Revolutionary Socialist League (UK, 1938)
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Revolutionary Socialist League
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| Founded | 1938 |
| Dissolved | 1944 |
| Preceded by |
Militant Group Revolutionary Socialist Party |
| Succeeded by | Revolutionary Communist Party |
| Headquarters | London |
| Ideology | Socialism |
| Political position | Far-left |
| International affiliation | Fourth International |
The first Revolutionary Socialist League (RSL) was formed in early 1938 with the merger of the Marxist League led by Harry Wicks and the Marxist Group led by C. L. R. James.
In August of 1938, James P. Cannon and Max Shachtman came to London in an attempt to unite all four British Trotskyist groups. The RSL, the Militant Group, and the Revolutionary Socialist Party merged to form a new Revolutionary Socialist League, but the Workers International League (WIL) refused, claiming that agreement on perspectives was insufficient and that the new group represented a dilution of democratic centralism.
The new RSL became the British affiliate of the newly formed Fourth International. They maintained the Militant Labour League for those members who were involved in Labour Party entryism and published The Militant.
The group adopted a defeatist policy during World War II, which they modeled on Lenin's revolutionary defeatist tactics of the 1914–1918 war. This was seen by their rivals in the WIL as pacifism. However, it had some initial successes when the Shop Assistants' Union adopted their position in 1940. This led the Labour Party to ban the Militant Labour League. In addition, the group became increasingly inactive as many younger members were conscripted into the British Army.
The group's opposition to the war became a major cause of factional strife both within the group and between it and the WIL. Three major positions developed, with ensuing factional divisions. Firstly, a Left Fraction formed, which opposed the war on a basis all other factions described as pacifist. Secondly, the leadership faction around D. D. Harber held a position that opposed the Proletarian Military Policy (PMP) of the WIL and was described by its opponents as semi-pacifist. Third, the WIL and tendencies leaving the RSL at different times adhered to the aforementioned PMP.
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