Social Democratic Federation - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Social Democratic Federation (SDF) was established as Britain's first organised socialist

Socialism

Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...

political party

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...

by H. M. Hyndman, and had its first meeting on June 7, 1881. Those joining the SDF included William Morris

William Morris

William Morris 24 March 18343 October 1896 was an English textile designer, artist, writer, and socialist associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the English Arts and Crafts Movement...

, George Lansbury

George Lansbury

George Lansbury was a British politician, socialist, Christian pacifist and newspaper editor. He was a Member of Parliament from 1910 to 1912 and from 1922 to 1940, and leader of the Labour Party from 1932 to 1935....

and Eleanor Marx

Eleanor Marx

Jenny Julia Eleanor "Tussy" Marx , also known as Eleanor Marx Aveling, was the English-born youngest daughter of Karl Marx. She was herself a socialist activist, who sometimes worked as a literary translator...

. However, Friedrich Engels

Friedrich Engels

Friedrich Engels was a German industrialist, social scientist, author, political theorist, philosopher, and father of Marxist theory, alongside Karl Marx. In 1845 he published The Condition of the Working Class in England, based on personal observations and research...

, Karl Marx

Karl Marx

Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...

's long-term collaborator, refused to support Hyndman's venture. Many of its early leading members had previously been active in the Manhood Suffrage League

Manhood Suffrage League

The Manhood Suffrage League was a nineteenth century ultra-radical and, later, socialist club.The organisation was founded in 1874 as the Democratic and Trades Alliance Association...

.

The SDF battled through defections of its right and left wings to other organizations during the first decade of the 20th Century before uniting with other radical groups to establish the British Socialist Party

British Socialist Party

The British Socialist Party was a Marxist political organisation established in Great Britain in 1911. Following a protracted period of factional struggle, in 1916 the party's anti-war forces gained decisive control of the party and saw the defection of its pro-war Right Wing...

in 1911.

Origins and early years

The British Marxist movement began in 1880 when a businessman named Henry M. Hyndman became familiar with Karl Marx's

Karl Marx

magnum opus Capital

Das Kapital

Das Kapital, Kritik der politischen Ökonomie , by Karl Marx, is a critical analysis of capitalism as political economy, meant to reveal the economic laws of the capitalist mode of production, and how it was the precursor of the socialist mode of production.- Themes :In Capital: Critique of...

in French translation while aboard an ocean liner bound for North America. Upon his return to England, Hyndman sought out the book's author, Karl Marx

Karl Marx

, then an exile in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

living not far from Hyndman's home. Hyndman, an ambitious politician who had run for parliament as an independent candidate earlier that year, determined to start a new political organization. In June 1880 he called a foundation convention for this new party, called the Democratic Federation, consisting of an alliance of radical

Political radicalism

The term political radicalism denotes political principles focused on altering social structures through revolutionary means and changing value systems in fundamental ways...

grouplets and individuals.

In preparation for the founding convention, Hyndman had circulated among the delegates a book he had written called England for All, a work which paraphrased Marx's analysis contained in Capital without crediting the author by name. Marx took great offence to this oversight and broke off personal relations with his English epigone. The master's distaste for Hyndman was shared by Friedrich Engels

Friedrich Engels

, who succeeded his close friend as his literary executor following Marx's death on 14 March 1883.

The Democratic Federation was transformed into the Social Democratic Federation (SDF) in 1884 when the group adopted an explicitly socialist

Socialism

platform

Party platform

A party platform, or platform sometimes also referred to as a manifesto, is a list of the actions which a political party, individual candidate, or other organization supports in order to appeal to the general public for the purpose of having said peoples' candidates voted into political office or...

. The group was strongly opposed to the Liberal Party

Liberal Party (UK)

The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...

, the group which had ostensibly and haphazardly represented the British labour movement in parliament prior to that date. The organisation backed a policy of total nationalisation and establishment of the 8-hour day and it attracted a number of Britain's leading radicals to its banner, including William Morris

William Morris

William Morris 24 March 18343 October 1896 was an English textile designer, artist, writer, and socialist associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the English Arts and Crafts Movement...

, atheist Edward Aveling

Edward Aveling

Edward Bibbins Aveling was a prominent English biology instructor and popular spokesman for Darwinian evolution and atheism. He later met and moved in with Eleanor Marx, the youngest daughter of Karl Marx and became a socialist activist...

, and his live-in lover, Eleanor Marx

Eleanor Marx

, the youngest daughter of Karl.

Party founder Henry Hyndman dominated the SDF from the beginning. The old saying that "he who pays the piper calls the tune" seems to have applied in at least some measure, as at least one historian has noted that one key to Hyndman's personal authority in the SDF lay in his bountiful purse. From early in the group's history, Hyndman paid the bulk of the organisation's administrative expenses out of pocket. Its weekly newspaper, Justice, lost money despite its healthy circulation of about 3500. Still, there was a sense of unhappiness among others in the organisation, with party leader Hyndman regarded as domineering in personal relations and sectarian

Sectarianism

Sectarianism, according to one definition, is bigotry, discrimination or hatred arising from attaching importance to perceived differences between subdivisions within a group, such as between different denominations of a religion, class, regional or factions of a political movement.The ideological...

in political thinking. Hyndman's detractors additionally considered him politically ambitious and lacking in principle. The ill will and personal antipathy which Hyndman generated among many who joined the SDF in its formative period would come to a climax in the Christmas season of 1884.

The split of 1884

For more detail, see Socialist League

Socialist League

Socialist League may refer to one of several organisations:*Socialist League *Socialist League *Socialist League *Socialist League *Socialist League *Socialist League...

On 23 December 1884, a meeting of the Executive Council of the SDF was held at which Hyndman was attacked for several alleged offenses: defaming a comrade in Edinburgh by calling him an "anarchist" without cause, corresponding the name of the organization without authority and in defiance of the Council's decisions, and withholding correspondence meant for the organization as a whole. Hyndman was additionally accused of stirring up strife between members of the Council and fabricating a provincial branch from thin air so as to ready himself to wield undeserved voting authority at a future convention of the organization.

Hyndman gathered his factional supporters for his defense, while his opponents, who included William Morris, Belfort Bax, Eleanor Marx, and Edward Aveling, mustered their own forces. After protracted debate, on 27 December a motion of censure on Hyndman was adopted, after which the majority of the Council, freshly victorious, promptly resigned from the SDF.

The individuals leaving the party formed a new organization called the Socialist League

Socialist League (UK, 1885)

The Socialist League was an early revolutionary socialist organisation in the United Kingdom. The organisation began as a dissident offshoot of the Social Democratic Federation of Henry Hyndman at the end of 1884. Never an ideologically harmonious group, by the 1890s the group had turned from...

, supported financially by William Morris, who particularly objected to Hyndman's rigid control of the party press and what he considered his excessive personal influence. They considered Hyndman opportunistic

Opportunism

-General definition:Opportunism is the conscious policy and practice of taking selfish advantage of circumstances, with little regard for principles. Opportunist actions are expedient actions guided primarily by self-interested motives. The term can be applied to individuals, groups,...

and obsessed with parliamentary politics to the detriment of trade union organisation. Hyndman retained the party publications Justice

Justice

Justice is a concept of moral rightness based on ethics, rationality, law, natural law, religion, or equity, along with the punishment of the breach of said ethics; justice is the act of being just and/or fair.-Concept of justice:...

and To-Day and the 500 or so members of the SDF chose sides as one small organisation became two smaller ones. Friedrich Engels was jubilant about the split, declaring to Eduard Bernstein: "I have the satisfaction of having seen through the whole racket from the outset, correctly sized up all the people concerned, and foretold what the end would be..."

Unfortunately for Engels' best laid plans, it was the Socialist League that wound up "shipwrecked" by the split, while the SDF emerged from the factional strife with Hyndman and his followers in tighter control than ever.

The SDF in the 1880s

Ironically, the defection of assorted and sundry anti-parliamentary members from the Social Democratic Federation, including a fair number of anarchists

Anarchism

Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...

, to form the Socialist League in 1885 left the SDF a relatively more homogeneous unit than its new offshoot. While Hyndman and the SDF used scare tactics about some impending national catastrophe that would prove the catalyst for socialist revolution in the mid-1880s, his eyes remained on the parliamentary prize. In the general election of 1885 the SDF stood three candidates for office — subsidized by a £340 campaign contribution obtained by SDF leader Henry Hyde Champion from a Conservative Party

Conservative Party (UK)

The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

agent named Maltman Barry

Maltman Barry

Michael Maltman Barry , often known as Maltman Barry, was a Scottish political activist who described himself as a Marxist but stood in elections for the Conservative Party....

. Despite this somewhat shady attempt of the Tories

Tory

Toryism is a traditionalist and conservative political philosophy which grew out of the Cavalier faction in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It is a prominent ideology in the politics of the United Kingdom, but also features in parts of The Commonwealth, particularly in Canada...

to split the opposition, the SDF fared extremely poorly, with John Burns

John Burns

John Elliot Burns was an English trade unionist and politician of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly associated with London politics. He was a socialist and then a Liberal Member of Parliament and Minister. He was anti-alcohol and a keen sportsman...

receiving 598 votes in Nottingham

Nottingham (UK Parliament constituency)

Nottingham was a parliamentary borough in Nottinghamshire, which elected two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons from 1295. In 1885 the constituency was abolished and the city of Nottingham divided into three single-member constituencies....

while John E. Williams in Hampstead

Hampstead (UK Parliament constituency)

Hampstead was a borough constituency, centered on the Hampstead area of North London. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, who was elected using the first-past-the-post voting system....

and John Fielding

John Fielding

This article is about the London magistrate. For the soldier, see John Williams .Sir John Fielding was a notable English magistrate and social reformer of the 18th century. He was also the younger half-brother of novelist, playwright and chief magistrate Henry Fielding...

in Kensington

Kensington (UK Parliament constituency)

Kensington is a parliamentary constituency in the Parliament of the United Kingdom in west London, comprising the northern and central parts of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around Kensington...

netted a mere 27 and 32 votes, respectively. The SDF's foray into electoral politics had proven to be both controversial and wholly ineffective.

In the winter of 1885/86 the SDF made its first appreciable advance in the public eye. With economic depression sweeping the country, a demonstration was planned to be held in Trafalgar Square

Trafalgar Square

Trafalgar Square is a public space and tourist attraction in central London, England, United Kingdom. At its centre is Nelson's Column, which is guarded by four lion statues at its base. There are a number of statues and sculptures in the square, with one plinth displaying changing pieces of...

to agitate against free trade

Free trade

Under a free trade policy, prices emerge from supply and demand, and are the sole determinant of resource allocation. 'Free' trade differs from other forms of trade policy where the allocation of goods and services among trading countries are determined by price strategies that may differ from...

and in favor of protectionist

Protectionism

Protectionism is the economic policy of restraining trade between states through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, restrictive quotas, and a variety of other government regulations designed to allow "fair competition" between imports and goods and services produced domestically.This...

trade policies, a move which many believed would lessen the unemployment

Unemployment

Unemployment , as defined by the International Labour Organization, occurs when people are without jobs and they have actively sought work within the past four weeks...

problem in Great Britain. The SDF agitated

Agitator

An agitator is a person who actively supports some ideology or movement with speeches and especially actions. The Agitators were a political movement as well as elected representatives of soldiers, including the New Model Army of Oliver Cromwell, during the English Civil War. They were also known...

for the "Right to Work" and made demands for the establishment of state-directed co-operative colonies

Utopian socialism

Utopian socialism is a term used to define the first currents of modern socialist thought as exemplified by the work of Saint-Simon, Charles Fourier, and Robert Owen which inspired Karl Marx and other early socialists and were looked on favorably...

on underutilized lands. The police forced the SDF-led demonstration out of the Square. John Burns

John Burns

led the protesters down Pall Mall

Pall Mall, London

Pall Mall is a street in the City of Westminster, London, and parallel to The Mall, from St. James's Street across Waterloo Place to the Haymarket; while Pall Mall East continues into Trafalgar Square. The street is a major thoroughfare in the St James's area of London, and a section of the...

en route to Hyde Park

Hyde Park, London

Hyde Park is one of the largest parks in central London, United Kingdom, and one of the Royal Parks of London, famous for its Speakers' Corner.The park is divided in two by the Serpentine...

bearing a red flag. Along the way the marchers scuffled with jeering onlookers and a riot ensued, with smashed windows and fisticuffs. The party claimed a big boost in membership in the aftermath, with its official organ, Justice, selling 4,000 copies of each issue.

The next fall a protest of socialists and radicals was called for Trafalgar Square for 13 November 1887. This time, still smarting from the riot of the previous January, political and police officials had committed a massive body of personnel to the Square, including some 4,000 constables, 300 mounted policemen, 300 soldiers from the Grenadier Guards

Grenadier Guards

The Grenadier Guards is an infantry regiment of the British Army. It is the most senior regiment of the Guards Division and, as such, is the most senior regiment of infantry. It is not, however, the most senior regiment of the Army, this position being attributed to the Life Guards...

, and 350 members of the Life Guards. This body of police and military forces used horses, batons, and rifle butts against an estimated 20,000 demonstrators out of the square, injuring hundreds and killing two in the process. Some 200 demonstrators were taken to the hospital, 150 of whom needed surgical treatment. Three hundred demonstrators were arrested and 112 police officers injured. This demonstration and its forcible suppression became known as "Bloody Sunday" to a generation.

The next week, 20 November 1887 the popular mood of protest continued to expand. Some 40,000 demonstrators turned out at Hyde Park to voice their outrage over the "Bloody Sunday" killings, while an additional large crowd gathered in Trafalgar Square. For a second straight week, mounted police charged the crowd, supported by volunteer "special constables. One demonstrator, Alfred Linnell, was crushed by the horses and died of his injuries 12 days later. A massive demonstration of 120,000 Londoners turned out for his funeral.

In the aftermath of these protests, the SDF assumed a place in the public imagination far beyond the role which the organisation's actual size and efficacy would ordinarily have merited. For some in the party itself, however, the futility of mass action

Mass action

In Chemistry, the law of mass action is a mathematical model that explains and predicts behaviors of solutions in dynamic equilibrium. It can be described with two aspects: 1) the equilibrium aspect, concerning the composition of a reaction mixture at equilibrium and 2) the kinetic aspect...

to achieve positive results seemed clear. A renewed effort for working class representation in parliament began to show itself. This trend was led by Keir Hardie

Keir Hardie

James Keir Hardie, Sr. , was a Scottish socialist and labour leader, and was the first Independent Labour Member of Parliament elected to the Parliament of the United Kingdom...

, a Scot adhering to the intellectual tradition of ethical socialism rather than Marxism. Together with labor leaders Tom Mann

Tom Mann

Tom Mann was a noted British trade unionist. Largely self-educated, Mann became a successful organiser and a popular public speaker in the labour movement.-Early years:...

, John Burns, and socialist activist Henry Hyde Champion, the movement to launch a Labour Party established outside of the existing two parties was begun in earnest.

When these ideas were rejected by the SDF at its 1888 Annual Conference in favor of a limitation of party support to candidates endorsing the notion of class war, these advocates of an ameliorative Labour Party set out on their own, abandoning the SDF to its own fate.

The SDF shatters

Many trade unionists who were members of the SDF felt that the Federation neglected trade union activities. This group believed that the SDF was obsessed with parliamentarian pursuits and should be instead more active in the industrial struggle. Hyndman disagreed, seeking a continued concentration on political activities. Hyndman's control of the party organisation and press proved pivotal and the SDF refused to change its politically-dominated strategy, causing Burns and Mann left the party in 1890.

At the turn of the century, the SDF optimistically claimed to have 96 branches with about 9,000 members. Many of these branches failed to pay their subscription to the organization, however, with the dues of a penny per member per month paid to the central office irregularly. One historian has estimated the actual strength of the organization in 1900 at approximately 50 functioning branches with an active membership of around 1,000.

Despite the weakness of its adult organisation, the SDF was instrumental in the development of the movement of Socialist Sunday Schools

Socialist Sunday Schools

Socialist Sunday Schools were set up as an alternative to Christian Sunday Schools in the United Kingdom. They arose in response to a feeling as to the inadequacy of the orthodox Sunday Schools as a training ground for the children of socialists and of the need for some organised and systematic...

for children, institutions which taught socialist ideas and ethical principles to youngsters in competition with the Sunday religious training schools of the organised churches.

During this interval the SDF experienced the atrophy of its ultra-parliamentary right wing to the Independent Labour Party

Independent Labour Party

The Independent Labour Party was a socialist political party in Britain established in 1893. The ILP was affiliated to the Labour Party from 1906 to 1932, when it voted to leave...

(ILP). This party, led by Keir Hardie, was a big tent

Big tent

In politics, a big tent party or catch-all party is a political party seeking to attract people with diverse viewpoints. The party does not require adherence to some ideology as a criterion for membership...

party of the left, more heavily influenced by Christian Socialism

Christian socialism

Christian socialism generally refers to those on the Christian left whose politics are both Christian and socialist and who see these two philosophies as being interrelated. This category can include Liberation theology and the doctrine of the social gospel...

than by the atheistic

Atheism

Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...

Marxism of the SDF. The ILP also had the advantage of having Hardie as a member of the House of Commons

British House of Commons

The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...

after winning the West Ham South seat in the 1892 General Election

United Kingdom general election, 1892

The 1892 United Kingdom general election was held from 4 July to 26 July 1892. It saw the Conservatives, led by Lord Salisbury, win the greatest number of seats, but not enough for an overall majority as William Ewart Gladstone's Liberals won many more seats than in the 1886 general election...

. This enabled the ILP to argue that it was a more effective vehicle for change than the SDF. Prominent figures such as Henry Hyde Champion

Henry Hyde Champion

Henry Hyde Champion was a socialist journalist and activist, regarded as one of the leading spirits behind the formation of the Independent Labour Party...

, Ben Tillett

Ben Tillett

Benjamin Tillett was a British socialist, trade union leader and politician. He was born in Bristol and began his working life as a sailor, before travelling to London and taking up work as a docker....

, Jim Connell

Jim Connell

Jim Connell was an Irish political activist of the late 19th century and early 20th century, best known as the writer of the anthem "The Red Flag" in December 1889.-Life:...

and George Lansbury

George Lansbury

, all left the SDF for the ILP.

Initially, there was progress towards a unification of the SDF with its rivals of the parliamentarian left. On February 27, 1900, Hyndman and the SDF met with the ILP, the Fabian Society

Fabian Society

The Fabian Society is a British socialist movement, whose purpose is to advance the principles of democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist, rather than revolutionary, means. It is best known for its initial ground-breaking work beginning late in the 19th century and continuing up to World...

and trade union leaders at the Memorial Hall in Farringdon Street, London

London

. After a debate the 129 delegates decided to pass Hardie's motion to establish "a distinct Labour group in Parliament, who shall have their own whips, and agree upon their policy, which must embrace a readiness to cooperate with any party which for the time being may be engaged in promoting legislation in the direct interests of labour."

To make this possible the Conference established a Labour Representation Committee (LRC). This committee included two members from the Social Democratic Federation and the Independent Labour Party, one member of the Fabian Society, and seven trade unionists. The LRC eventually evolved into the Labour Party. Despite the formal unification of forces, many members of the party were uncomfortable with the Marxism of the SDF and Hyndman had very little influence over the development of this political group, eventually leaving the alliance in 1907.

In addition to the loss of the party's right wing, the SDF experienced defections of some of its most radical members for different reasons. Hyndman's personalistic leadership and the policies of the organisation generated proved to be an ongoing inspiration for a river of internal criticism. One major source of contention surrounded the attitude of Hyndman and other party leaders towards the Boer War

Boer War

The Boer Wars were two wars fought between the British Empire and the two independent Boer republics, the Oranje Vrijstaat and the Republiek van Transvaal ....

of 1899-1902. While the party adopted an anti-war stance, the rhetoric of the leadership seemed to these members to be far removed from a principled socialist opposition to the conflict, with Hyndman going so far as to declare in July 1901 that further anti-war agitation was "a waste of time and money." Charges of reformism

Reformism

Reformism is the belief that gradual democratic changes in a society can ultimately change a society's fundamental economic relations and political structures...

and chauvinism

Chauvinism

Chauvinism, in its original and primary meaning, is an exaggerated, bellicose patriotism and a belief in national superiority and glory. It is an eponym of a possibly fictional French soldier Nicolas Chauvin who was credited with many superhuman feats in the Napoleonic wars.By extension it has come...

were made by left wing members, who began publishing their oppositional criticism in the official organ of the Socialist Labor Party of America

Socialist Labor Party of America

The Socialist Labor Party of America , established in 1876 as the Workingmen's Party, is the oldest socialist political party in the United States and the second oldest socialist party in the world. Originally known as the Workingmen's Party of America, the party changed its name in 1877 and has...

.

At the March 1902 annual conference of the SDF, held in Blackburn, the battle between the insurgent left wing and Hyndman's leadership group came to a head. A motion by the left wing to oppose continued unity negotiations with the ILP was roundly defeated, as were other motions to advance an explicitly radical programme, such as one proposal calling for establishment of socialist dual unions

Dual unionism

Dual unionism is the development of a union or political organization parallel to and within an existing labor union. In some cases, the term may refer to the situation where two unions claim the right to organize the same workers....

and another which would have banned SDF members from joining other political organizations. At the conclusion of the conference SDF editor Harry Quelch

Harry Quelch

Henry "Harry" Quelch , known exclusively by his nickname "Harry," was one of the first Marxists in Great Britain. He was a socialist activist, journalist and trade unionist...

commented upon the acrimony which had ensued from the programmatic efforts of the left wing, threatening that the dissidents "must either fall into line or fall out altogether."

The 1903 annual conference, held 10–12 April at Shoreditch Town Hall, marked the final showdown. Before the proceedings began, George Yates was informed that he was to be expelled from the party for purportedly obstructing left unity, failing to sell Justice, and writing an editorial for The Socialist in which he declared that there was a "distinct tendency" of the SDF to alter their former revolutionary attitude in favor of "opportunist tactics of the worst kind." Delegates agreed to Yates' expulsion by a vote of 56 to 6, with the resolution further empowering the executive to expel, without the right of appeal, anybody endorsing Yates' views.

Those members of the left wing located in Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

, who controlled the SDF apparatus there, could see little sense in remaining in the SDF further and they shortly left en bloc to launch the Socialist Labour Party

Socialist Labour Party (UK, 1903)

The Socialist Labour Party was a socialist political party in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1903 as a splinter from the Social Democratic Federation by James Connolly, Neil Maclean and SDF members impressed with the politics of the American socialist Daniel De Leon, a Marxist...

, inaugurated at a conference held 7 June 1903. Others, tending to be based in London, left to form the Socialist Party of Great Britain

Socialist Party of Great Britain

The Socialist Party of Great Britain , is a small Marxist political party within the impossibilist tradition. It is best known for its advocacy of using the ballot box for revolutionary purposes; opposition to reformism; and its early adoption of the theory of state capitalism to describe the...

in 1904. The departing left wing particularly faulted the SDF's perceived failure to concentrate on work to radicalise the nation's trade unions, which was envisioned as being the key to the revolutionary transformation of society.

New traction for an old party

While the SDF stagnated and split during the first decade of the 20th Century, the various failures of those who departed paved the way for new growth. Unhappiness with the Labour Party's performance in parliament, hampered as it was by electoral alliance with the Liberal Party, led to renewed calls for a reorganisation of socialist forces. In 1910, Victor Grayson

Victor Grayson

Albert Victor Grayson was an English socialist politician of the early 20th century. A Member of Parliament from 1907 to 1910, his sudden and still-unexplained disappearance in 1920 is widely believed to have been the result of his intention to reveal evidence of corruption at the highest levels...

named Hyndman, Robert Blatchford

Robert Blatchford

Robert Peel Glanville Blatchford was a socialist campaigner, journalist and author in the United Kingdom. He was a prominent atheist and opponent of eugenics. He was also an English patriot...

, and Keir Hardie as the political leaders most capable of forging a new alliance.

In 1911 this idea came to realisation when a Socialist Unity Conference was held, bringing together representatives of the SDF, the left wing of the ILP, the network of clubs associated with The Clarion newspaper, and various local socialist societies. Together these groups formed a new organisation, the British Socialist Party

British Socialist Party

. Hyndman, defeated in the leadership elections, founded the National Socialist Party

National Socialist Party (UK)

The National Socialist Party was a small political party in the United Kingdom, founded in 1916. It originated as a minority group within the British Socialist Party who supported British participation in World War I; while historically linked with the Marxist left, the party grew more moderate...

Social Democratic Federation reprised (1919-1939)

The Social Democratic Federation was also the name of a party led by Hyndman after 1919, when the National Socialist Party

National Socialist Party (UK)

changed its name. The group enjoyed some short-term success but gradually faded into the Labour Party, being wound up in 1939.

Conferences of the SDF

{| class="wikitable"

|-
! Year
! Description
! City
! Dates
! Delegates
! Proceedings
|-
! 1884
| align="center" | Foundation Conference
| align="center" | London
| align="center" | August
| align="center" |
| align="center" |
|-
! 1885
| align="center" |No conference held.
| align="center" |
| align="center" |
| align="center" |
| align="center" |
|-
! 1886
| align="center" | Annual Conference
| align="center" | London
| align="center" |
| align="center" |
| align="center" |
|-
! 1887
| align="center" | Annual Conference
| align="center" | Manchester
| align="center" |
| align="center" |
| align="center" |
|-
! 1888
| align="center" | Annual Conference
| align="center" | London
| align="center" | 6 August
| align="center" | 26
| align="center" |
|-
! 1889
| align="center" | Annual Conference
| align="center" | Birmingham
| align="center" | 10 August
| align="center" | 20
| align="center" |
|-
! 1890
| align="center" | Annual Conference
| align="center" | London
| align="center" | 4 August
| align="center" | 26
| align="center" |
|-
! 1891
| align="center" | Annual Conference
| align="center" | Sheffield
| align="center" | 3 August
| align="center" | 23
| align="center" |
|-
! 1892
| align="center" | Annual Conference
| align="center" | London
| align="center" | 1 August
| align="center" | 33
| align="center" |
|-
! 1893
| align="center" | Annual Conference
| align="center" | Burnley
| align="center" | 6–7 August
| align="center" |
| align="center" |
|-
! 1894
| align="center" | Annual Conference
| align="center" | London
| align="center" | 5–6 August
| align="center" |
| align="center" |
|-
! 1895
| align="center" | Annual Conference
| align="center" | Birmingham
| align="center" | 4–5 August
| align="center" |
| align="center" |
|-
! 1896
| align="center" | Annual Conference
| align="center" | London
| align="center" | 2–3 August
| align="center" | 82
| align="center" |
|-
! 1897
| align="center" | 17th Annual Conference
| align="center" | Northampton
| align="center" | 1–2 August
| align="center" | 55
| align="center" | Report.
|-
! 1898
| align="center" | 18th Annual Conference
| align="center" | Edinburgh
| align="center" | 31 July-1 August
| align="center" | 54
| align="center" |
|-
! 1899
| align="center" | 19th Annual Conference
| align="center" | Manchester
| align="center" | 6–7 August
| align="center" |
| align="center" |
|-
! 1900
| align="center" | 20th Annual Conference
| align="center" | London
| align="center" | 5–6 August
| align="center" | 60
| align="center" | Report.
|-
! 1901
| align="center" | 21st Annual Conference
| align="center" | Birmingham
| align="center" | 4–5 August
| align="center" | 59
| align="center" |
|-
! 1902
| align="center" | 22nd Annual Conference
| align="center" | Blackburn
| align="center" | 28–30 March
| align="center" | 72
| align="center" |
|-
! 1903
| align="center" | 23rd Annual Conference
| align="center" | London
| align="center" | 11–12 April
| align="center" | 62
| align="center" | Report.
|-
! 1904
| align="center" | 24th Annual Conference
| align="center" | Burnley
| align="center" | 1–3 April
| align="center" | 68
| align="center" | Report.
|-
! 1905
| align="center" | 25th Annual Conference
| align="center" | Northampton
| align="center" | 21–23 April
| align="center" | 56
| align="center" | Report.
|-
! 1906
| align="center" | 26th Annual Conference
| align="center" | Bradford
| align="center" | 13–15 April
| align="center" | 83
| align="center" |
|-
! 1907
| align="center" | 27th Annual Conference
| align="center" | Carlisle
| align="center" | 29–31 March
| align="center" | 140
| align="center" |
|-
! 1908
| align="center" | 29th Annual Conference
| align="center" | Manchester
| align="center" | 17–19 August
| align="center" | 149
| align="center" | Report.
|-
! 1909
| align="center" | 30th Annual Conference
| align="center" | Bristol
| align="center" | 9–11 April
| align="center" | 144
| align="center" |
|-
! 1910
| align="center" | 31st Annual Conference
| align="center" | London
| align="center" | 25–27 March
| align="center" | 200
| align="center" |
|-
! 1911
| align="center" | 32nd Annual Conference
| align="center" | Coventry
| align="center" | 14–16 April
| align="center" |
| align="center" |
|-
Data from Kendall, The Revolutionary Movement in Britain, pp. 310–311; supplemented by published report titles, per WorldCat.
|}

Notable members

A.S. Albery
A. S. Albery
A. S. Albery was a British political figure active in the Socialist movement during the first decade of the twentieth century.Albery was a member of the Social Democratic Federation , and later of the May 1904 Provisional Committee, which led to the founding in June of the Socialist Party of Great...
Guy Aldred
Guy Aldred
Guy Alfred Aldred - often Guy A. Aldred - was a British anarchist communist and a prominent member of the Anti-Parliamentary Communist Federation...
Alexander Anderson
Alexander Anderson (English socialist)
Alexander Anderson was a British socialist who helped found the Socialist Party of Great Britain.Like most SPGB founder members Anderson had previously been in the Social Democratic Federation, however it was another individual of the same name who held various posts in that party...
Edward Aveling
Edward Aveling
Edward Bibbins Aveling was a prominent English biology instructor and popular spokesman for Darwinian evolution and atheism. He later met and moved in with Eleanor Marx, the youngest daughter of Karl Marx and became a socialist activist...
Eleanor "Tussy" Marx Aveling
Eleanor Marx
Jenny Julia Eleanor "Tussy" Marx , also known as Eleanor Marx Aveling, was the English-born youngest daughter of Karl Marx. She was herself a socialist activist, who sometimes worked as a literary translator...
Ambrose Barker
Ambrose Barker
Ambrose Barker was a British anarchist activist.Born in Earls Barton, Northamptonshire, Barker moved to Leyton in London in 1878 to become an assistant schoolmaster and joined the National Secular Society. In 1880, he openly opposed Charles Bradlaugh's support for the Coercion Bill. Bradlaugh...
John Barlas
John Barlas
John Evelyn Barlas , pseudonym Evelyn Douglas, was an English poet and political activist of the late nineteenth century. He was a member of the decadent movement in literature, as well as a revolutionary socialist in politics...
E. Belfort Bax
Tom Bell
Tom Bell (politician)
Thomas "Tom" Bell was a Scottish socialist politician and trade unionist. He is best remembered as a founding member of both the Socialist Labour Party and the Communist Party of Great Britain and as the editor of Communist Review, the official monthly magazine of the latter.-Early years:Thomas...
Hubert Bland
Hubert Bland
Hubert Bland was an early English socialist and one of the founders of the Fabian Society.Born in Woolwich, south-east London, Bland wanted to join the army but instead became a bank clerk. In 1877, he met 19-year-old Edith Nesbit, a follower of William Morris. They married on 22 April 1880 with...
John Burns
John Burns
John Elliot Burns was an English trade unionist and politician of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly associated with London politics. He was a socialist and then a Liberal Member of Parliament and Minister. He was anti-alcohol and a keen sportsman...
Herbert Burrows
Herbert Burrows
Herbert Burrows was a British socialist activist.Born in Redgrave, Suffolk, Burrows' father Amos was a former Chartist leader. He worked for the Inland Revenue and briefly studied at the University of Cambridge....
Edward Carpenter
Edward Carpenter
Edward Carpenter was an English socialist poet, socialist philosopher, anthologist, and early gay activist....
Henry Hyde Champion
Henry Hyde Champion
Henry Hyde Champion was a socialist journalist and activist, regarded as one of the leading spirits behind the formation of the Independent Labour Party...
Jim Connell
Jim Connell
Jim Connell was an Irish political activist of the late 19th century and early 20th century, best known as the writer of the anthem "The Red Flag" in December 1889.-Life:...

James Connolly
James Connolly
James Connolly was an Irish republican and socialist leader. He was born in the Cowgate area of Edinburgh, Scotland, to Irish immigrant parents and spoke with a Scottish accent throughout his life. He left school for working life at the age of 11, but became one of the leading Marxist theorists of...
Walter Crane
Walter Crane
Walter Crane was an English artist and book illustrator. He is considered to be the most prolific and influential children’s book creator of his generation and, along with Randolph Caldecott and Kate Greenaway, one of the strongest contributors to the child's nursery motif that the genre of...
John "Jack" Fitzgerald
Jack Fitzgerald
Jack Fitzgerald was a founder member of the Socialist Party of Great Britain.“Fitz”, as he was known, was a very well known indoor and outdoor speaker for Party—two of his debates were issued as pamphlets: The Socialist Party and the Liberal Party and Socialism and Tariff Reform —and was a...
John Bruce Glasier
John Bruce Glasier
John Bruce Glasier was a Scottish socialist politician.Glasier was born in Glasgow as John Bruce, but grew up near Newton Ayr. Following the death of his father in 1870, he returned to Glasgow and followed his mother in adding the additional name of "Glasier", thereafter using Bruce as his middle...
Horace Hawkins
Horace Hawkins
Horace J. Hawkins was a British socialist.Hawkins was secretary of the Stratford branch of the Social Democratic Federation from 1900 to 1903 and a speaker for that party...
H.M. Hyndman
Albert Inkpin
Albert Inkpin
Albert Inkpin was a British communist and the first General Secretary of the Communist Party of Great Britain . He served several terms in prison for political offenses...
Dan Irving
Dan Irving
David Daniel Irving, known as Dan Irving was a British socialist activist and Labour Party Member of Parliament....
T.A. "Tommy" Jackson
Thomas A. Jackson
Thomas A. "Tommy" Jackson was a founding member of the Socialist Party of Great Britain and later the Communist Party of Great Britain. He was a leading communist activist and newspaper editor and worked variously as a party functionary and a freelance lecturer.-Early years:Thomas A. Jackson, best...
John Joseph Jones
Zelda Kahan
Zelda Kahan
Zelda Kahan was a British communist.Born in Russia in 1886, Kahan's family were forced to emigrate, and she moved to Britain at an early age. The Kahans lived at 6 Clapton Square in Hackney, London. She became an active socialist and joined the Social Democratic Federation...
Tom Kennedy
Tom Kennedy (UK politician)
Thomas Kennedy PC was a Scottish Labour politician.Kennedy was born in Kennethmont, Aberdeenshire, and became a railway clerk. He joined the Social Democratic Federation and soon became its organiser for Aberdeen, standing for Parliament in Aberdeen North in 1906 and January 1910...
Jack Kent
Jack Kent (politician)
Jack Kent was a British politician and an important figure in the early history of the Socialist Party of Great Britain....
Fred Knee
Fred Knee
Fred Knee was a British trade unionist and socialist politician.Born in Frome, Somerset, Knee became a printer and moved to London in search of work. By 1892, Knee was living in Wimbledon and had joined the Social Democratic Federation and the Co-operative Society...
George Lansbury
George Lansbury
George Lansbury was a British politician, socialist, Christian pacifist and newspaper editor. He was a Member of Parliament from 1910 to 1912 and from 1922 to 1940, and leader of the Labour Party from 1932 to 1935....

Henry W. Lee
Henry W. Lee
Henry W. Lee, often known as H. W. Lee was a prominent British socialist.Born in London, Lee worked in the printing industry, then joined the Social Democratic Federation soon after its foundation. He became the full-time Assistant Secretary of the party in 1885 and soon after became its General...
Cornelius "Con" Lehane
Con Lehane (socialist)
Cornelius "Con" Lehane was a socialist active in the Irish Socialist Republican Party, the Social Democratic Federation, and the Socialist Party of Great Britain....
Tommy Lewis
Tommy Lewis
Thomas Lewis was a British trade unionist, local councillor and Labour Member of Parliament ....
James MacDonald
James MacDonald (trade unionist)
-Life:Born in Edinburgh, MacDonald trained as a tailor and moved to London in 1881. He joined the Central Marylebone Democratic Association and the Manhood Suffrage League, but it was reading Friedrich Engels' articles in the Labour Standard that convinced him of socialism. As a result, he joined...
J. Ramsay MacDonald
Ramsay MacDonald
James Ramsay MacDonald, PC, FRS was a British politician who was the first ever Labour Prime Minister, leading a minority government for two terms....
Tom Mann
Tom Mann
Tom Mann was a noted British trade unionist. Largely self-educated, Mann became a successful organiser and a popular public speaker in the labour movement.-Early years:...
Valentine McEntee
Valentine McEntee, 1st Baron McEntee
Valentine la Touche McEntee, 1st Baron McEntee was an Irish-born Labour Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom.-Background:...
John Maclean
John Maclean (Scottish socialist)
John Maclean MA was a Scottish schoolteacher and revolutionary socialist. He is primarily known as a Marxist educator and notable for his outspoken opposition to the First World War....
Henry Martin
Henry Martin (socialist)
Henry Martin , also known as Harry Martin, was a British socialist.Martin was one of the most notable of the impossibilists in the Social Democratic Federation , and helped found the Socialist Party of Great Britain later that year...
Dora Montefiore
Dora Montefiore
Dorothy Frances Montefiore was an English-Australian women's suffragist and socialist. She also wrote poetry, and her autobiography.-Early life:...
William Morris
William Morris
William Morris 24 March 18343 October 1896 was an English textile designer, artist, writer, and socialist associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the English Arts and Crafts Movement...
Hans Neumann
Hans Neumann
Hans Neumann was a founding member of the Socialist Party of Great Britain.Neumann had previously been very active in the Social Democratic Federation, being a public speaker for that party and secretary of its Chelsea & Fulham branch in 1897...
Harry Quelch
Harry Quelch
Henry "Harry" Quelch , known exclusively by his nickname "Harry," was one of the first Marxists in Great Britain. He was a socialist activist, journalist and trade unionist...
Will Thorne
Will Thorne
William James Thorne CBE , known as Will Thorne, was a British trade unionist, activist and one of the first Labour Members of Parliament .-Early years:...
Ben Tillett
Ben Tillett
Benjamin Tillett was a British socialist, trade union leader and politician. He was born in Bristol and began his working life as a sailor, before travelling to London and taking up work as a docker....

External links

Justice Internet Archive at Marxists Internet Archive
Marxists Internet Archive
Marxists Internet Archive is a volunteer based non-profit organization that maintains a multi-lingual Internet archive of Marxist writers and other similar authors...

. Links to a large number of articles from Justice, 1884-1914. Retrieved October 1, 2009.

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Origins and early years

The split of 1884

The SDF in the 1880s

The SDF shatters

New traction for an old party

Social Democratic Federation reprised (1919-1939)

Conferences of the SDF

Notable members

See also

External links