Revolutionary Marxist-Leninist League (RMLL) 

The Revolutionary Marxist-Leninist League (RMLL) was a small Maoist political party founded in 1968 by Abhimanyu Manchanda following his expulsion from the Communist Party of Great Britain in 1965. It had a small inner core to which one could only gain entry after working within one of its ‘front’ organisations, such as the Britain Vietnam Solidarity Front Britain Vietnam Solidarity Front (BVSF) The Britain Vietnam Solidarity Front (BVSF) was a Maoist group that existed from June 1966 to 1973, though its activities were in serious decline after the height of the protests in 1968. It was founded in parallel with the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign (VSC) after Abhimanyu Manchanda staged at walkout at the latter’s founding conference, reconvening to hall nearby to organise under an alternative name and with closer ties to Maoism. Full page: Britain Vietnam Solidarity Front (BVSF) , Friends of China Friends of China The Friends of China (FC) group was founded in 1964 by anti-revisionists who had left the Communist Party of Great Britain; it campaigned for the Communist Party of China. By the late 1960s FC had become a front group for the Revolutionary Marxist-Leninist League (RMLL), the Maoist group formed by Abhimanyu Manchanda. From 1971, the FC came under more intense SDS scrutiny as it targeted Manchanda, deploying officers HN45 ‘Dave Robertson’ and HN348 ‘Sandra Davies’ into the RMLL , or the Women’s Liberation Front. Women’s Liberation Front (WLF) Women’s Liberation Front (WLF) was a Maoist organisation founded in 1969 by members of the Revolutionary Marxist-Leninist League and closely affiliated to the British Vietnam Solidarity Front, Friends of China and the Revolutionary Socialist Students Federation. The WLF campaigned on key feminist concerns including equal pay, domestic work, childcare, and birth control, and its members were involved in industrial action and in broader left struggles. It changed its name to the Revolutionary Women’s Union in February 1972 and went into decline the following year. The WLF was infiltrated by HN348 'Sandra Davies', and reported on by HN45 'Dave Robertson'. Full page: Women’s Liberation Front (WLF)  

Through these organisations, as well as through political education sessions, it advanced its position on issues of gender, racism, international solidarity and class struggle. Following internal conflict within the organisation, key members Manchanda and Diane Langford were expelled from the group in March 1971. 

The RMLL was targeted by HN335 Mike Tyrrell HN335 Mike Tyrrell HN335 Michael 'Mike' Paul Tyrrell was an early SDS undercover who infiltrated the Earls Court branch of the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign; Britain Vietnam Solidarity Front; Revolutionary Socialist Students Federation; West London Palestine Solidarity Campaign and connected Maoist groups from September 1968 to February 1970. Now dead, he has been given the nominal HN335 in the Undercover Policing Inquiry. His cover name is unknown and was not recalled by other undercovers. Full page: HN335 Mike Tyrrell , HN45 ‘Dave Robertson’ HN45 'Dave Robertson' 'Dave Robertson' is the assumed name of an undercover in the Special Demonstration Squad, active between October 1970 and 6 February 1973. He infiltrated Maoist groups connected with activist Abhimanyu Manchanda, including the Revolutionary Marxist-Leninist League, British Vietnam Solidarity Front and early meetings of the Women's LIberation Front. Robertson was withdrawn after 6 February 1973 when he was recognised as a police officer by a friend of one of the people he was spying on. In the mid-1980s he returned to work for the SDS for three years in a variety of administrative roles. Full page: HN45 'Dave Robertson' , HN348 ‘Sandra Davies’. HN348 'Sandra Davies' HN348 ‘Sandra Davies’ was a Special Demonstration Squad undercover officer who infiltrated the Women's Liberation Front, later known as the Revolutionary Women's Union, from February 1971 for two years. The Inquiry has released nearly 80 intelligence reports produced in her name, none of which justify her deployment, according to Inquiry Chair John Mitting. She was withdrawn as a precaution in February 1973 after a fellow SDS officer’s cover was blown. Her real name has been restricted. Full page: HN348 'Sandra Davies'  There is also a non-SDS report authored by HN345 ‘Peter Fredericks’ HN345 'Peter Fredericks' ‘Peter Fredericks’ was the cover name of a former Special Demonstration Squad undercover officer who attempted to infiltrate Black Power organisations and groups campaigning for Bangladeshi independence in 1971. His SDS and Special Branch careers were short; he had left the SDS by the mid-1970s. In the Undercover Policing Inquiry, he is known by the nominal HN345. Full page: HN345 'Peter Fredericks'  between 1968 and 1970.

After Langford and Manchanda's expulsion, there was no SDS surveillance of the group. However, although the RMLL was reported as being dissolved in August 1971, it continued for a further nine years. Report on the dissolution of the Revolutionary Marxist-Leninist League and creation of the Marxist-Leninist Workers Association, 19 Aug 1971, Metropolitan Police Special Branch, UCPI0000011746.View Document  In 1977, the group was renamed the Revolutionary Marxist–Leninist Communist League. In 1979, it was mentioned in SDS reporting again. Report on public meeting of the Revolutionary Communist League of Britain on ‘Three World Theory and the Strategy for Revolution in Britain’, held on 5 Jan 1979, 29 Jan 1979, Metropolitan Police Special Branch, UCPI0000013090.View Document  The group was dissolved in 1980.

Sources

Abhimanyu Manchanda Remembered, Diane Langford. Diane Langford, Abhimanyu Manchanda Remembered (website), 2015.

The Manchanda Connection, Diane Langford. Diane Langford, The Manchanda Connection, 2015.