Socialist Party (England and Wales)

Not to be confused with Socialist Party of Great Britain.

The Socialist Party (Welsh: Plaid Sosialaidd Cymru) is a Trotskyist political party in England and Wales. Founded in 1997, it had formerly been Militant, an entryist group in the Labour Party from 1964 to 1991, which became Militant Labour from 1991 until 1997. It is a member of the refounded Committee for a Workers' International, and the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition.

Socialist Party Welsh: Plaid Sosialaidd Cymru
Leader	Hannah Sell
Founder	Peter Taaffe
Founded	1997; 28 years ago (1997)
Preceded by	Militant (1964–1991) Militant Labour (1991–1997)
Headquarters	Enfield, London, England
Newspaper	The Socialist
Student wing	Socialist Students
Youth wing	Young Socialists
Ideology	Trotskyism[1] Marxism Socialism Revolutionary socialism
Political position	Far-left
National affiliation	Socialist Green Unity Coalition (2005–2010)
European affiliation	European Anti-Capitalist Left
International affiliation	Committee for a Workers' International
Electoral alliance	TUSC
Colours	Red
Website
socialistparty.org.uk

History

Socialist Party booth at a protest against the 2006 Lebanon War.

Main article: Militant tendency

The Socialist Party was formerly the Militant group, which practised entryism in the Labour Party. In the 1980s, Militant supporters Dave Nellist, Pat Wall and Terry Fields were elected to the House of Commons as Labour MPs. In 1982, Liverpool District Labour Party adopted Militant's policies for Liverpool City Council in its battle against cuts in the rate support grant from government, and came into conflict with the Conservative government.^[2]

In 1991, there was a debate within Militant as to whether to continue working within the Labour Party, centred around whether they could still effectively operate in the party following the expulsions. The group became Militant Labour in 1991, after leaving the Labour Party. In 1997, Militant Labour changed its name to the Socialist Party,^[3] and the Militant newspaper was renamed The Socialist.

In March 2009, the Socialist Party was invited to participate in No to EU – Yes to Democracy (No2EU), a left-wing alter-globalisation coalition by the RMT union leader Bob Crow, for the 2009 European Parliament elections.^[4] This alliance later developed into the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC), of which the party is a member.^[5]

During Jeremy Corbyn's leadership of the Labour Party, members of the Socialist Party attempted to join the former, with then leader of the Socialist Party, Peter Taaffe, stating they hoped to be able to affiliate to the Labour Party and stand joint candidates at future general elections. Labour Party sources however distanced themselves from such attempts, highlighting the rules preventing active members of other parties joining the Labour Party.^[6]

In 2018 and 2019, the party was involved in a dispute within the predecessor Committee for a Workers' International (1974) around the questions of socialism and identity politics.^[7] The Socialist Party, as part of the “In Defence of a Working Class and Trotskyist CWI” (IDWCTCWI) faction, would go on to re-establish a revived Committee for a Workers' International in 2019 that considers itself a continuance of the original CWI (though this is disputed).^[8]

Electoral activity

Due to the existence of the Socialist Party of Great Britain, the Socialist Party is registered with the UK Government Electoral Commission under the name of Socialist Alternative.^{[9][better source needed]}

See also

Campaign for a New Workers' Party History of socialism in Great Britain List of political parties in the United Kingdom opposed to austerity Politics of the United Kingdom

Socialist Party (Ireland) Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition Trotskyism