League of Revolutionary Struggle

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The League of Revolutionary Struggle (Marxist-Leninist) was a communist organization in the United States. It was formed in 1978 and was dissolved by the organization's leadership in the late 1980s. The LRS was part of the New Communist Movement that considered itself anti-revisionist and took political inspiration from the Communist Party of China and Mao Zedong.

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 1978. They were soon joined by the Revolutionary Communist League (M-L-M), a mostly-black communist organization that included noted poet Amiri Baraka. With the merger of these three organizations, the LRS became a large force on the U.S. left. The LRS was notable also in the U.S. communist movement for being a multiracial / multinational organization that was comprised overwhelmingly of people of color but also included white people.

The LRS(M-L) published a newspaper called Unity and a journal called Forward: Journal of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought.

The LRS(M-L) was active in electoral work, including playing important roles in the Rainbow Coalition and the campaigns to elect Jesse Jackson for U.S. president in 1984 and 1988.

When the LRS dissolved, part of the organization regrouped as the Socialist Organizing Network, which merged into Freedom Road Socialist Organization in 1994.

[edit] Publications

• Statements on the Founding of the League of Revolutionary Struggle (Marxist-Leninist), Getting Together Publications, U.S., 1978. 117 pages.

• RWH on the Black Liberation Movement: Wrong Again!, by Amiri Baraka, 1981. 24 pages.