The Revolutionary Communist Group's History in TCAR

TCAR began when a member of the Revolutionary Communist Group (RCG) attended a regional meeting in autumn 2005 in Middlesbrough organised by the National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns (NCADC). At the end of the meeting the RCG member said that whilst some groups offered charity, free clothes or a few pounds a week for food, what the RCG could offer was support to organise political opposition to the government's attacks on asylum seekers. Several people who were interested in this idea then met with the RCG member to organise the first public meeting of the network that became known as TCAR.

Since TCAR was set up the RCG has always fought for democratic, open and inclusive ways of working. At early meetings of TCAR the RCG successfully argued that TCAR should be a network rather than a 'united front', in order to allow groups and individuals within TCAR the freedom to develop their own ideas and tactics. RCG members have consistently been amongst the most active in TCAR in encouraging new people to speak at demonstrations and to get involved in the running of TCAR.

The RCG's History of Anti-Racist and Anti-Deportation Campaigning
The RCG has a long history of fighting racism. The first issue of the RCG's newspaper, Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! in 1979 carried stories of a campaign by black students against racism in their school. In the 1980s the RCG was at the centre of a massive campaign against the deportation of one of their members, Viraj Mendis, to Sri Lanka. This campaign gained national prominence, and was supported by other organisations on the left, residents of Manchester, church leaders and Labour Party MPs.

The RCG has been involved in several other individual anti-deportation campaigns, as well as campaigning against police racism and racism in prisons. In the last few years the RCG has supported Unity, the union of asylum seekers in Glasgow, has helped to set up the North West Asylum Seekers Defence Group in Manchester, and is organising with many different groups in London.