Revolutionary Workers League

Variant names

Biographical notes:

The Revolutionary Workers League (RWL) was a radical left group in the United States formed in 1935 and active until about 1947. The League was formed by Hugo Oehler in November 1935 following a split from the Workers Party (WP), a split precipitated by the party's decision to merge the WP with the Socialist Party of America. In 1937 the League renounced Trotskyism altogether, although disputes arose within the League as to precisely when Trotsky abandoned Marxism. In the Spanish Civil War the RWL supported the Partido Obrero de Unificación Marxista de España (POUM). Oehler and party member Russell Blackwell were present in Spain in July 1937. Blackwell remained in Spain in support of POUM and was eventually arrested by Nationalist forces. The party also published the Fighting Worker newspaper.

From the guide to the Revolutionary Workers League papers, 1935-1945, (David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University)