Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist–Leninist)

Not to be confused with Communist Party of Great Britain, Communist Party of Britain (Marxist–Leninist), Revolutionary Communist Party of Britain (Marxist–Leninist), Communist Party of Britain, or New Communist Party of Britain.

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, as well as some members of the original Communist Party of Great Britain. 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 magazines/journals: 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 the party 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. Despite being staunchly anti-revisionist, the party still supports current-day China, so much so that Harpal Brar himself co-founded the Hands Off China campaign.

Formation of the party

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 its British Road to Socialism in 1951). 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". 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.

International standing

The CPGB-ML has a history of relationships with communist parties and the embassies of AES states, having met delegations from China, Cuba, Venezuela, North Korea, Laos, Vietnam, Nepal, Nicaragua, Turkey, and Sri Lanka. Most of these meetings occurred at CPGB-ML events, with the exception of meetings at the Chinese and Vietnamese embassies. Amongst other international appearances, representatives of the party have attended the World Socialist Forum (Beijing, 2016) and have spoken on TeleSUR.

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. This is despite the fact that Nicaragua maintains official diplomatic relations with the Republic of China rather than the PRC. 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 Conference of Communist and Workers' Parties (ICCWP). In 2008, the Communist Party of Greece - acting on behalf of the ICCWP - asked the Communist Party of Britain (CPB) to produce a report on the eligibility of the CPGB-ML for membership of the ICCWP (since 2008, the CPB and the New Communist Party of Britain (NCPB) are the only British parties on the members list.) 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.

Relationship with the 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". Its leader, George Galloway, has a history with the CPGB-ML, despite never having being 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". However, since 2009, Galloway has participated in several meetings held by the CPGB-ML, 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. 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. In addition, both Galloway and the CPGB-ML hold positive views of Venezuela, in particular Hugo Chavez - whom Galloway considered him a close friend and had been on the campaign trail with.

Criticisms

LGBT+ and Identity Politics

The CPGB-ML is, in online communities, most infamous for its criticism of LGBT+ identity politics, with an article on the subject receiving 43,800 hits since publication in 2019. The party treads a unique line by stating in its party programme that it "will resolutely fight against all forms of discrimination based on sex, race, religion or national origin", and simultaneously declaring "that obsession with identity politics, including sexual politics, is anti-Marxian". This view is justified on the basis that identity politics in all forms is opposed to class politics, as the number of transgender people is "statistically so small as to be [an] insignificant [part of the working class]", with Michael Parenti identifying this as a part of the "competition of oppressions" which divides workers under capitalism.

It is claimed that the central committee of the party is openly anti-trans due to its describing the concept of gender fluidity as a "reactionary nightmare" imposed by the bourgeoisie, and positing the validity of gender being biological to be "common sense". 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? specifically addresses the matter. Some believe it makes extremely ridiculous stereotypes of transgender people, and that the pamphlet itself cites the hostility towards LGBT+ people in the Soviet Union as justification for their own stances. The party bans the promotion of what it calls "LGBT ideology".