Date: Sat, 6 Jul 1996 08:45:03 -0400 (EDT)
From: Louis N Proyect <lnp3-AT-columbia.edu>
Subject: Re: Initials


On Sat, 6 Jul 1996, Ken Helmeczi wrote:

> At 08:37 PM 7/4/96 -0700, Jim Miller wrote:
> Most of them are members, or former
> >members, or sympathizers of one or more of the following
> >(active or defunct) groups (partial list): CPUSA, SWP,
> >RCP, CPML, PL, SL, SA, S, COC, CWP, CLP, ISO, DSA, WWP,
> >LM, etc.
> 

CPUSA: Communist Party-- Gus Hall, Paul Robeson, Daily Worker, etc.

SWP: Socialist Workers Party-- One-time Trotskyist, now identifies with
the Cuban Communist Party

RCP: Revolutionary Communist Party-- Maoist; formed by Robert Avakian, a
leader of Students for a Democratic Society in the 1960s

CPML: Communist Party Marxist-Leninist-- ??

PL: Progressive Labor-- Formerly Maoist, highly secretive and virulently
sectarian.

SL: Spartacist League-- Trotskyist. So sectarian as to make PL look
opportunist by comparison. Hates the "social movements".

SA: Socialist Action-- Splitoff from SWP. Retains Trotskyist orientation.

S: Solidarity-- not a "vanguard" formation. Started by ex-members of
International Socialists, a "state capitalist" formation, and ex-members
of SWP. Rejects notion of building party on basis of consensus around
"Russia" question. Puts out first-rate magazine, "Against the Current".

COC: Committees of Correspondence-- not a "vanguard" formation. Composed
of splitoff from CPUSA who were more open to "glastnost" and
ex-Trotskyists and ex-Maoists interested in nonsectarian socialist
regroupment.

CLP: Communist Labor Party-- semiclandestine formation rooted in Maoism.

ISO: International Socialist Organization-- "State capitalists". Has
fraternal ties to SWP of Great Britain.

DSA: Democratic Socialists of America-- official second of the Second
International.

WWP: Workers World Party-- highly active and motivated "vanguard"
formation. Very active in trade union and international solidarity work.
Uses Ramsey Clark, former Attorney General in Lyndon Johnson
administration, to help build coalitions that they run behind the scenes.
They and the ISO have grown sharply in recent years, taking advantage of
American SWP's retreat from mass movement into "workerism".

LM: ?



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