Communist+Party+of+Britain+on+bogus+CPGB+and+Weekly+Worker

=Communist Party of Britain on bogus CPGB and Weekly Worker=

Here is a copy of a note I received from the Communist Party of Britain (CPB) in London on 14 January 2008:



//“Dom, please see below, our standardised reply which should help clear up any confusion as to who the Weekly Worker lot are.//

//Comradely Regards, Ben Stevenson, Communist Party National Admin Secretary”//

Very briefly, the main differences between the Communist Party of Britain and the self-styled 'Communist Party of Great Britain' are as follows:

1. The CPB represents the outlook, policy and theory of the original, genuine Communist Party of Great Britain which was founded in 1920. When the CPB re-established the Party in Britain in 1988, we did so, on the basis of the existing rules, principles and programme of the original Communist Party of Great Britain. All those present at our re-establishment congress were members of the genuine CPGB.

2. The right-wing revisionist element of what was originally the CPGB liquidated their section of the party in 1991. A short while later, a very small Trotskyite grouping with no organisational link to the CPGB hijacked the name of the CPGB although it rejects the history, outlook and programme of the genuine, original Communist Party of Great Britain. This is the sect which calls itself the 'Provisional Central Committee of the CPGB' today. Additionally the overwhelming majority of genuine communists in the CPGB at the time of its dissolution have subsequently rejoined the CPB.

3. The CPB is at least sixty times the size of the so-called 'CPGB' in terms of membership and has a significant influence in the trade union, peace and other progressive movements which is widely recognised in the left and in the labour movement as a whole. The CPB is also linked politically to the daily Morning Star newspaper and has relations with more than 100 Communist and workers parties and national liberation movements around the world, including of course the parties in government in Cuba, Vietnam, China, Brazil, DPRK, Uruguay, Laos, Venezuela, Nepal, Cyprus, Moldova, Italy, Belarus and South Africa. The only 'international' links which the 'CPGB' has are with a faction of the Turkish communist movement exiled in Britain.

4. Having considered evidence from the two organisations at the following dispute, the Electoral Commission and its advisory committee of MP's did not hesitate to authorise the CPB's exclusive claim to the title 'Communist' for all electoral purposes.

5. In line with our programme for unity, we work closely with a wide range of left and progressive forces in Britain and internationally. The 'CPGB' specialises in rumour-mongering and 'entryism' (into the Socialist Labour Party, the Socialist Alliance and now Respect) in order to invent and sow divisions within and between other socialist organisations.

In our view and that of most socialists and communists in Britain, the 'CPGB' has nothing to do with the Communist movement past or present. While this in itself needs not invalidate their ideas and policies, it does signify their fundamental duplicity in trying to pass themselves off – with little success – as part of the Communist tradition in Britain and the international Communist movement.

By e-mail

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