Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist) – CPB(ML)
The Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist) was formed on April 14th 1968. It arose out of the British anti-revisionist movement which had taken a long time to re-establish a formal party structure following Nikita Khrushchev’s repudiation of Joseph Stalin (but fundamentally Marxism-Leninism) at the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1956. It was the closest the British working class have, so far, come to establishing a Marxist-Leninist Party in Britain.
However, come 1982 the Party had started to lose direction (principally in relation to the Labour Party/elections and the attitude towards the Soviet Union). It still maintains a somewhat confusing stance on international issues and now treats the issues surrounding Britain’s departure from the European Union almost as an obsession.
From the beginning of 1969 the Party published its newspaper, The Worker. This began as a monthly and then progressed to a fortnightly before becoming weekly towards the end of 1977.
Most of the documents below come from the period of the 1970s and early 1980s. Many were not dated and so the dates given are (sometimes) an approximation. The originals of these documents have been deposited in the Labour History Archive of the People’s History Museum in Manchester. Also to be found in the Archive are most of the issues of The Worker, the Party’s newspaper, for the first 13 or 14 years of the Party’s existence. Some other copies of The Worker can also be found in the Working Class Movement Library in Salford.
Finally, also included below are some documents that are (or have been) available on the Party’s website.
Party Building; organisation and Party building, Party building – practice and theory, Party building and work in industry, the role of the Party in the current situation, the Party in the present situation. Pre-Congress documents – but not sure which, probably 1976, 20 pages.
Student National Committee; Launch an offensive against ruling class repression, housing – the collective battle, EEC – a question of class, grants and education cuts, executive elections, 1971-1981, 14 pages.
Pre-Fourth Congress 1976, notes on organisation and Party growth, propaganda report, report on the Worker, Teachers Committee, world crisis of capitalism, economic situation, 1975, 31 pages.
Pre-5th Congress documents; the Worker (the Party newspaper), the question of discipline in a Marxist-Leninist Party, organisation, propaganda, the conduct of the Party under more difficult conditions, Soviet Revisionism, British Imperialism, 1979, 10 pages.
Pre-1982 (Sixth) Congress Papers; Further and Higher Education Committee, Health Committee, National Teachers Committee, Media Committee, Workers in Public Service Sub-Committee, Civil Service Sub-Committee, Professional and Technical Sub-Committee, Revolution and the Soviet Union, Britain, Worker Distribution, Worker Editorial, The Party, 1981, 19 pages.
Study Programme, 1975, Trade Unions, the Labour Movement, the struggle of the British Working Class, 12 pages.
Education courses; Party Study Syllabus 1976-77, Back to basics: Party education and the present situation, Education Syllabus: Revisionism and Social Democracy, Marxism – what it it? 1976-79, 10 pages.
Party Study Document, 1977-78, the need for study in the Party, Branch study, Syllabus 1 – 3, reading list, a study course for contacts. 7 pages.
