Politically, being one of the founders of Frente Amplio, it left the alliance in 1993 and is now part of the far-left Comisiones Unitarias Antiimperialistas (COMUNA).

MRO was founded by Ariel Collazo on April 21, 1961, following a split from the Partido Blanco.

He traveled to Cuba and became a Marxist–Leninist under the influence of Che Guevara and the Cuban Revolution.

Since 2008, it has been part of the electoral alliance Comisiones Unitarias Antiimperialistas (COMUNA) which however failed at the admission for the 2009 election and didn't run in 2014.

MRO has a youth wing, the "Guevarist Youth" (Juventud Guevarista) and a mass front, the "Revolutionary Front for a Socialist Alternative" (Frente Revolucionario por una Alternativa Socialista).