Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist-Leninist)



The Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist–Leninist) (or CPGB-ML for short) is a catchily-named British far-left party, which should not be confused with the Communist Party of Britain, the New Communist Party of Britain, the Communist Party of Britain (Marxist–Leninist), the Communist Party of Great Britain (Provisional Central Committee), or the Revolutionary Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist). They're all very different parties, we're sure. The CPGB-ML was founded and initially led by Harpal Brar, with Ella Rule later taking over the leadership. It publishes a newsletter called Proletarian.

The party has welcomed the 2011 England riots as "working-class people expressing their rage in the only way they presently can" and published comments from an Australian correspondent hailing the crimes as "an inspiring and heroic stance against all the wonderful ‘freedoms’ of capitalism (poverty, racism, despair, etc.), and ... a shining example that the Australian proletariat should emulate."

Unlike most left-wingers they are transphobic and generally hostile to LGBT rights, because "When you're older you'll understand the urge to have kids." (Never heard of adoption then.) They're also Stalin apologists.

History
The party's origins were in the Socialist Labour Party (SLP) of Arthur Scargill, but they left or were expelled in 2004 as a result of disagreements over 9/11, North Korea, and other topics (Scargill was anti-Al-Qaeda and anti-Kim, Brar and his mates more in favour). Those who felt Scargill was too imperialist and too social democratic formed the CPGB-ML under Harpal Brar's leadership.

More recently, they are also involved with George Galloway's Workers Party of Britain: the WPB's deputy chair (below Gorgeous George) is Joti Brar, CPGB-ML's vice chair and the child of CPGB-ML founder Harpal Brar.

My enemy's enemy
Chairman Brar supported Muammar al-Gaddafi. Speaking of the civil war in Libya, he stated that "The Libyan opposition are paid agents of imperialism. It’s precisely for that reason that we think the only leader, and the only government that befits the Libyan people, is the government of Colonel Gaddafi... Death to Anglo-American and French imperialism." He has also stated that "What NATO are doing today is what Hitler used to do;" viz., invade countries in order "to bring German civilization to the barbarians." Of course, in reality, Hitler did not have nearly so much regard for the "barbarians," his actual plan being to wipe them out to make Lebensraum for Germans to populate, but who cares about minor details like that?

The Great Leader Brar is also a big fan of North Korea, which was one of the chief reasons for their split with the SLP. Speaking at a welcome dinner thrown for him and other party members in Pyongyang by Choe Thae Bok, Secretary of the Central Committee of the Worker's Party of Korea: "We are very much inspired by the example of the DPRK, which shows that a small country, if it has the correct line and is led properly, can defeat the mightiest imperialist power. In the past five decades, you have beaten Japanese imperialism and US imperialism. That is why your enemies hate you and your friends love you."

In late 2012 the party came out in support of Bashar al-Assad. Yes that's the "democratically elected Syrian government headed by Dr Bashar Al-Assad".

Despite opposition to revisionism, the party has a platform of supporting the revisionist Communist parties of China and Vietnam and regards them as Socialist states. The party also supports the government of Vladimir Putin in Russia in accordance with its "anti-imperialist" tendencies. They even protested in defence of Putin's propaganda TV channel RT. The party's propaganda tends to stay clear of mentioning Communist movements in Russia and China, even in cases of arrests of communist activists.

Funding
The party received funding in donations from businesses owned by Central Committee member Keith Bennett, a business magnate and consultant with investments and factories in China. There is suspicion that the funding from business interests in China is the main reason behind the parties refusal to criticize the Beijing regime for abuses of workers. However Bennett was expelled in 2013.

There are also allegations that Harpal Brar earns money from the less than Marxist profession of landlord, letting property not only to the CPGB-ML but also homes to families, as well as running a business importing shawls from India.