2021-07-18|url=https://youtu.be/6TfN3_ypD3Q}}</ref> and the [[British Broadcasting Corporation|BBC]].<ref>{{News citation|author=|date=2018-06-12|title=CPGB-ML’s Harpal Brar discusses DPRK on BBC’s primetime The One Show|url=https://thecommunists.org/2018/06/12/tv/cpgb-ml-chairman-harpal-brar-discusses-dprk-us-summit-bbc-one-show-korea-trump/|newspaper=Proletarian TV}}</ref> | |||
[[File:Cpgb-ml covid and internationalism 2021.jpg|thumb|Covid and International meeting with Chinese, Cuban, Venezuelan, and Nicaraguan delegates in attendance, 2021]] | |||
At its ninth (and most recent) congress, the party held a public meeting regarding "Covid and Internationalism". The panel of speakers was made up of ambassadors from socialist countries: China, Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua.<ref>{{News citation|date=2021-11-11|title=Ninth party congress: We must connect our movement with the masses|url=https://thecommunists.org/2021/11/11/news/ninth-party-congress-connect-movement-with-masses/|newspaper=Proletarian|quote=The international section of the congress was supplemented by an inspiring meeting on Saturday night on the topic of ‘Covid and Internationalism’. Guests from four fraternal embassies addressed our audience on this topic: Ambassador Rocio del Valle Maneiro González of Bolivarian Venezuela, Ambassador Guisell Morales-Echaverry of Sandinistan Nicaragua, Counsellor Kong Xiangwen of the People’s Republic of China, and Secretary Aymée Alejandra Diaz Negrín of socialist Cuba.}}</ref> This is despite the fact that, at this point in time, Nicaragua maintained official diplomatic relations with the Republic of China rather than the PRC.<ref>{{News citation|author=Helen Davidson|date=2021-10-10|title=Nicaragua cuts ties with Taiwan and pivots to China|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/10/nicaragua-cuts-ties-with-taiwan-and-pivots-to-china|newspaper=The Guardian}}</ref><ref>{{News citation|date=2021-12-10|title=China, Nicaragua resume diplomatic relations, sign joint communique|url=https://news.cgtn.com/news/2021-12-10/China-Nicaragua-resume-diplomatic-relations-15S7NNXTjWg/index.html|newspaper=CGTN}}</ref> At this event, the Chinese ambassador formally presented a congratulatory letter to party for its holding of the congress. | |||
The CPGB-ML | The CPGB-ML has attempted to be included in the annual [[International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties]] (IMCWP). In 2008, the [[Communist Party of Greece]]—acting on behalf of the IMCWP—asked the [[Communist Party of Britain]] (CPB) to produce a report on the eligibility of the CPGB-ML for membership of the IMCWP (since 2008, the CPB and the [[New Communist Party of Britain|NCP]] are the only British parties on the members list.)<ref>http://www.solidnet.org/links/communist-and-workers-parties/</ref> The 3-page report denounced the CPGB-ML as a party which "lacks the essential requirements of a Marxist Leninist Communist Party" with "no base in the organized working class". The CPGB-ML subsequently produced a 15-page response to the "lies and slanders of the CPB". The original report seems to be unavailable online, although alongside its response, the CPGB-ML reproduced it [https://archive.cpgb-ml.org/download/publications/iccwp_cpb_report_and_reply.pdf here].<ref>{{News citation|title=CPGB-ML’s reply to the lies and slanders of the CPB|url=https://archive.cpgb-ml.org/download/publications/iccwp_cpb_report_and_reply.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200928131816/https://archive.cpgb-ml.org/download/publications/iccwp_cpb_report_and_reply.pdf}}</ref> | ||
== | ===Workers Party of Britain=== | ||
Joti Brar, Vice Chair of the CPGB-ML, is also the Deputy Leader of the [[Workers Party of Britain]] (WPB). Since 2019, much of the CPGB-ML's practical work has been within the WPB. CPGB-ML members are required to also be members of the WPB, making the point that "sitting smugly on the sidelines will not help us to bring this essential understanding [Marxist analysis of [[social democracy]]] to our fellow workers".<ref>{{News citation|date=2021-08-10|title=WPB storms Batley: ‘We intend to replace Labour as party of working class’|url=https://thecommunists.org/2021/08/10/news/workers-party-britain-storms-batley-replace-labour-party/|newspaper=Proletarian}}</ref> Its leader, [[George Galloway]], has a history with the CPGB-ML, despite never having been a member himself. | |||
[[File:Cpgb-ml george galloway 2009.jpg|thumb|George Galloway attends a Hands off China event, 2009]] | |||
The CPGB-ML's first official views of Galloway were negative, describing him as "a man who had to be thrown out of the imperialist Labour Party kicking and screaming".<ref name=":0" /> However, since 2009, Galloway has participated in several meetings held by the CPGB-ML,<ref>{{News citation|author=Proletarian TV|date=2009-10-05|title=George Galloway - Hands off China 1/3|url=https://youtu.be/LuWNlFkrihQ|newspaper=YouTube}}</ref><ref name=":1" /> and prominent member of the party Ranjeet Brar (an NHS surgeon) routinely appeared on Galloway's popular ''[[The Mother of All Talk Shows|Mother Of All Talkshows]]'' as the "MOATS medic" throughout the pandemic.<ref>{{News citation|author=George Galloway|date=2022-03-03|title=#CORONAVIRUS EXPERT: Want to know how serious this outbreak really is?|url=https://youtu.be/qSwQh3qD2cQ|newspaper=YouTube}}</ref><ref>{{News citation|date=2021-02-05|title=Comrade Ranjeet on Moats: NHS marketisation and the covid death toll|url=https://thecommunists.org/2021/02/05/tv/comrade-ranjeet-on-moats-nhs-marketisation-and-the-covid-death-toll/|newspaper=Proletarian TV}}</ref> Other prominent members have appeared on other shows hosted by Galloway.<ref name=":4" /><ref>{{News citation|author=Proletarian TV|date=2019-08-16|title=Hong Kong: Who is behind the protests?|url=https://youtu.be/aGIVvb6JyzM|newspaper=YouTube}}</ref><ref>{{News citation|author=Proletarian TV|date=2022-01-28|title=Nina Kosta vice chair of the Communist Party discusses U.S. aggression towards China|url=https://youtu.be/pwC-T6x9DiY|newspaper=YouTube}}</ref> | |||
One reason Galloway may have grown closer to the party over time—and the party to him—is that he found he held common ground with the party's line on several issues. Crucially, his anti-[[European Union|EU]] stance coming up to the [[Brexit]] referendum, and the defence of the results of that referendum.<ref>https://workerspartybritain.org/frequently-asked-questions/#faq10</ref> In addition, both Galloway and the CPGB-ML hold positive views of [[Venezuela]], in particular [[Hugo Chavez]]—whom Galloway considers a close friend and had been on the campaign trail with.<ref>{{News citation|author=Channel 4 News|date=2013-03-06|title=George Galloway on his friend Hugo Chavez|url=https://youtu.be/e0rojYMx5c4|newspaper=YouTube}}</ref> | |||
=== Center for Political Innovation === | |||
[[Joti Brar]], Vice Chair, has historically associated with and aligned with the [[Center for Political Innovation]], a United States-based organisation, with a cult-of personality surrounding their leader [[Caleb Maupin]].<ref>{{YouTube citation|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-xeM6RxP6o|channel=Center for Political Innovation|title=Time to join the Center for Political Innovation!|date=2023-04-19}}</ref> Brar, in a talks with Caleb Maupin has gone as far as to say, in answer to a question about what Maupin calls the "transgenderism issue" that she opposes "the ideology that's being pushed on people that says you are what you think", claiming that it is "total idealism".<ref name=":6">{{YouTube citation|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5v7bWFFLzUY|channel=Caleb Maupin|title=Top British Communist Joti Brar talks with Caleb Maupin|date=2019-10-10}}</ref> She here completely ignores the irony of slandering trans existence as idealist when she is in the process of practising non-materialism by omitting and disregarding the vast bodies of research and dialectical material study upholding trans existence (see [[LGBT+]]) and the constructed nature of so-called "biological gender" what Brar accepts as reality without question - a total contradiction of the principle of "No Investigation, No Right to Speak" which Comrade Mao Zedong outlined in his 1930 Essay, [[Library:Oppose Book Worship|Oppose Book Worship]]. | |||
== References == | She also, supported by Maupin, says of trans women's expression that "we'll be happy to see it disappear into history".<ref name=":6" /> | ||
==Structure== | |||
The CPGB-ML is organized under the principles of [[democratic centralism]]. The Party Congress is the supreme authority of the party and meets at least once every four years. Most party resolutions only require a 50% vote to pass, but changes to the party rules or programme require 75%. If the party has 500 full members or less, all members may attend the party congress. If it has between 501 and 5,000 members, the congress has one representative for every ten members. If it has over 5,000 members, there is one representative for every 25 members. The Party Congress elects a Central Committee consisting of a Chair, two Vice-Chairs, and at least 15 other members.<ref name=":5">{{Citation|author=Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist-Leninist)|year=2018|title=Party Programme and Rules|chapter=Party rules|page=23–31|pdf=https://s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/s3.cpgb-ml.org/PartyProgrammeAndRules2018.pdf|city=Birmingham|isbn=9781913286026}}</ref> | |||
===Local organizations=== | |||
The lowest level of party organization is the study group, which meets weekly. The Central Committee may establish Regional or City Committees for areas with multiple study groups.<ref name=":5" /> | |||
==Domestic positions== | |||
The party defends the television network RT because of the role it plays in counter-propaganda against mainstream media, using the specific example of its coverage of the Syrian civil war.<ref>{{News citation|author=Gavin Haynes|newspaper=Vice|title=I Went to a Stalinist Free-Speech Protest to Defend Russia Today from Natwest|date=2016-10-19|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/mvnk4v/cpgbml-versus-natwest-russia-today|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201108093627/https://www.vice.com/en/article/mvnk4v/cpgbml-versus-natwest-russia-today|archive-date=2020-11-08|retrieved=2022-04-22}}</ref> | |||
==Criticism== | |||
===Dismissal of LGBT rights as "LGBT ideology"=== | |||
In its 8th Congress of 2018, the CPGB-ML put forward a motion claiming that "obsession with [[identity politics]], including sexual politics, is anti-Marxian",<ref>{{News citation|journalist=|date=2018-12-07|title=Identity politics are anti-Marxian and a harmful diversion from the class struggle|url=https://thecommunists.org/2018/12/07/news/identity-politics-are-anti-marxian-and-a-harmful-diversion-from-the-class-struggle/|newspaper=Proletarian|archive-url=|archive-date=|retrieved=2021-11-08}}</ref> in opposition to what they call "[[LGBT+|LGBT]] ideology".<ref name=":2">{{News citation|journalist=|date=2019-04-20|title=Why gay rights is not a class issue|url=https://thecommunists.org/2019/04/20/news/why-gay-rights-is-not-a-class-issue/|newspaper=Proletarian|archive-url=|archive-date=|retrieved=2021-11-08}}</ref> CPGB-ML justifies this view on the argument that the LGBT struggle is opposed to class politics, as the number of transgender people is "statistically so small as to be insignificant",<ref>{{News citation|journalist=|date=2019-03-23|title=The reactionary nightmare of ‘gender fluidity’|url=https://thecommunists.org/2019/03/23/news/the-reactionary-nightmare-of-gender-fluidity/|newspaper=The Communists (CPGB-ML)|archive-url=|archive-date=|retrieved=2021-11-08}}</ref> and that transgender activists want to encourage children to be trans,<ref name=":2" /> a common [[reactionary]] stance promoted by chauvinists and [[Fascism|fascists]]. | |||
The central committee of the party is openly anti-trans due to its position that gender and biological sex are synonymous and "common sense",<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3">{{Citation|author=Various authors|year=2019|title=Identity Politics and the Transgender Trend: Where is LGBT Ideology Taking Us?|chapter=|page=|pdf=https://s3-eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/s3.cpgb-ml.org/TransgenderTrend_read.pdf|city=|publisher=|isbn=978-1-913286-00-2|doi=|lg=|mia=|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref> a position against historical-materialist understanding of gender.<ref>{{News citation|journalist=|date=2019-04-24|title=The historical-materialist theory of gender|url=https://redfightback.org/misogyny-is-not-caused-by-biological-sex-the-historical-materialist-theory-of-gender/|newspaper=Red Fightback|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220528001058/https://redfightback.org/misogyny-is-not-caused-by-biological-sex-the-historical-materialist-theory-of-gender/|archive-date=2022-05-28|retrieved=2024-04-15}}</ref> A 70-page pamphlet written by Ranjeet Brar, Edward Renyard, and Joti Brar titled ''Identity politics and the transgender trend: where is LGBT ideology taking us?'' confuses the LGBT struggle with the liberal appropriation of that struggle.<ref name=":3" /> The pamphlet claims that "it is not gender that alienates men from women, it is our social relations", completely oblivious to the fact that gender is a historical [[social construct]], and that the existence of trans people even precedes the use of the term.<ref>{{Citation|author=Diederik F. Janssen|year=2020|title=Transgenderism before gender: nosology from the sixteenth through mid‑twentieth century|chapter=|page=|pdf=|city=|publisher=|isbn=|doi=10.1007/s10508-020-01715-w|lg=|mia=|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref> Overall, this approach is a form of right-opportunism that has repackaged bourgeois political lines as being of a Marxist character, fundamentally distorting the party line away from a materially-based analysis of gender. | |||
=== Opposition to self-determination for Scotland and Wales === | |||
The party opposes the right of the Scottish and Welsh people to self-determination, preferring them to remain under English sovereignty despite the movements for independence in both constituent countries. The party refers to these movements as "petty nationalist fantasies" and pushes for Britain to remain united, equating the peoples in all of Britain as the same people and neglects to mention atrocities committed against the Scottish and Welsh by the English since this "union".<ref>{{Web citation|author=Proletarian writers|newspaper=Proletarian|title=Eulogies for Sturgeon highlight the fraud of Scottish nationalism|date=2023-04-26|url=https://thecommunists.org/2023/04/26/news/scottish-nationalism-fraud-sturgeon-salmond/}}</ref> | |||
== Published works == | |||
Listed in order of appearance on the party's website.<ref>https://shop.thecommunists.org/</ref> | |||
===Party pamphlets=== | |||
*''Party Programme and Rules'' | |||
*''The Rise and Fall of Project Corbyn'' | |||
* ''Identity Politics and the Transgender Trend'' | |||
*''Zionism: A Racist, Antisemitic and Reactionary Tool of Imperialism'' | |||
*''Claudia Jones, Communist'' | |||
*''A Class Analysis of Britain at the Start of the 21st Century'' | |||
*''The Drive to War Against Russia and China'' | |||
* ''The Soviet Victory Over Fascism'' | |||
*''World War One: An Interimperialist War'' | |||
*''Revisionism and the Demise of the USSR'' | |||
*''Capitalism and Immigration'' | |||
*''The 1926 General Strike'' | |||
*''NATO’s Predatory War Against Yugoslavia'' | |||
*''60th Anniversary of the Victory Over Fascism'' | |||
===Harpal Brar books=== | |||
''Main article: [[Harpal Brar]]'' | |||
*''Socialism with Chinese Characteristics: Marketisation of the Chinese economy'' | |||
*''Inquilab Zindabad! India’s Liberation Struggle'' | |||
*''Imperialism and the Worst-Ever Crisis of Overproduction'' | |||
*''Imperialism and War'' | |||
*''Imperialism: The Eve of the Social Revolution of the Proletariat'' | |||
*''Chimurenga! The Liberation Struggle in Zimbabwe'' | |||
*''Imperialism in the Middle East'' | |||
*''Marxism and the Emancipation of Women'' | |||
*''Bourgeois Nationalism or Proletarian Internationalism?'' | |||
* ''Imperialism: decadent, parasitic, moribund capitalism'' | |||
* ''Social Democracy – the Enemy Within'' | |||
*''Trotskyism or Leninism?'' | |||
*''Perestroika: the Complete Collapse of Revisionism'' | |||
===Stalin Society pamphlets=== | |||
''Main article: [[Stalin Society]]'' | |||
*''Stalin Society Magazine | issue 01'' | |||
* ''Lies about the Soviet Union'' | |||
*''The Soviet Union at War'' | |||
*''Life in the Soviet Union'' | |||
==References== | |||
<references /> | |||
[[Category:Communist parties]] | |||
[[Category:British communist parties]] |
Latest revision as of 16:19, 15 April 2024
Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist–Leninist) | |
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Abbreviation | CPGB-ML |
Chairperson | Ella Rule |
Founded | 3 July, 2004 |
Newspaper | Proletarian |
Youth wing | Red Youth |
Political orientation | Marxism–Leninism Anti-revisionism (de-jure) |
Website | |
https://thecommunists.org | |
@CPGBML | |
YouTube channel | https://www.youtube.com/c/ProletarianCPGBML |
Part of a series on |
Communist parties |
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The Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist–Leninist) (CPGB-ML) is a Marxist-Leninist political party based in the United Kingdom, specifically England, Scotland and Wales. It was founded in July 2004 by former members of the Socialist Labour Party who were expelled for supporting AES states,[1] as well as some members of the original Communist Party of Great Britain.[2][3] Today the party is the largest and most prominent Marxist-Leninist party in the United Kingdom, mostly due to its extensive online and media outreach and the prolific activities of its founder and former chairman, Harpal Brar; he has founded and run a number of pro-communist organisations, including the Indian Workers' Association and the Stalin Society.
The party runs two bi-monthly newspapers: Proletarian, which mainly considers current affairs, and Lalkar, which consists of more long-form theoretical content. The party also runs the YouTube channel Proletarian TV from which it uploads its conferences, speeches from its members, pro-communist documentaries it does not own, and other similar material. To support its written content, Proletarian articles are given voiceovers on Proletarian Radio. The Party supports China, and Harpal Brar, a Party founder, co-founded the Hands Off China campaign and published a book on China: Socialism with Chinese Characteristics: Marketisation of the Chinese economy.[4]
History[edit | edit source]
Formation of the party[edit | edit source]
The CPGB-ML was formed in 2004, believing itself to be the "natural progression of the CPGB of the 1920s and 30s" (for they believe that the decline of that original party began with the publication of The British Road to Socialism in 1951).[5] The party acknowledges that "there are already several parties in Britain who refer to themselves as communist", but believed that the existing parties (which were all formed slightly before the dissolution of the Soviet Union) were revisionist.
On the one hand, the Communist Party of Britain (CPB) established itself as continuing the CPGB's original British Road to Socialism (now confusingly called Britain’s Road to Socialism), which had in the CPGB-ML's view "allowed the euro-communists to take control in the first place. In fact the euro-communists were only a group of revisionists within what was then a revisionist party that took revisionism to its logical conclusion, ie, liquidation." On the other hand, the New Communist Party (NCP)'s "decision never to stand in elections and their total support for the Labour Party in elections set them only a wafer’s width apart from the revisionists that they had left".[1]
It claims that each party "fawn all over it [the Labour Party] in Lenin’s name", referring to Lenin's Library:"Left-wing" communism, an infantile disorder. The CPGB-ML hold that Lenin's advice here (for communists to canvass on the basis of supporting the Labour Party, but making clear that an impending Labour government would not truly represent the working class) was based on the material conditions of Britain at that time, and is not applicable to the present day.
Relations with other parties[edit | edit source]
International standing[edit | edit source]
The CPGB-ML has a history of relationships with political (some communist) parties and the embassies of AES states, having met delegations from China,[6][7][8] Cuba,[9] Venezuela,[10] North Korea,[11][12] Laos,[13] Vietnam,[14] Nepal,[15] Nicaragua,[16] Turkey,[17] Sri Lanka[18] and South Korea.[19] Most of these meetings occurred at CPGB-ML events, with some exceptions. Amongst other international appearances, representatives of the party have attended the World Socialist Forum (Beijing, 2016).[20] In terms of television appearances, representatives of the party have spoken on TeleSUR,[21] Press TV,[22] Al-Mayadeen,[23] RT[24][25], CGTN,[26] and the BBC.[27]
At its ninth (and most recent) congress, the party held a public meeting regarding "Covid and Internationalism". The panel of speakers was made up of ambassadors from socialist countries: China, Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua.[28] This is despite the fact that, at this point in time, Nicaragua maintained official diplomatic relations with the Republic of China rather than the PRC.[29][30] At this event, the Chinese ambassador formally presented a congratulatory letter to party for its holding of the congress.
The CPGB-ML has attempted to be included in the annual International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties (IMCWP). In 2008, the Communist Party of Greece—acting on behalf of the IMCWP—asked the Communist Party of Britain (CPB) to produce a report on the eligibility of the CPGB-ML for membership of the IMCWP (since 2008, the CPB and the NCP are the only British parties on the members list.)[31] The 3-page report denounced the CPGB-ML as a party which "lacks the essential requirements of a Marxist Leninist Communist Party" with "no base in the organized working class". The CPGB-ML subsequently produced a 15-page response to the "lies and slanders of the CPB". The original report seems to be unavailable online, although alongside its response, the CPGB-ML reproduced it here.[32]
Workers Party of Britain[edit | edit source]
Joti Brar, Vice Chair of the CPGB-ML, is also the Deputy Leader of the Workers Party of Britain (WPB). Since 2019, much of the CPGB-ML's practical work has been within the WPB. CPGB-ML members are required to also be members of the WPB, making the point that "sitting smugly on the sidelines will not help us to bring this essential understanding [Marxist analysis of social democracy] to our fellow workers".[33] Its leader, George Galloway, has a history with the CPGB-ML, despite never having been a member himself.
The CPGB-ML's first official views of Galloway were negative, describing him as "a man who had to be thrown out of the imperialist Labour Party kicking and screaming".[1] However, since 2009, Galloway has participated in several meetings held by the CPGB-ML,[34][7] and prominent member of the party Ranjeet Brar (an NHS surgeon) routinely appeared on Galloway's popular Mother Of All Talkshows as the "MOATS medic" throughout the pandemic.[35][36] Other prominent members have appeared on other shows hosted by Galloway.[24][37][38]
One reason Galloway may have grown closer to the party over time—and the party to him—is that he found he held common ground with the party's line on several issues. Crucially, his anti-EU stance coming up to the Brexit referendum, and the defence of the results of that referendum.[39] In addition, both Galloway and the CPGB-ML hold positive views of Venezuela, in particular Hugo Chavez—whom Galloway considers a close friend and had been on the campaign trail with.[40]
Center for Political Innovation[edit | edit source]
Joti Brar, Vice Chair, has historically associated with and aligned with the Center for Political Innovation, a United States-based organisation, with a cult-of personality surrounding their leader Caleb Maupin.[41] Brar, in a talks with Caleb Maupin has gone as far as to say, in answer to a question about what Maupin calls the "transgenderism issue" that she opposes "the ideology that's being pushed on people that says you are what you think", claiming that it is "total idealism".[42] She here completely ignores the irony of slandering trans existence as idealist when she is in the process of practising non-materialism by omitting and disregarding the vast bodies of research and dialectical material study upholding trans existence (see LGBT+) and the constructed nature of so-called "biological gender" what Brar accepts as reality without question - a total contradiction of the principle of "No Investigation, No Right to Speak" which Comrade Mao Zedong outlined in his 1930 Essay, Oppose Book Worship.
She also, supported by Maupin, says of trans women's expression that "we'll be happy to see it disappear into history".[42]
Structure[edit | edit source]
The CPGB-ML is organized under the principles of democratic centralism. The Party Congress is the supreme authority of the party and meets at least once every four years. Most party resolutions only require a 50% vote to pass, but changes to the party rules or programme require 75%. If the party has 500 full members or less, all members may attend the party congress. If it has between 501 and 5,000 members, the congress has one representative for every ten members. If it has over 5,000 members, there is one representative for every 25 members. The Party Congress elects a Central Committee consisting of a Chair, two Vice-Chairs, and at least 15 other members.[43]
Local organizations[edit | edit source]
The lowest level of party organization is the study group, which meets weekly. The Central Committee may establish Regional or City Committees for areas with multiple study groups.[43]
Domestic positions[edit | edit source]
The party defends the television network RT because of the role it plays in counter-propaganda against mainstream media, using the specific example of its coverage of the Syrian civil war.[44]
Criticism[edit | edit source]
Dismissal of LGBT rights as "LGBT ideology"[edit | edit source]
In its 8th Congress of 2018, the CPGB-ML put forward a motion claiming that "obsession with identity politics, including sexual politics, is anti-Marxian",[45] in opposition to what they call "LGBT ideology".[46] CPGB-ML justifies this view on the argument that the LGBT struggle is opposed to class politics, as the number of transgender people is "statistically so small as to be insignificant",[47] and that transgender activists want to encourage children to be trans,[46] a common reactionary stance promoted by chauvinists and fascists.
The central committee of the party is openly anti-trans due to its position that gender and biological sex are synonymous and "common sense",[46][48] a position against historical-materialist understanding of gender.[49] A 70-page pamphlet written by Ranjeet Brar, Edward Renyard, and Joti Brar titled Identity politics and the transgender trend: where is LGBT ideology taking us? confuses the LGBT struggle with the liberal appropriation of that struggle.[48] The pamphlet claims that "it is not gender that alienates men from women, it is our social relations", completely oblivious to the fact that gender is a historical social construct, and that the existence of trans people even precedes the use of the term.[50] Overall, this approach is a form of right-opportunism that has repackaged bourgeois political lines as being of a Marxist character, fundamentally distorting the party line away from a materially-based analysis of gender.
Opposition to self-determination for Scotland and Wales[edit | edit source]
The party opposes the right of the Scottish and Welsh people to self-determination, preferring them to remain under English sovereignty despite the movements for independence in both constituent countries. The party refers to these movements as "petty nationalist fantasies" and pushes for Britain to remain united, equating the peoples in all of Britain as the same people and neglects to mention atrocities committed against the Scottish and Welsh by the English since this "union".[51]
Published works[edit | edit source]
Listed in order of appearance on the party's website.[52]
Party pamphlets[edit | edit source]
- Party Programme and Rules
- The Rise and Fall of Project Corbyn
- Identity Politics and the Transgender Trend
- Zionism: A Racist, Antisemitic and Reactionary Tool of Imperialism
- Claudia Jones, Communist
- A Class Analysis of Britain at the Start of the 21st Century
- The Drive to War Against Russia and China
- The Soviet Victory Over Fascism
- World War One: An Interimperialist War
- Revisionism and the Demise of the USSR
- Capitalism and Immigration
- The 1926 General Strike
- NATO’s Predatory War Against Yugoslavia
- 60th Anniversary of the Victory Over Fascism
Harpal Brar books[edit | edit source]
Main article: Harpal Brar
- Socialism with Chinese Characteristics: Marketisation of the Chinese economy
- Inquilab Zindabad! India’s Liberation Struggle
- Imperialism and the Worst-Ever Crisis of Overproduction
- Imperialism and War
- Imperialism: The Eve of the Social Revolution of the Proletariat
- Chimurenga! The Liberation Struggle in Zimbabwe
- Imperialism in the Middle East
- Marxism and the Emancipation of Women
- Bourgeois Nationalism or Proletarian Internationalism?
- Imperialism: decadent, parasitic, moribund capitalism
- Social Democracy – the Enemy Within
- Trotskyism or Leninism?
- Perestroika: the Complete Collapse of Revisionism
Stalin Society pamphlets[edit | edit source]
Main article: Stalin Society
- Stalin Society Magazine | issue 01
- Lies about the Soviet Union
- The Soviet Union at War
- Life in the Soviet Union
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Formation of the CPGB-ML" (2004-08). Proletarian.
- ↑ "Jack Shapiro lives forever in our hearts!" (2009-12-01). Proletarian.
- ↑ "Remembering departed comrades" (2008-12-01). Proletarian.
- ↑ Socialism with Chinese Characteristics: Marketisation of the Chinese economy by Harpal Brar
- ↑ "A critique of “Britain’s Road to Socialism” in the 21st century – The Programme of the Communist Party of Britain (CPB): PART ONE" (2021-04). Lalkar.
- ↑ "Spirited rally launches Hands off China campaign" (2008-08). Proletarian.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 "The Chinese revolution: ‘One of the greatest moments in human history’" (2019-10-02). Proletarian.
- ↑ "CPGB-ML greets China’s communists on anniversary" (2009-10). Proletarian.
- ↑ "Cuba and the October Revolution" (2018-10-05). Proletarian TV.
- ↑ Proletarian TV (2016-12-14). "Venezuela - The Struggle continues!" YouTube.
- ↑ Matt Drake (2018-02-04). "EXCLUSIVE: Hard-line UK communists openly SUPPORT Kim Jong-un and DENY atrocities" Express. Retrieved 2022-04-22.
- ↑ "October 100: DPR Korea pays tribute" (2018-08-27). Proletarian TV.
- ↑ "Laos independence and the October Revolution" (2018-10-05). Proletarian TV.
- ↑ Harpal Brar (2008-10-01). "CPGB-ML meets Vietnamese Party delegation" Proletarian.
- ↑ “Comrade Ganesh Vikaria from the embassy of Nepal extended his greetings to the meeting”
"October Revolution: beacon lighting the way forward for all humanity" (2009-12). Proletarian. - ↑ Nicaragua Embassy (2021-10-28). "Nicaraguan ambassador: ‘In our country, democracy is in the hands of the people’" Proletarian.
- ↑ “Speaking next, a comrade from the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Turkey and Northern Kurdistan (MLKP) said that the October Revolution continues to guide the struggles of the working class and oppressed nations throughout the world.”
"October Revolution: beacon lighting the way forward for all humanity" (2009-12). Proletarian. - ↑ Proletarian TV (2017-06-19). "CPGB-ML Mayday message: in Sri Lanka with the JVP" YouTube.
- ↑ Proletarian TV (2018-10-19). "Red Youth in South Korea - Protest at US Army Base Daegu"
- ↑ Proletarian TV (2019-06-17). "The Fall of the USSR - Market Socialism" YouTube.
- ↑ Proletarian TV (2019-09-01). "Vice-Chair of the CPGB-ML speaks to telesurenglish in Bolivar Square" YouTube.
- ↑ Proletarian TV (2022-04-07). "Ranjeet on ‘partygate’ scandal as Met Police issue fines over Downing Street lockdown parties" YouTube.
- ↑ Proletarian TV (2022-04-01). "Ella Rule appearing on Kalima Horra to discuss Ukraine" Proletarian.
- ↑ 24.0 24.1 Proletarian TV (2015-10-25). "Xi Jinping in London - Keith Bennet talks to George Galloway on RT's Sputnik" YouTube.
- ↑ Peter Lavelle (2021-12-31). "CrossTalk: Crystal Ball 2022" RT.
- ↑ Proletarian TV (2021-07-18). "Joti Brar interview with CGTN on the Centenary of the CPC" YouTube.
- ↑ "CPGB-ML’s Harpal Brar discusses DPRK on BBC’s primetime The One Show" (2018-06-12). Proletarian TV.
- ↑ “The international section of the congress was supplemented by an inspiring meeting on Saturday night on the topic of ‘Covid and Internationalism’. Guests from four fraternal embassies addressed our audience on this topic: Ambassador Rocio del Valle Maneiro González of Bolivarian Venezuela, Ambassador Guisell Morales-Echaverry of Sandinistan Nicaragua, Counsellor Kong Xiangwen of the People’s Republic of China, and Secretary Aymée Alejandra Diaz Negrín of socialist Cuba.”
"Ninth party congress: We must connect our movement with the masses" (2021-11-11). Proletarian. - ↑ Helen Davidson (2021-10-10). "Nicaragua cuts ties with Taiwan and pivots to China" The Guardian.
- ↑ "China, Nicaragua resume diplomatic relations, sign joint communique" (2021-12-10). CGTN.
- ↑ http://www.solidnet.org/links/communist-and-workers-parties/
- ↑ "CPGB-ML’s reply to the lies and slanders of the CPB". Archived from the original.
- ↑ "WPB storms Batley: ‘We intend to replace Labour as party of working class’" (2021-08-10). Proletarian.
- ↑ Proletarian TV (2009-10-05). "George Galloway - Hands off China 1/3" YouTube.
- ↑ George Galloway (2022-03-03). "#CORONAVIRUS EXPERT: Want to know how serious this outbreak really is?" YouTube.
- ↑ "Comrade Ranjeet on Moats: NHS marketisation and the covid death toll" (2021-02-05). Proletarian TV.
- ↑ Proletarian TV (2019-08-16). "Hong Kong: Who is behind the protests?" YouTube.
- ↑ Proletarian TV (2022-01-28). "Nina Kosta vice chair of the Communist Party discusses U.S. aggression towards China" YouTube.
- ↑ https://workerspartybritain.org/frequently-asked-questions/#faq10
- ↑ Channel 4 News (2013-03-06). "George Galloway on his friend Hugo Chavez" YouTube.
- ↑ Center for Political Innovation (2023-04-19). "Time to join the Center for Political Innovation!". YouTube.
- ↑ 42.0 42.1 Caleb Maupin (2019-10-10). "Top British Communist Joti Brar talks with Caleb Maupin". YouTube.
- ↑ 43.0 43.1 Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist-Leninist) (2018). Party Programme and Rules: 'Party rules' (pp. 23–31). [PDF] Birmingham. ISBN 9781913286026
- ↑ Gavin Haynes (2016-10-19). "I Went to a Stalinist Free-Speech Protest to Defend Russia Today from Natwest" Vice. Archived from the original on 2020-11-08. Retrieved 2022-04-22.
- ↑ "Identity politics are anti-Marxian and a harmful diversion from the class struggle" (2018-12-07). Proletarian. Retrieved 2021-11-08.
- ↑ 46.0 46.1 46.2 "Why gay rights is not a class issue" (2019-04-20). Proletarian. Retrieved 2021-11-08.
- ↑ "The reactionary nightmare of ‘gender fluidity’" (2019-03-23). The Communists (CPGB-ML). Retrieved 2021-11-08.
- ↑ 48.0 48.1 Various authors (2019). Identity Politics and the Transgender Trend: Where is LGBT Ideology Taking Us?. [PDF] ISBN 978-1-913286-00-2
- ↑ "The historical-materialist theory of gender" (2019-04-24). Red Fightback. Archived from the original on 2022-05-28. Retrieved 2024-04-15.
- ↑ Diederik F. Janssen (2020). Transgenderism before gender: nosology from the sixteenth through mid‑twentieth century. doi: 10.1007/s10508-020-01715-w [HUB]
- ↑ Proletarian writers (2023-04-26). "Eulogies for Sturgeon highlight the fraud of Scottish nationalism" Proletarian.
- ↑ https://shop.thecommunists.org/