Revolutionary Communist Group (UK)

Revolutionary Communist Group (UK)

The Revolutionary Communist Group (RCG) is a Marxist-Leninist political organisation based in the United Kingdom which is avowedly socialist and communist in nature. Developing in the early 1970s, the RCG grew out of the "Revolutionary Opposition" faction of the International Socialists (IS), (forerunners of the Socialist Workers Party), being strongly influenced by the politics of Roy Tearse. When the leading figures of the "Revolutionary Opposition", the name itself only first appearing in print in their appeal document, were expelled from the IS its members met to decide on their course of action, and disagreements between Tearse's allies and the majority of the faction around David Yaffe rapidly surfaced. The result was that Tearse's supporters formed the Discussion Group which led a quiet life for a number of years inside the Labour Party before dissolving. Meanwhile Yaffe and his comrades proceeded to found the Revolutionary Communist Group in 1974.

According to its own statements, the group "exists in order to defend and develop an anti-imperialist trend within Britain, based on the long term interests of the entire working class and oppressed internationally. We stand for the creation of a society organised both to meet the needs of the entire population, and to ensure the fullest possible development of every individual." Emphasising a campaign against capitalism and the oppression of the working classes, the group is also highly critical of British foreign policy, believing it to be imperialistic in nature. In particular, they criticise British control of Northern Ireland, the involvement of British troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the British government’s support for the Israeli occupation of Palestine.

Believing that the British electoral system cannot bring about any real change in society, the RCG has not taken part in elections since 1979. The group also publish their own newspaper, which now appears every two months, entitled Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism!, which has been running since November–December 1979.