Platforms, in European politics, are openly organized political faction

Political faction

A political faction is a grouping of individuals, such as a political party, a trade union, or other group with a political purpose. A faction or political party may include fragmented sub-factions, “parties within a party," which may be referred to as power blocs, or voting blocs. The individuals...

s within left-wing political parties

Political party

A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...

. Examples include the Republican Communist Network, the Workers Unity Platform and the Solidarity Tendency, platforms within the Scottish Socialist Party

Scottish Socialist Party

The Scottish Socialist Party is a left-wing Scottish political party. Positioning itself significantly to the left of Scotland's centre-left parties, the SSP campaigns on a socialist economic platform and for Scottish independence....

; the Socialist Workers Platform

Socialist Workers Party (Britain)

The Socialist Workers Party is a far left party in Britain founded by Tony Cliff. The SWP's student section has groups at a number of universities...

 and the Committee for a Workers' International

Committee for a Workers' International

The Committee for a Workers' International is an international association of Trotskyist parties. Members include the Socialist Party of England and Wales, the Socialist Party , the Socialist Party the Democratic Socialist Movement in South Africa and Nigeria and groups using the name Socialist...

 (International Socialists

International Socialists (Scotland)

The Socialist Party Scotland is the Scottish platform of the Committee for a Workers International in Solidarity . The group is descended from the Scottish Militant Labour which formed the Scottish Socialist Alliance in 1996 after a debate amongst CWI members in Scotland on what sort of...

) platform, both Trotskyist platforms formerly within the Scottish Socialist Party

Scottish Socialist Party

The Scottish Socialist Party is a left-wing Scottish political party. Positioning itself significantly to the left of Scotland's centre-left parties, the SSP campaigns on a socialist economic platform and for Scottish independence....

 and now part of Solidarity (Scotland)

Solidarity (Scotland)

Solidarity is a political party in Scotland, launched on September 3, 2006 as a breakaway from the Scottish Socialist Party in the aftermath of Tommy Sheridan's libel action...

; and the "plateformes" 1 through 4 of the Revolutionary Communist League

Revolutionary Communist League

The Revolutionary Communist League can refer to one of several different parties:*Japan Revolutionary Communist League*Revolutionary Communist League *Revolutionary Communist League...

 (Ligue communiste révolutionnaire - LCR) in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

.

Such groups in American left-wing political organizations are usually called tendencies

Tendency

Tendency may refer to:In film:* Tendency film, a name given to the socially conscious, left-leaning films produced in Japan during the 1920s and 1930sIn finance:...

 or caucus

Caucus

A caucus is a meeting of supporters or members of a political party or movement, especially in the United States and Canada. As the use of the term has been expanded the exact definition has come to vary among political cultures.-Origin of the term:...

es.