WIL conference resolution on international affiliation¶
Core Argument¶
This chapter digest presents the 1938 conference resolution of the Workers’ International League (WIL) on its international affiliation, a document that functions as both a declaration of loyalty and a polemical intervention in the factional struggles within British Trotskyism. The core argument is that the WIL unconditionally adheres to the programme and principles of the Fourth International, accepting its authority and the discipline of democratic centralism, while simultaneously asserting that unification of British Trotskyists must be based on genuine political and tactical agreement, not merely verbal assent to abstract principles.
The resolution makes several key claims. It argues that a pre-revolutionary situation is maturing in Britain, making sectarian infighting a crime against the international working class. It insists that fresh forces are needed to replace the “stale and sterile faction struggles” belonging to Trotskyism’s pre-history. The WIL draws on the disastrous example of the French comrades between 1934 and 1938, who turned their attention inward during a revolutionary period, leaving Trotskyism almost as weak at the end as at the beginning. This historical lesson is used to justify the WIL’s reluctance to focus its energies on solving the split with the rival Revolutionary Socialist League (RSL), though it has opened discussions at the International Secretariat’s request.
The polemical target is clear: the RSL and its expelled factions. The WIL positions itself as the politically correct organisation, claiming it is in agreement with the International Secretariat on the most important questions, whereas the RSL is in opposition. It notes that the WIL is recognised as the genuine Trotskyist organisation by the bourgeoisie, labour fakers, Stalinists, the ILP, advanced workers, and the American party. The resolution proposes a six-month discussion period leading to a fusion conference with majority voting, and demands that the International either recognise the WIL as an official section on equal status with the RSL, or as a sympathetic section with full discussion rights but without a vote. This demand is framed as consistent with the statutes of the Fourth International and with precedents established in the Communist International under Lenin. The resolution thus combines theoretical orthodoxy with a practical demand for institutional recognition, using historical analogy and political positioning to press its case.