Alliance for Workers Liberty: Originally known as “Workers Fight,” the AWL was formed from a splinter group of Gerry Healy’s Socialist Labour League (later known as the WRP). The latter tried to enter Tony Cliff’s Socialist Workers Party (then known as the International Socialists) in 1968, but chose to leave the organization in 1971. They later tried to organize within the Labour Party, and merged with several smaller Trotskyist groups. The AWL considers itself a Shachtmanite organization, drawing on the ideas of Max Shachtman from the period after he broke with Trotskyism but before he became a right-wing social democrat. The AWL is criticized widely for supporting NATO actions in Yugoslavia during the war in Kosovo and Bosnia. Recently, the AWL has joined the SWP and other former adversaries to form the Socialist Alliance, a left electoral challenge to the Blairite Labour Party. Current membership is estimated around 80-100 members.
Christian Socialist Movement: Formed in 1959 from two older organizations, the Socialist Christian League and the Society of Socialist Clergy Ministers, the CSM seeks to continue the long history of Christian socialism in Great Britain. They seek to further the egalitarian ideals put forth in the Bible by Jesus Christ, creating a fusion of religion and social democracy. CSM is affiliated to the Labour Party in a manner similar to the Fabian Society. Much like the Fabian Society, the Christian Socialist Movement is currently having to fight some of the policies of Labour leader Tony Blair—most recently the bombing of Afghanistan. Current CSM Chair is David Haslam, and the national office is located in London. There are chapters throughout the UK and CSM members in Parliament.
Communist Party of Britain: Formed in April of 1988 by the Communist Campaign Group for the purpose of re-creating a united Communist Party for England. Much like the Communist Party USA, the CPB is devoted to a democratic way toward Communism through the British Parliament. But unlike the CP-USA, the CPB is independent of the nation's liberals, the Labour Party. The CPB traces its roots back to the original British Communist Party formed in 1920. The CPB has a youth wing, the Young Communist League, and publish a paper, The Morning Star, which is the CP's main reason for being. Within the CPB, there is a broad range of political tendencies — from liberal to Post-Stalinist to Castroist. Of the groups with "Communist" in their name, the CPB is probably the biggest, but still rather small (500 members).
Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist): Split from the Communist Party of Great Britain founded in 1968 by Reg Birch and other ultra-Stalinists who opposed the CP-GB’s swing toward Reform Communism following the Sino-Soviet split. At it’s Second Congress in 1971, the CPBML formalized its program through a statement called “The British Working Class and its Party.” The CPBML demands dedication from all its members, and claims it will “ never to put itself above the class which created it.” The CPBML is very nationalistic and still calls for a violent uprising of the working class, though they have tried to update this message by creating a well-designed website to attract new members.
Communist Party of Great Britain: Originally a group of young people from the New Communist Party who joined the original Communist Party of Great Britain, which dissolved in 1989. A loose grouping of a few dozen activists, they call themselves the “Provisional Central Committee,” the Communist Party of Great Britain. They hope to re-unify the left under their banner the way the original CPGB had in the 1920's. The CPGB publishes a newspaper, The Weekly Worker, and have a impressive-looking website. However, they are poorly organized and are little more than their Provisional Central Committee. They take part in the Socialist Alliance and gravitate toward the views of the Alliance for Workers Liberty — moving from the NCP's Stalinism to the AWL's Shachtmanism. The CPGB wants the Alliance to be solidified into a “Socialist Alliance Party” and has stated that it would be willing to discontinue The Weekly Worker in order to create an unified Alliance newspaper.
Fabian Society: Formally constituted on January 4, 1884, the Fabian Society is one of England’s oldest (and most famous) left-wing organizations. A social democratic organization, the main mission of the Fabians is to slowly bring about a socialist society through public education and electoral reforms. Some famous socialists, including George Bernard Shaw, H. G. Wells, Sidney and Beatrice Webb and others, have been leaders of the Fabian Society. Affiliated with the Socialist International from its birth, the Fabians were also some of the original organizers of the Labour Party. Joining the Labour and gaining much support from them, the Fabians became (esentially) the educational arm of Labour. Today, the Fabians could probably be put to the left of Tony Blair, though they still support his New Labour efforts. Current membership is growing, and the Fabians have a youth wing, known as Young Fabians.
Green Party of England and Wales: Originally founded as the Ecologist Party in 1975, the Greens changed their political party’s in 1985 after the success of the Green Party of Germany. Though from various backgrounds, most Greens consider themselves ecologists and radical reformers. The Green Party sought to gain support from people who felt disillusioned with the Conservative and Labour parties, and also advance an ecologist platform. However, a large number of Green Party activists who hoped to grow the party were disappointed to see the advancement of another political party, the Liberal Democratic Party. Despite this, the Greens have continued to gain local successes in elections and nationally have continually gained about 1% of the total votes. Though hard to say, it is possible that the Green Party could grow as the Labour Party continues to move to the right.
Green Socialist Network: The GSN is a group of Democratic Socialists who fight primarily for eco-socialism. They support both the Socialist Alliance and the Green Party of England and Wales.
International Socialist Group: Founded in 1963 as the International Marxist Group, a split from Gerry Healey’s Socialist Labour League. The IMG later merged with the International Group and Workers Socialist League, and changed its name to International Socialist Group in 1987. The founders of the ISG can trace their organization all the way back to the first British Trotskyist organization, the late Revolutionary Communist Party (founded in the 1940’s by Ted Grant and Jock Haston). The ISG is a member of the United Secretariat of the Fourth International (USFI), the largest federation of Trotskyists in the world, including the Revolutionary Communist League, Chinese Revolutionary Communist Party, and the Swedish Socialist Party. The ISG publishes a well-distributed periodical, Socialist Outlook. For a long period of time, the ISG gave relunctant support to the Labour Party, seeing it as the main organization of the working class. However, after Tony Blair’s take-over of Labour and its subsequent conversion to a party of the middle class, the ISG eventually joined former opponents such as the Socialist Workers Party in creating the Socialist Alliance in 1999 to electorally challenge New Labour. It is the second-largest organization (after the SWP) in the Alliance. Over, the ISG is, by far, one of the sanest groups on the UK’s radical left.
Liberal Democratic Party: Officially formed in 1988 from two smaller parties in Parliament—the old Liberal Party and the newer Social Democratic Party—the Liberal Democrats can trace their party roots all the way back to England’s Whig Party of the 17th century. The Liberal Democratic Party is the third largest party in the UK, with currently 52 seats in the House of Commons. Originally considered more moderate than the Labour Party, its political alignment has shifted leftward since Tony Blair took control of Labour in 1994. Now, as Blair’s New Labour calls for the privization of social services, the Liberal Democrats are now calling for nationalization. For this reason, working-class voters are moving toward the Liberal Democrats, leaving Labour (which has become more middle-class). The Liberal Democrats are showing promising signs of replacing the left-wing vacuum left by Labour’s journey toward neo-liberalism. But the Liberal Democrats still have a long way to go. This is shown by the fact that Charles Kennedy, the LibDems’ leader and an Member of Parliament, expressed his support for US/UK retalliation on Afghanistan. However, with socialists continuing to bleed out of the Labour Party and the Socialist Alliance and Socialist Labour Party still very small, the Liberal Democrats will have to serve as the left opposition within Parliament.
New Communist Party: The NCP was a Stalinist split from the late Communist Party of Great Britain. These 400-500 NCP founders left due to anger over the “reformist” pro-Parliamentary ideas of the CP-GB’s British Road to Socialism program. Today, they are fairly inactive, except for writing a lot of dogmatic literature. Publish the New Worker.
Reclaim the Streets: Coming soon...
Red Action: Group formed in February 1982 by a number of ultra-left Marxists (some of whom had left the Socialist Workers Party). Strongly anti-fascist, they continued to work with the SWP's front organization, the Anti-Nazi League (ANL). Though they came from a Leninist-Trotskyist organization, members of Red Action are now anti-Leninist and consider themselves merely revolutionary socialists. They have been known to get into violent brawls with British neo-fascist groups, such as the British National Party and the National Front. In 1999, RA joined the Socialist Alliance to challenge the Labour Party, whom they had never supported. However, in 2002, after the Socialist Party left the Alliance, Red Action also left, feeling that the SWP had too much control of the organization. But considering the organization's tiny size, Red Action's departure is not as major a blow for the Alliance as the SP's departure was.
Revolutionary Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist): A group of very orthodox Stalinists (or Hoxhaists), the RCPB(ML) was apparently formed through a draft programme printed on January 7, 1995. Taking a very hard line on issues, the RCP maintains support for the former Communist regime of Albania under Enver Hoxha (1908-1985). They also maintain relations with their Hoxhaist counterparts in Canada, the Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada. Though quite militant in theory, the RCPB(ML) takes a more insightful stance in its platform than other groups in their category, calling for reform of the UN, democratization of the political process, support for human rights, and sovereignty to Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Headquarters located in London. Publish the periodical Workers’ Weekly.
Socialist Alliance: Formed in London in early 1999 by the Socialist Workers Party, International Socialist Group, Socialist Party, and other left organizations to promote a united electoral front against the neo-liberals of the Labour Party. The name “Socialist Alliance” originally came from local ad hoc groups formed in 1995 in opposition to Tony Blair. The Alliances were discontinued when the Socialist Labour Party was formed, but they were resurrected in 1999 when the SLP failed to deliver. The SA has grown considerably, and has united the Marxist left for the first time in decades. However, there have been problems; the fight for a general consensus left them with a fuzzy platform and did not end infighting. At one point, the SWP and its allies wished to expel the Communist Party of Great Britain. However, the Socialist Alliance proved to be the surprise they were hoping for in the 2001 general elections, pulling in 55,635 votes (1.75%) from people tired of New Labour. Even British mainstream newspapers couldn’t ignore the Alliance’s strong turnout. However, this good news was shadowed in December 2001 when the Socialist Party left the Socialist Alliance after a battle with the SWP. Hopefully, this will be the only split which the Alliance will see in its future. Many are hoping that the Alliance will continue to merge with other groups, such as the Socialist Campaign Group.
Socialist Campaign Group: The SCG is the chief organizational base of the democratic socialist wing of the Labour Party. Many left-wing British MPs are members of the SCG, including Diane Abbott, John Austin, Tony Benn. They also have gained support from the ex-Labour Party member (and current mayor of London) “Red Ken” Livingstone. Though they are fighting a losing battle against Tony Blair, they have managed to gain much support from the general British public for their demand for a return to the Old Labour. The SCG publishes a journal, Socialist Campaign Group News, and has an active caucus within Parliament.
Socialist Equality Party: Originally known as the International Communist Party, the SEP is a 1985 split from the Workers Revolutionary Party. Much like the RWP, the Socialist Equality Party is a purist, ultra-left Trotskyist organization—opposed to the larger, more moderate Fourth International (USFI; whom they deride as “Pabloists”). Showing their genuinely sectarian manner, they also deride the Spartacist League of Britain as “petty bourgeois radicals.” The SEP-UK has an international organization, known as the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI), which owns the World Socialist Website. The American branch of the ICFI is also known as the Socialist Equality Party. The ICFI attacks all national liberation movements as “petty bourgeois” (obviously a favorite term), including Cuba, Quebec, and Northern Ireland. The ICFI worldwide is very small, and their membership in the United Kingdom is less than 100.
Socialist Labour Party: Formed on May 1, 1996 as a left split from the Labour Party. The SLP’s founder and General Secretary was British activist Arthur Scargill. The SLP calls for “full employment, housing, education and a restored National Health Service,” and considers itself “a natural home for Socialists and the millions of people…who feel disenfranchised or dispossessed by injustice and inequality.” In the beginning, thousands of socialists joined the SLP, excited to see a new a left party emerge. But this excitement quickly dissipated as Scargill gave himself great centralized power and began expelling dissidents within the new party. Known by many on the British left as a former Communist and still a very stubborn Stalinist, Scargill consolidated his power in the SLP by stacking the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) with Harpal Brar and other members of the Stalin Society. Choosing not to join the (mainly Trotskyist) Socialist Alliance in 1999, the SLP ran independently in the 2001 general elections, garnering 54,880 votes (less than the Alliance). Recently, the party’s command structure has begun to disintegrate over the issue of democracy within the party. From its height with thousands of members, the Socialist Labour Party has dwindled to about 400-500 members and falling.
Socialist Party of Great Britain: Founded in 1904, the Socialist Party of GB is one of the oldest political parties in the UK, even older than the Labour Party. They slowly but surely created a network of similar parties known as the World Socialist Movement, which includes the American World Socialist Party (est. 1911). However, none of the WSM parties have ever been able to form any mass movement. Though the SPGB claims to be Marxist, they have more in common with the purist ideas of the pre-Marxist Utopians. They are known in England as the “Small Party of Good Boys”, composed of a group of eccentric anarcho-Marxists who are too self-absorbed to ever really appeal to the masses. Their membership is estimated at an amazing 500 members!
Socialist Party: The SP was originally founded by a former member of the Trotskyist Revolutionary Communist Party, Ted Grant, in the 1970’s around the publication Militant. The “Militant Tendency” (also known as Labour Militant) grew quickly in influence by entering the Labour Party. In the early 1980’s, the Militant Tendency took over the Labour Party in Liverpool and Labour’s youth wing, Young Socialists. It also gained support from left-wing members of Labour, including Tony Benn (now of the Socialist Campaign Group) and became the biggest organization on the Left. They also formed an international (the Committee for a Workers International) and formed a sister organization in the US (now known as Socialist Alternative). In 1986, the Labour Party leadership expelled all members and suspected members of the Militant Tendency. The Militant began to fall apart, and even its founder, Ted Grant, left the organization to form the Socialist Appeal Group in 1992. They also came under criticism by much of the left for their opposition to Irish unification. The Militant reformed itself as the “Socialist Party of England and Wales” and renamed its Militant newspaper The Socialist. The Socialist Party joined the Socialist Alliance in 1999, but in December 2001 left the organization because it felt that the Socialist Workers Party had too much influence. This move has been denounced by the Alliance as sectarian and destructive.
Socialist Solidarity Network: Description coming soon…
Socialist Workers Party: Founded (as the “Socialist Review Group”) as a split from the Revolutionary Commuinst Party, the SWP was formed Palestinian Jewish emigrant Tony Cliff in 1950. The SRG grew slowly and in 1962 was renamed the “International Socialists.” By working (beginning in 1968) in the Labour Party, the IS was able to gain membership from within Labour’s Young Socialist group. In 1977, Cliff officially reformed his IS its current incarnation — the Socialist Workers Party. The SWP quickly grew to one of the most dedicated parties on the Left, publishing the newspaper Socialist Worker, and forming the International Socialist Tendency (IST) for the purpose of creating SWP mirror groups in other nations (such as the American ISO). However, during most of its history, the SWP/UK continued providing critical support for the Labour Party electorally. This changed in 1998, however. Angered by the continued right-ward flow of Tony Blair’s New Labour, Tony Cliff began efforts to work with other British Marxist organizations in creating an official Socialist Alliance. The SWP has run into some rough spots over recent times, including the death of Cliff in 1999 and the end of relations with the American ISO, but they continue to be the strongest Marxist party in Britain.
Workers Revolutionary Party: Originally formed as the Socialist Labor League (SLL) in 1963 when Trotskyist leader Gerry Healy (1918-1989) managed to gain consolidate the remnants of Britain's first Trotskyist organization, the Revolutionary Communist Party, into the SLL. Disgusted by Fourth International leader Michel Pablo's pragmatism, Healy's SLL joined Pierre Lambert's French Parti Communiste Internationaliste (PCI) and James Cannon's Socialist Workers Party in forming an orthodox opposition, the International Committee (ICFI). However, the SWP/US would re-join Lambert in forming the new "United Secretariat" (USFI) in 1965, and Pierre Lambert would also split with Healy's SLL. The SLL grew from dissident who left the Communist Party after the Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia in 1968, and eventually changed its name to WRP in 1973. In the 1970's, it gained support from celebrities such as Venessa Redgrave and (according to an MI5 defector) John Lennon. But the "Healyites" were being known more and more for their eccentric behavior. Healy began constructing conspiracy theories and cult-like tactics to keep members within his grasp. He also began to use his power to make sexual advances towards females in the party. Alegations also arose that the WRP was accepting money from Muammar Qaddafi's Libya and were revealing the identities of Iraqi leftists to Saddam Hussein. This internal corruption came to the spotlight in 1985 when Healy's right-hand man, Banda, revealed them to the British media. Healy was expelled from the ICFI and (with Venessa Redgrave) formed the Marxist Party (MP) in 1985. Cliff Slaughter (the de facto WRP leader) attempted damage control but couldn't stop the WRP itself from being removed from the ICFI; in response, the WRP formed its own International Committee! After all this madness, a group of orthodox Trotskyists left the party and formed what would become the Socialist Equality Party, which was quickly recognized as the British section of the ICFI. Both the Healyite Marxist Party and the Workers Revolutionary Party are now moribund, mainly due to the well-known 1985 scandal. However, the WRP still manages to publish a daily paper (News Line) somehow. The WRP is a true example of both insanity and sectarianism.