The origins of the RWP lie in a series of splits in an earlier Russian Troskyist organisation, the Committee for Workers' Democracy and International Socialism (CWDIS, Russian: Комитет за рабочую демократию и международный социализм, or КРДМС).

At the seventh congress of the CWDIS in January 1999, in light of the recent splits, a decision was taken to reform the organisation as the 'Revolutionary Workers' Party', and to join the Committee for a Marxist International.

In December 2007, members of the CI joined Sotsialisticheskoye Soprotivleniye (Socialist Resistance), becoming its branch in Perm.

[7] The headquarters of the organisation are based in Moscow; however, branches also exist in Saint Petersburg, Togliatti, Pskov and Voronezh, as well as in Moldova and Kyrgyzstan.

The majority voted to fuse with the Russian section of the International Marxist Tendency and affiliate to the IMT [9][10]