National Caucus of Labor Committees (U.S.)

The National Caucus of Labor Committees (NCLC) was a political organization founded in 1968 by supporters of Lyndon LaRouche. The membership initially consisted of LaRouche's students in New York City, but soon expanded to other parts of the country, and later, the world. The NCLC was dedicated to a radical socialist agenda, advocating the complete restructuring of the American economic system.

LaRouche, under his own name and his pseudonym of "Lyn Marcus," was a proponent of programmatic socialism, a philosophy which encouraged socialist thinkers to create practical plans for taking over and running the government of the United States. The NCLC was inextricably linked to LaRouche himself, although he denied any claims of a personality cult throughout its existence.

The philosophical underpinnings of the group changed over time, and by the early 1970s, the NCLC was accused of criminal behavior and consorting with such hate groups as the Ku Klux Klan. At the same time that some of its older members resigned, unhappy with the direction of the organization, the NCLC further expanded its membership and diversified its activities. Under the auspices of the U.S. Labor Party and the National Democratic Policy Committee, the political components of the NCLC, LaRouche ran for president eight times.

The criminal activities of the NCLC resulted in federal raids and arrests in the mid-1980s. LaRouche and several other NCLC officials were convicted of fraud and obstruction of justice. LaRouche continued his quadrennial presidential runs from prison until his 1994 release. The NCLC is still operating as of 2011.

From the guide to the National Caucus of Labor Committees records, 1967-1974, (The New York Public Library. Manuscripts and Archives Division.)