The League of Revolutionary Struggle (Marxist–Leninist) was a Marxist–Leninist[1] movement in the United States formed in 1978 by merging communist organizations. It was dissolved by the organization's leadership in 1990.
The LRS(M-L) was formed from a merger of the Asian American communist organization I Wor Kuen and the Chicano-Latino communist organization August 29th Movement (M-L) in September 1978. By 1979, they absorbed a number of other ethnic based radical groups including the East Wind Collective of Japanese Americans in Los Angeles, the Seize the Time Collective of Chicanos and African Americans in San Francisco and The New York Collective of Puerto Ricans and Dominicans. Early in 1980 it also merged with the Revolutionary Communist League (Marxist-Leninist-Mao Tse-tung Thought) led by Amiri Baraka. This organization, formerly known as the Congress of Afrikan People, was composed mostly of African-Americans and had stressed Black cultural nationalism. When this merger occurred they issued a joint statement declaring ""Our unity signals a big advance in this struggle for Marxist-Leninist unity and for a single, unified, vanguard communist party."[2]
History of Communism in the US
Communism took hold of the United States' left wing politics primarily following the Russian Revolution of October 1917. The early 1920s was marked by surges in nativism and racism. Meanwhile, ethnic communism thrived among the Workers Party, which was renamed as the Communist Party USA. The center of the movement revolved around the American communist party.
The Communist Party USA (CPUSA) was formally established in 1919 following the 1917 Russian Revolution. The Tzarist autocracy was overthrown and the Soviet Union was formed. The members of CPUSA were mostly former members of the socialist part of America. However, since the socialist party opposed the Russian Revolution and banned members who supported it, many of these exiled members joined the Communist Party, a group more left-wing than the Socialists.
CPUSA came after attack following World War II when anti-communist sentiment was on the rise. The party's steadfast support for the Soviet Union was not received well. Coupled with anti-Soviet sentiment in the US, communism became increasingly unwelcome in the United States. CPUSA historically took its power from labor unions. However, as these unions were dispelled in 1949 and 1950, the party did not have a solid support system to rely on. Furthermore, left wing organizations were faced with McCarthyism in the early 1950s.
Today, CPUSA remains with its existing political ideology. The parks seeks cooperation with other political groups in order to achieve effective change in the areas it trumpets.
The League of Revolutionary Struggle considers itself to be the heir to CPUSA. LRS criticized CPUSA for failing to work towards revolution and for turning into a revisionist group that advocated for electoral politics and "promoted the interests of an imperialist Soviet Union." In the eyes of LRS, the Soviet Union had turned into an expansionist superpower similar to the US. As a result, the group opposed both American and Soviet aggression and was against Soviet involvement in Afghanistan.
Unlike CPUSA, LRS made active effort towards creating an alliance between working-class people and oppressed nationalities. It sought to create an alliance in an effort to establish a socialist state by overthrowing the current capitalist one.
Origins
Asian American New Left
From the late 60s to the early 70s, Asian Americans became increasingly active in the New Left movement. This is evidenced by their participation in New Left activities such as the Free Speech Movement, Students for a Democratic Society, the Weatherman, and the Progressive Labor Party.[3]
The Asian American Left, however, separated itself from the dominant New Left movement after highlighting racism and national oppression as pressing issues that were not being addressed by the mainstream movement. As a result, Asian American marxists added self-determination to their agenda.
Activists mobilized around and within Asian American communities, addressing health care and housing issues, the lack of Asian American history in university curriculums, and the Vietnam War.
The Asian American New Left had stronger ties with antiwar and the Black Power Movements than with the Old Left. The 1960s was a dynamic period for the formation of radical immigrant identities. Social activism peaked as broad political struggles as the Black Power movement and the civil rights movement erupted. Asian Americans embraced a framework that trumpeted solidarity among colonized people.