Workers of the world: Unite!

The phrase Fifth International refers to the efforts made by sections of socialists to create a new Workers' International.

There have been many previous international workers' organisations, and the call for a Fifth International presupposes the recognition of four in particular, all of which regarded themselves as the successor to the previous ones:

The "First International", known as the "International Workingmen's Association", founded in London in 1864.

The "Second International", was founded in 1889 after the expulsion of Anarchists from the First International and its subsequent dissolution in 1916.

The "Third International", known as the Communist International or "Comintern", was founded by Vladimir Lenin in 1919, after the failure of the Second International at the start of World War I, and was dissolved in 1943.

The "Fourth International" was founded in 1938 by Leon Trotsky, in opposition to Stalinism. Trotsky considered Comintern to be irreformable and to have crossed over to counter-revolution under the control of a bureaucratic elite in the Soviet Union. Although it still exists, the fragmentation of Trotskyism has similarly resulted in the call for a fifth international.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/League_for_the_Fifth_International

This group exists as a rallying call for the oppressed proletariat, a beacon of unity in a sea of division; very poetic, I know (and we try hard not to come off as edgy rebellious teens), but this is the truth. The truth of the matter is that with capitalism comes greed, destruction and division. We seek to end that.

Our ideals are primarily Trotskyist, as an extension of Leninism which in of itself is an extension of Marxism. We do accept practicioners of separate belifes, of course, unless those beliefs fall into the category of Marxism-Leninism or Stalinism. We are not fond of Maoism as it "borrowed" many policies from the Soviet Union; there's a reason it's often referred to as Marxism-Leninism-Maoism as well.


Trotskyism
Leninism
Classical Marxism
Luxembourgism and Left Communism
Pretty much anything else that's not Marxism-Leninism or a derivative.

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Unfortunately we are not currently terribly active, but we're definitely looking for ways to find new members. Hopefully eventually we will be able to host large and interesting debates on a regular schedule. The group comments are always open, and threads can be readily made.

Marxists.org (Assorted works of literature, historical notes, citations and more)[www.marxists.org]