Revolutionary Policy Committee

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Revolutionary Policy Committee (RPC) was a faction within the former political party Independent Labour Party of the United Kingdom.

The RPC was formed in 1931 by members of the Independent Labour Party (ILP) who were especially unhappy with the gradualist policies of the Second Labour Government (1929-31). The RPC was founded by Jack Gaster, a lawyer and son of the Sephardic Chief Rabbi of England and Dr C.K. Cullen, a medical inspector from Poplar.

The RPC was particularly active in London and its initial focus was on advocating the disaffiliation of the ILP from the Labour Party. After they successfully achieved this aim in 1932, the RPC sought to bring closer cooperation between the ILP and the Communist Party of Great Britain and advocating affiliation to the Comintern. In 1933, the RPC successfully persuaded the ILP to adopt the policy of merging with the Communist Party, although this was never followed through. Within the ILP, the RPC became increasingly seen as Communist entryists, and aroused strong feelings which led in 1934 to a split in the party as some of their opponents, led by John Middleton Murry and Elijah Sandham, left to form the Independent Socialist Party. By 1935 the RPC's influence was waning and after internal divisions about the appropriate response to the Abyssinian Crisis of 1935, the leading members of the Committee decided to wind up the RPC, leave the ILP and join the Communist Party.

[edit] References

Gidon Cohen (2000). "The Independent Labour Party, Disaffiliation, Revolution and Standing Orders". History, 86:282.

Gidon Cohen (2001). "From Insufferable Petty Bourgeois to Trusted Communist: Jack Gaster, the RPC and the Communist Party". McIlroy et al (eds) Party People, Communist Lives.

David Howell (2002). "MacDonald's Party: Labour Identities and Crisis". 1922-31, Oxford.