During the early 1970s the OL took positions that were at odds with most of the US Left, including opposition to gay liberation and support of the shah of Iran, whose regime they saw as a bulwark against Soviet social-imperialism.
[5] In June 1977, the October League transformed itself into the Communist Party (Marxist–Leninist), with Klonsky as chairman and Eileen Klehr as vice-chairman.
Longtime Black communist Harry Haywood, who had become a CP(M-L) member, also visited with Chinese leaders in June 1978.
[5] In 1978, Daniel Burstein, the editor of the CP (ML) central organ The Call, and three others made an eight-day tour of Khmer Rouge-ruled Cambodia, then a Chinese ally.
The CP (ML) also claimed the Mariel exodus was evidence that the USSR and Fidel Castro had "betrayed" the Cuban Revolution.