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Socialist Workers Party (Britain)
Encyclopedia
The Socialist Workers Party (SWP) is a far left
party in Britain founded by Tony Cliff
. The SWP's student section
has groups at a number of universities. On the international level, it is part of the International Socialist Tendency
.
, a monthly magazine, Socialist Review
, and a quarterly theoretical journal, International Socialism
. It also publishes an international bulletin and a public bulletin Party Notes, various pamphlets and books (through its publishing house, Bookmarks) and rank-and-file newspapers such as Post Worker.
to the central committee are held yearly at the national conference. the central committee members are: Chris Bambery
(resigned April 2011), Weyman Bennett, Michael Bradley, Alex Callinicos
, Joseph Choonara, Hannah Dee, Charlie Kimber (national organiser), Amy Leather, Dan Mayer, Judith Orr, Colin Smith and Martin Smith.
The national committee consists of 50 members elected annually at national conference. At least four party councils a year are to be arranged by the central committee. At these councils two delegates elected from each branch plus the national committee will be entitled to attend.
There is also a national student committee elected from members of Socialist Worker Student Societies.
Other prominent members include: Colin Barker
, John Molyneux
, Paul McGarr, Michael Lavalette
, John Rose
, Ian Birchall
, Richard Seymour
, Mike Gonzalez, China Miéville
, Mark Bergfeld
, Jonathan Neale, Rob Owen, Pat Stack, Jonny Jones and Tom Hickey.
's analysis of Russia as a bureaucratic state capitalist regime and were expelled from the Revolutionary Communist Party
. Three documents formed the theoretical basis of the group: The Nature of Stalinist Russia, The Class Nature of the People's Democracies and Marxism and the Theory of Bureaucratic Collectivism.
The tiny size of the group meant that they adopted a position of working in the Labour Party
in order to reach an audience and recruit. Of particular importance was the Labour League of Youth. Of the 33 members at the first recorded meeting, 19 were in the LLY.
Through campaigning within the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
and the Young Socialists, a new Labour Party youth movement, the Socialist Review Group was able to recruit among a new generation of activists and by 1964 had a membership of 200.
With the Labour Party in power, and many Labour members becoming disillusioned, IS started doing more work that was external to the Labour Party. After 1967, few IS members were active in that party. In 1965, an article in Labour Worker said "Obviously Marxists should take those positions which give access to the direct workers’ organisations. But in the wards and GMCs the practice of buying the right to discuss politics by over-fulfilling the canvassing norms, should cease or be reduced to the minimum."
It marked a turn to more of a focus on work in the trade unions, and a key part of this process was the pamphlet published in 1966: Incomes policy, legislation and shop stewards, which opposed the Labour Party's incomes policy
and discussed how it could be fought.
1968 saw the IS heavily involved in the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign
and large numbers of student struggles from which it recruited. As a result the IS grew from 400 to 1000 members but also suffered many splits. According to group historian Ian Birchall
, "IS’s position was always one of unconditional support for the IRA in the struggle against imperialism".Ian Birchall History of the International Socialists – "Part 2: Towards a revolutionary party" (originally published in) International Socialism
77 (1st series), April 1975 However, Socialist Worker opposed the slogan 'Troops Out!' on the grounds that British troops would protect the nationalist population:
The early 1970s saw the creation of rank and file newspapers and a general turn to industry, including setting up factory branches. During the 1972 miners strike, Socialist Worker was taken and sold by miners. Between March 1972 and March 1974, the membership of IS increased from 2351 to 3310, and also recruited a large number of manual workers into membership. With hindsight, Tony Cliff concluded that the years 1970-74 had been "the best years of my life".
which implemented a voluntary incomes policy, with the backing of many left wing union leaders such as Hugh Scanlon
and Jack Jones
. This period also saw an increase in the number of full time union convenors and these factors along with an increase in unemployment have been blamed by Tony Cliff and the SWP for a drastic fall in union militancy. In 1974 the IS was ambitious and optimistic expecting to double the number of its factory branches over the next year. In practice they declined swiftly from 38 in 1974 to only three or four by 1976. When the firefighters went on strike in 1977 against the Social Contract the IS was unable to deliver any significant solidarity. The national rank and file movement fell apart. In 1976 the SWP decided to stand in parliamentary by-elections but the results were very poor and the original idea of standing in 60 seats at the next election was dropped.
In January 1977, IS was renamed the Socialist Workers Party. This decision was a result of the move to stand in elections along with a perception that: "IS’s ability to initiate activity, rather than simply join in movements launched by others, had never been greater. Industrially, there were more members than ever able to lead disputes in their own workplaces." According to Martin Shaw this occurred with no real discussion within the organisation and Jim Higgins has claimed "Its founding was for purely internal reasons, to give the members a sense of progress, the better to conceal the fact that there had actually been a retreat."
(ANL). The National Front (NF) grew during the 1970s, and in the May 1976 local elections the party polled 15,340 votes in Leicester and large votes elsewhere. They were even more visible on the streets through graffiti, racist attacks and street protests. A key turning point came when, on August 13, 1977, thousands of anti-fascists, later joined by large numbers of local black youths, attempted to stop the NF from marching through Lewisham.
Following the perceived success of the 13 August mobilisation in Lewisham, the SWP launched the Anti Nazi League in the Autumn of 1977 with a series of celebrity-endorsed adverts published in the press. Although it was portrayed as a broad initiative supported by the SWP along with wide swathes of the Labour Left and figures from popular culture (singers, musicians, actors etc.), the ANL was seen by many on the left as a self-serving unilateral SWP initiative to seize the leadership of the Anti-Racist Movement and was regarded with suspicion by many Anti-Racist/Anti-Fascist activists. This was particularly true of many in the existing broad-based Anti-Fascist Committees (often with close connections to the local Labour and Trade Union Movement). The fact that local ANL groups were often launched as an SWP-led alternative to existing broad-based Anti-Fascist Committees increased the suspicions of non-SWP activists but a widespread desire not to disply public divisions (and a fear of alienating the ANL's celebrity sponsors) meant that these divisions were kept fairly quiet. The ANL also received support from other Trotskyist groups, Anarchist groups and the Communist Party of Britain
(who restrained their members and supporters from openly critiscising the ANL).
In response to Eric Clapton
's public support for Enoch Powell
, Rock Against Racism
was set up in close collaboration with the ANL, and a series of successful carnivals were organised. Among the bands involved with Rock Against Racism were The Clash
(as seen in the film Rude Boy
), The Buzzcocks, Steel Pulse
, X-Ray Spex
, The Ruts
, Generation X
and the Tom Robinson Band
. By 1981 the NF had fragmented becoming far smaller, and the campaign was wound up.
During the 1984-85 miners strike the SWP's propaganda concentrated on the need for solidarity and explaining why this was not happening. Cliff described the approach as one of concrete propaganda: "It had to answer the question 'What slogan fits the issue the workers are fighting over?"
This change in outlook and methods was viewed by many on the left as being a retreat into sectarianism by the SWP but this change in methods is credited by the SWP as allowing it to survive a very hostile period with substantial numbers of party members. In contrast Murray Smith described it as "jumping from one campaign to the next and hostility towards the rest of the left."
The SWP were involved in the campaign against the Poll Tax in England although it has been claimed they failed to intervene in Scotland. It was this period, that the Revolutionary Democratic Group were expelled and became in their words, "an external faction". They also helped relaunch the ANL in 1992 in response to the growth of the British National Party
and campaigned against the Criminal Justice Bill
.
In 1997, despite being highly opposed to Tony Blair
's policies, they called for a vote for the Labour Party, with the belief that there would rapidly be a crisis of expectations in Labour which would lead New Labour voters to question their allegiances and open up opportunities and space for organisation and activity to the left of Labour that are traditionally occupied by Labour when it is in opposition. John Rees wrote in July 1997: "In the mid-term the 'sado-monetarist' strategy followed by the Labour government will clash increasingly sharply with a working class movement which has drawn hope and confidence from its electoral victory over the Tories."
In the aftermath of 9/11 the SWP approached other groups and individuals on the left and with them launched the Stop the War Coalition. The Coalition's aims were to oppose to the invasion of Afghanistan and subsequently Iraq and to campaign against attacks on Muslims and civil liberties. Leading SWP member Lindsey German was elected as Convenor and John Rees and Chris Nineham were appointed as national officers. In terms of mass participation, this was by far the biggest campaign that the Party had ever been ever been involved with. The Coalition organised the biggest demonstration in British history in February 2003 when up to two million people marched through London in opposition the invasion of Iraq. Activity in the Stop the War Coalition was central to the SWP for the next five years. The SWP described the Iraqi insurgency
as a "resistance" movement against military occupation and endorsed George Galloway
's support of Hezbollah, who they describe as "the resistance", leading to criticism from those who see it as supporting all groups opposed to the United States government without offering independent working-class perspectives.
The SWP was involved with the Socialist Alliance
in England and the Welsh Socialist Alliance
. Its Scottish members joined the Scottish Socialist Party
as the Socialist Worker Platform in May 2001. In England and Wales involvement in the Socialist Alliance was succeeded by involvement in Respect
, an electoral alliance with one Member of Parliament, George Galloway
, and a small number of councillors (one of whom, Michael Lavalette
, is a member of the SWP). However, after a schism within Respect a faction led by the SWP formed the Left List
(now called Left Alternative). In Scotland, the SWP existed as a platform of the Scottish Socialist Party
but in August 2006, it decided to split from the SSP in order to pursue a new political grouping with Tommy Sheridan
, Solidarity. In 2010, the SWP joined the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition
and stood five candidates in the general election.
In January 2009, John Rees, Lindsey German
and Chris Nineham
resigned from the Central Committee at party conference before forming an oppositional Left Platform in the party in October 2009 with the support of 64 members. The faction agreed to disband after the party's January 2010 conference. Two members of the Left Platform were expelled over allegations of secret factionalising outside of the three-month period prior to conference (in which open factions are permitted). The expulsions were contested at the conference of 2010 but a majority of the more than 500 delegates voted in favour of the expulsions which were then ratified. In February 2010, sixty former members of the Left Platform including John Rees, Lindsey German
and Chris Nineham
resigned from the SWP. In response to the financial crisis of 2007–2010, the SWP initiated the Right to Work campaign in June 2009.
In October 2009, the SWP's National Secretary Martin Smith was charged with assaulting a police officer at the Unite Against Fascism
(UAF) demonstration against British National Party
(BNP) leader Nick Griffin
's appearance on the BBC's Question Time
. Smith was found guilty of the assault at South Western Magistrates' Court, London, on 7 September 2010. He was sentenced to a 12-month community order, with 80 hours' unpaid work, and was fined £450 pending an appeal. Following a UAF demonstration against the English Defence League
(EDL) in Bolton
on 20 March 2010, SWP Central Committee member Weyman Bennett was charged with conspiracy to incite violent disorder
but the charge was dropped in November 2010.
On 22 May 2010, around 100 SWP members disrupted negotiations between Unite
and British Airways
inside the Acas
building, much to the diapproval of both parties. The talks had to be abandoned. Martin Smith claimed on Channel 4 News
that the actions of Willie Walsh, then BA chief executive, were far worse.
In 2010 elections SWP joined the Trade Union and Socialist Coalition; this alliance received 0.04% of votes.
In April 2011, Chris Bambery, one of the last two Central Committee members to have worked alongside Tony Cliff, and the organiser of the Right To Work campaign, resigned from the party arguing, in his resignation letter, that it was ridden with factionalism, that he had learned about the founding of RTW from 'Party Notes' and that the party has no credible strategy to fight the government's cuts agenda. Bambery's resignation was followed by 38 members in Scotland with the intention of forming a new Marxist grouping north of the border. 50 ex-members of the SWP formed the International Socialist Group (Scotland)
shortly thereafter.
, a founding member of the IS, predecessor of the SWP, wrote: "The founders of the group saw themselves as mainstream Trotskyists, differing on important questions from the dominant group in the International, but belonging to the same basic tendency." Here "the group" refers to the Socialist Review Group, forerunner of the SWP and "the International" to the Fourth International
- the main Trotskyist grouping.
The SWP describes itself as a 'revolutionary socialist party' and considers itself to stand in the 'tradition' of Leon Trotsky
. It also shares many of the political positions of other Trotskyist groups, a tradition rooted in Marxism
and Leninism
(see for example Tony Cliff, Marxism at the Millennium.) In common with other Trotskyists the SWP defends the body of ideas codified by the first four Congresses of the Communist International and the founding Congress of the Fourth International
of Leon Trotsky in 1938.
Its supporters often refer to their beliefs as 'socialism from below', a term which has been attributed to Hal Draper
. This concept can also be traced back to the rules of the First International which stated: "the emancipation of the working classes must be conquered by the working classes themselves." They see this as distinguishing themselves from other socialist groups, particularly both from reformist parties such as the Labour Party
(described as a 'capitalist workers' party') and from various forms of what they disparagingly term 'Stalinism
'—forms of socialism usually associated with the former Soviet Bloc and the old Communist Parties. These are seen as advocating socialism from above. In contrast Cliff argued: "The heart of Marxism is that the emancipation of the working class is the act of the working class. The Communist Manifesto states: 'All previous historical movements were movements of minorities, or in the interest of minorities. The proletarian movement is the self-conscious, independent movement of the immense majority, in the interest of the immense majority.'" For more on this see Marxism at the Millennium (2000)
The SWP also seeks to differentiate itself from other Trotskyist tendencies. Three key theories are at the centre of its difference from other Trotskyists: State Capitalism, Deflected Permanent Revolution and The Permanent Arms Economy (see below).
Unlike most Troskyist organisations, the SWP does not have a formal programme (like the Fourth International's founding document, the Transitional Program
), but an outline of the SWP's ideas called "Where We Stand" is published in Socialist Worker every week.
strategies". This is the idea that social forces other than the proletariat
, which is for Marxists the potentially social revolutionary class due to its 'radical chains', may substitute for the proletariat in the struggle for a socialist society (see above). This idea led the founder of the SWP, Tony Cliff
, to reject the idea that the USSR was a 'degenerated workers' state
', the position held by other Trotskyists and derived from Leon Trotsky's analysis in the 1930s. Cliff argued that in fact the USSR and Eastern Europe
used a form of capitalism which he referred to as 'bureaucratic state capitalist
', and that later so did other countries ruled by what he termed Stalinist parties, such as China
, Vietnam
and Cuba
. Cliff's approach to this idea was published in the 1948 article The Nature of Stalinist Russia as it was further advanced on in his 2000 publication Trotskyism after Trotsky where he discussed the decline of the USSR.
Other IS/SWP theoreticians such as Nigel Harris
and Chris Harman
would later extend and develop a distinct body of state capitalist analysis based on Cliff's initial work. This theory was summed up in the slogan "Neither Washington nor Moscow, but International Socialism". The slogan is said to have originally come from Max Shachtman
's group, the Workers Party
, in their paper 'Labor Action' and was only borrowed by the IS/SWP at a later date. This is seen as ironic because one of Cliff's concerns when first developing his idea of state capitalism was to differentiate his ideas from the idea of bureaucratic collectivism
associated with Shachtman (see for example The theory of bureaucratic collectivism: A critique (1948).) However, the formula also echoes the Fourth International
's 1948 manifesto, Neither Wall Street nor the Kremlin. Cliff's version of the theory of state capitalism can be differentiated from those associated with other dissident Trotskyists and left communists, such as CLR James and Raya Dunayevskaya
.
s, as predicted by Leon Trotsky in his theory of the same name. Taking Trotsky's theory as his starting point, Tony Cliff developed his own theory of 'deflected permanent revolution'. He argued that where a revolutionary working class did not exist, the intelligentsia could, in certain limited circumstances, take the leadership of the nation and lead a successful revolution in the direction of a state capitalist solution. The outcome of such a revolution would be deflected from the goal of a social revolution as envisaged in Trotsky's original work.
Cliff's essay "Permanent Revolution" was first published in International Socialism Journal, No. 12 Spring 1963, in response to the Cuban Revolution
and largely took it and the earlier Chinese Revolution as its subject. However, the general concept of a deflected permanent revolution would be much exercised as a key analytical tool by IS theoreticians in the coming years. Most notable in this respect is the work of Nigel Harris in relation to India and later of Mike Gonzalez on Cuba and Nicaragua. Most recently the theory has been given a central place in Cem Uzun's work Making the Turkish Revolution.
The three theories taken together are often seen as being the hallmarks of the IS tradition, although this is contested by some former leaders of the IS, including Nigel Harris and Michael Kidron
both of whom worked on the PAE and now repudiate it, and by some other Trotskyists outside the IS Tradition. The PAE, the most contested of the three theories, is also the only one that did not originate with Tony Cliff.
The PAE originated with a member of Max Shachtman's Workers' Party/Independent Socialist League named Ed Sard in 1944. Sard, writing as Walter J. Oakes, argued in Politics that the PAE was to be understood as allowing capitalism to achieve a level of stability by preventing the rate of profit from falling as spending on arms was unproductive and would not lead to the increase of the organic composition of capital. Later in 1951 in New International, this time writing as T. N. Vance, Sard argued that the PAE operated through its ability to apply Keynes
' multiplier effect. Although briefly mentioned by Duncan Hallas in a Socialist Review of 1952 the theory was only introduced to the IS by Cliff in 1957.
In his May 1957 article "Perspectives of the Permanent War Economy", Cliff offered the PAE to readers in a version derived from Sard's earlier essays but without reference to Keynes and using a Marxist theoretical framework. This was the only attempt to develop the idea, which it is suggested explains the long post war boom, until the publication of Mike Kidron's Western Capitalism Since the War in 1968. Kidron would further develop the theory in his Capitalism and Theory. Additional work was also contributed by Nigel Harris and later by Chris Harman. However it should also be noted that Mike Kidron was to repudiate the theory as early as the mid-1970s in his essay "Two Insights Don't Make a Theory" in International Socialism No. 100. This was followed by a rejoinder from Chris Harman ("Better a valid insight than a wrong theory").
Far left
Far left, also known as the revolutionary left, radical left and extreme left are terms which refer to the highest degree of leftist positions among left-wing politics...
party in Britain founded by Tony Cliff
Tony Cliff
Tony Cliff , was a Trotskyist who was a founding member of the Socialist Review Group which went on to become the Socialist Workers Party...
. The SWP's student section
Socialist Workers' Student Society
The Socialist Worker Student Society, commonly known as SWSS , is the student section of the Socialist Workers Party in Britain.Mark Bergfeld was elected onto the NUS NEC in 2010 and re-elected to the NUS NEC in 2011 with the highest number of first preference votes along with Ruby...
has groups at a number of universities. On the international level, it is part of the International Socialist Tendency
International Socialist Tendency
The International Socialist Tendency is an international grouping of unorthodox Trotskyist organisations based around the ideas of Tony Cliff, founder of the Socialist Workers Party in Britain...
.
Publications
The SWP publishes a weekly newspaper Socialist WorkerSocialist Worker
Socialist Worker is the name of several socialist/communist newspapers associated with the International Socialist Tendency...
, a monthly magazine, Socialist Review
Socialist Review
The Socialist Review is the monthly magazine of the British Socialist Workers Party. As well as being printed it is also published online.-Original publication: 1950-1962:...
, and a quarterly theoretical journal, International Socialism
International Socialism (journal)
International Socialism is a British-based quarterly magazine of socialist theory published by the Socialist Workers Party. It is currently edited by Alex Callinicos, who took over after the death of Chris Harman in November 2009....
. It also publishes an international bulletin and a public bulletin Party Notes, various pamphlets and books (through its publishing house, Bookmarks) and rank-and-file newspapers such as Post Worker.
Leadership
The leadership is formed by a central committee, and a national committee. elections on a slateSlate (elections)
A slate is a group of candidates that run in multi-seat or multi-position elections on a common platform.The common platform may be because the candidates are all members of a political party, have the same or similar policies, or some other reason....
to the central committee are held yearly at the national conference. the central committee members are: Chris Bambery
Chris Bambery
Chris Bambery was a member of the Central Committee of the British Socialist Workers Party until April 2011 when he resigned from the party. He is a leading member of the newly formed International Socialist Group ....
(resigned April 2011), Weyman Bennett, Michael Bradley, Alex Callinicos
Alex Callinicos
Alexander Theodore Callinicos is a Trotskyist political theorist, a member of the Central Committee of the Socialist Workers Party and its International Secretary, and is Director of the Centre for European Studies at King's College London...
, Joseph Choonara, Hannah Dee, Charlie Kimber (national organiser), Amy Leather, Dan Mayer, Judith Orr, Colin Smith and Martin Smith.
The national committee consists of 50 members elected annually at national conference. At least four party councils a year are to be arranged by the central committee. At these councils two delegates elected from each branch plus the national committee will be entitled to attend.
There is also a national student committee elected from members of Socialist Worker Student Societies.
Other prominent members include: Colin Barker
Colin Barker
Colin Barker is a British sociologist as well as a Marxist historian and writer. A long-standing member of the Socialist Workers Party in Manchester, he is the author of numerous articles and works on Marxism, including a history of the Polish trade union Solidarity, Festival of the Oppressed.A...
, John Molyneux
John Molyneux (Trotskyist)
John Molyneux is a British Trotskyist and a leading member of the Socialist Workers Party. He was a senior lecturer in Historical and Theoretical Studies at the School of Art, Design and Media, University of Portsmouth....
, Paul McGarr, Michael Lavalette
Michael Lavalette
Michael Lavalette is a member of the Socialist Workers Party and until May 2011 a local councillor in Preston, Lancashire, England. He was first elected as a Socialist Alliance candidate shortly after the start of the Iraq War in 2003. And re-elected as a Respect councillor in 2007...
, John Rose
John Rose (UK politician)
John Rose is a British Trotskyist politician and a leading member of the Socialist Workers Party. He is of Jewish descent and best known as a speaker on Israel and Palestine and as a critic of Zionism...
, Ian Birchall
Ian Birchall
Ian Birchall is a British Marxist historian and translator, a member of the Socialist Workers Party and author of numerous articles and books, particularly relating to the French Left...
, Richard Seymour
Richard Seymour (writer)
Richard Seymour is a British writer, activist and owner of the blog Lenin's Tomb. The author of The Liberal Defence of Murder and other books, Seymour was born in Ballymena, Northern Ireland to a Protestant family, and currently lives in London. He is a member of the Socialist Workers Party...
, Mike Gonzalez, China Miéville
China Miéville
China Tom Miéville is an award-winning English fantasy fiction writer. He is fond of describing his work as "weird fiction" , and belongs to a loose group of writers sometimes called New Weird. He is also active in left-wing politics as a member of the Socialist Workers Party...
, Mark Bergfeld
Mark Bergfeld
Mark Bergfeld is a member of the National Executive Council of the National Union of Students , spokesperson of the Education Activist Network and is a prominent member of the Socialist Workers Party . He is one of the leaders of the UK student demonstrations of November/December 2010...
, Jonathan Neale, Rob Owen, Pat Stack, Jonny Jones and Tom Hickey.
The Socialist Review Group
The origins of the SWP lie in the formation of the Socialist Review Group (SRG) which held its founding conference in 1950. The group, initially of only 8 members was formed around Tony CliffTony Cliff
Tony Cliff , was a Trotskyist who was a founding member of the Socialist Review Group which went on to become the Socialist Workers Party...
's analysis of Russia as a bureaucratic state capitalist regime and were expelled from the Revolutionary Communist Party
Revolutionary Communist Party (UK, 1944)
The Revolutionary Communist Party was a British Trotskyist group, formed in 1944 and active until 1949, which published the newspaper Socialist Appeal, a theoretical journal Workers International News and an entrist paper for its Labour Party work The Militant .- Collapse of the RSL and founding of...
. Three documents formed the theoretical basis of the group: The Nature of Stalinist Russia, The Class Nature of the People's Democracies and Marxism and the Theory of Bureaucratic Collectivism.
The tiny size of the group meant that they adopted a position of working in the Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
in order to reach an audience and recruit. Of particular importance was the Labour League of Youth. Of the 33 members at the first recorded meeting, 19 were in the LLY.
Through campaigning within the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament is an anti-nuclear organisation that advocates unilateral nuclear disarmament by the United Kingdom, international nuclear disarmament and tighter international arms regulation through agreements such as the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty...
and the Young Socialists, a new Labour Party youth movement, the Socialist Review Group was able to recruit among a new generation of activists and by 1964 had a membership of 200.
Labour Worker and International Socialism Group
The paper Industrial Worker was created in 1961, and was quickly renamed Labour Worker before evolving into Socialist Worker. Socialist Review was reduced in size and then scrapped. The Socialist Review Group became the International Socialism Group (IS) at the end of 1962.With the Labour Party in power, and many Labour members becoming disillusioned, IS started doing more work that was external to the Labour Party. After 1967, few IS members were active in that party. In 1965, an article in Labour Worker said "Obviously Marxists should take those positions which give access to the direct workers’ organisations. But in the wards and GMCs the practice of buying the right to discuss politics by over-fulfilling the canvassing norms, should cease or be reduced to the minimum."
It marked a turn to more of a focus on work in the trade unions, and a key part of this process was the pamphlet published in 1966: Incomes policy, legislation and shop stewards, which opposed the Labour Party's incomes policy
Incomes policy
Incomes policies in economics are economy-wide wage and price controls, most commonly instituted as a response to inflation, and usually below market level.Incomes policies have often been resorted to during wartime...
and discussed how it could be fought.
1968 saw the IS heavily involved in the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign
Vietnam Solidarity Campaign
The Vietnam Solidarity Campaign was originally set up in 1966 by activists around the International Group with the personal and financial support of Bertrand Russell....
and large numbers of student struggles from which it recruited. As a result the IS grew from 400 to 1000 members but also suffered many splits. According to group historian Ian Birchall
Ian Birchall
Ian Birchall is a British Marxist historian and translator, a member of the Socialist Workers Party and author of numerous articles and books, particularly relating to the French Left...
, "IS’s position was always one of unconditional support for the IRA in the struggle against imperialism".Ian Birchall History of the International Socialists – "Part 2: Towards a revolutionary party" (originally published in) International Socialism
International Socialism (journal)
International Socialism is a British-based quarterly magazine of socialist theory published by the Socialist Workers Party. It is currently edited by Alex Callinicos, who took over after the death of Chris Harman in November 2009....
77 (1st series), April 1975 However, Socialist Worker opposed the slogan 'Troops Out!' on the grounds that British troops would protect the nationalist population:
‘The breathing space provided by the presence of British troops is short but vital. Those who call for the immediate withdrawal of the troops before the men behind the barricades can defend themselves are inviting a pogrom which will hit first and hardest at socialists.’
The early 1970s saw the creation of rank and file newspapers and a general turn to industry, including setting up factory branches. During the 1972 miners strike, Socialist Worker was taken and sold by miners. Between March 1972 and March 1974, the membership of IS increased from 2351 to 3310, and also recruited a large number of manual workers into membership. With hindsight, Tony Cliff concluded that the years 1970-74 had been "the best years of my life".
Labour in power, the SWP formed
In 1974 Labour returned to power and introduced the Social ContractSocial Contract (Britain)
The Social Contract is a term used to describe policy by the Labour government of Harold Wilson in 1970s Britain.In return for the repeal of 1971 Industrial Relations Act, food subsides and a freeze on rent increase, the TUC would be able to persuade its members to cooperate in a programme of...
which implemented a voluntary incomes policy, with the backing of many left wing union leaders such as Hugh Scanlon
Hugh Scanlon
Hugh Parr Scanlon, Baron Scanlon was a British trade union leader.Scanlon was born in Melbourne, Australia to parents who had emigrated from Britain...
and Jack Jones
Jack Jones (trade union leader)
James Larkin Jones, CH, MBE , known as Jack Jones, was a British trade union leader and General Secretary of the Transport and General Workers' Union.-Early life:...
. This period also saw an increase in the number of full time union convenors and these factors along with an increase in unemployment have been blamed by Tony Cliff and the SWP for a drastic fall in union militancy. In 1974 the IS was ambitious and optimistic expecting to double the number of its factory branches over the next year. In practice they declined swiftly from 38 in 1974 to only three or four by 1976. When the firefighters went on strike in 1977 against the Social Contract the IS was unable to deliver any significant solidarity. The national rank and file movement fell apart. In 1976 the SWP decided to stand in parliamentary by-elections but the results were very poor and the original idea of standing in 60 seats at the next election was dropped.
In January 1977, IS was renamed the Socialist Workers Party. This decision was a result of the move to stand in elections along with a perception that: "IS’s ability to initiate activity, rather than simply join in movements launched by others, had never been greater. Industrially, there were more members than ever able to lead disputes in their own workplaces." According to Martin Shaw this occurred with no real discussion within the organisation and Jim Higgins has claimed "Its founding was for purely internal reasons, to give the members a sense of progress, the better to conceal the fact that there had actually been a retreat."
Anti-Nazi League and Rock against Racism
A campaign in which the SWP had a significant role at this time was the Anti-Nazi LeagueAnti-Nazi League
The Anti-Nazi League was an organisation set up in 1977 on the initiative of the Socialist Workers Party with sponsorship from some trade unions and the endorsement of a list of prominent people to oppose the rise of far-right groups in the United Kingdom. It was wound down in 1981...
(ANL). The National Front (NF) grew during the 1970s, and in the May 1976 local elections the party polled 15,340 votes in Leicester and large votes elsewhere. They were even more visible on the streets through graffiti, racist attacks and street protests. A key turning point came when, on August 13, 1977, thousands of anti-fascists, later joined by large numbers of local black youths, attempted to stop the NF from marching through Lewisham.
Following the perceived success of the 13 August mobilisation in Lewisham, the SWP launched the Anti Nazi League in the Autumn of 1977 with a series of celebrity-endorsed adverts published in the press. Although it was portrayed as a broad initiative supported by the SWP along with wide swathes of the Labour Left and figures from popular culture (singers, musicians, actors etc.), the ANL was seen by many on the left as a self-serving unilateral SWP initiative to seize the leadership of the Anti-Racist Movement and was regarded with suspicion by many Anti-Racist/Anti-Fascist activists. This was particularly true of many in the existing broad-based Anti-Fascist Committees (often with close connections to the local Labour and Trade Union Movement). The fact that local ANL groups were often launched as an SWP-led alternative to existing broad-based Anti-Fascist Committees increased the suspicions of non-SWP activists but a widespread desire not to disply public divisions (and a fear of alienating the ANL's celebrity sponsors) meant that these divisions were kept fairly quiet. The ANL also received support from other Trotskyist groups, Anarchist groups and the Communist Party of Britain
Communist Party of Britain
The Communist Party of Britain is a communist political party in Great Britain. Although founded in 1988 it traces its origins back to 1920 and the Communist Party of Great Britain, and claims the legacy of that party and its most influential members Harry Pollitt and John Gollan as its...
(who restrained their members and supporters from openly critiscising the ANL).
In response to Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
's public support for Enoch Powell
Enoch Powell
John Enoch Powell, MBE was a British politician, classical scholar, poet, writer, and soldier. He served as a Conservative Party MP and Minister of Health . He attained most prominence in 1968, when he made the controversial Rivers of Blood speech in opposition to mass immigration from...
, Rock Against Racism
Rock Against Racism
Rock Against Racism was a campaign set up in the United Kingdom in 1976 as a response to an increase in racial conflict and the growth of white nationalist groups such as the National Front. The campaign involved pop, rock and reggae musicians staging concerts with an anti-racist theme, in order...
was set up in close collaboration with the ANL, and a series of successful carnivals were organised. Among the bands involved with Rock Against Racism were The Clash
The Clash
The Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk. Along with punk, their music incorporated elements of reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap, dance, and rockabilly...
(as seen in the film Rude Boy
Rude Boy (film)
Rude Boy is a 1980 British film directed by Jack Hazan and David Mingay and filmed in 1978 and early 1979.The film, part fiction, part rockumentary, tells the story of Ray Gange, a Clash fan who leaves his job in a Soho sex shop to become a roadie for the band...
), The Buzzcocks, Steel Pulse
Steel Pulse
Steel Pulse is a roots reggae musical band. They originally formed at Handsworth Wood Boys School, in Birmingham, England, composed of David Hinds , Basil Gabbidon , and Ronald McQueen .-History:...
, X-Ray Spex
X-Ray Spex
X-Ray Spex were an English punk band from London that formed in 1976.During their first incarnation , X-Ray Spex were “deliberate underachievers” and only managed to release five singles and one album...
, The Ruts
The Ruts
The Ruts were a reggae-influenced British punk rock band, notable for the 1979 Top 10 hit "Babylon's Burning", and an earlier single "In a Rut", which was not a hit but was much played and highly regarded by the UK BBC Radio 1 disc jockey, John Peel.-Career:...
, Generation X
Generation X (band)
Generation X was a British punk rock band, formed on 21 November 1976 by Billy Idol, Tony James and John Towe.-History:...
and the Tom Robinson Band
Tom Robinson Band
Tom Robinson Band were a British rock band, established in 1976 by singer, songwriter and bassist Tom Robinson...
. By 1981 the NF had fragmented becoming far smaller, and the campaign was wound up.
The "downturn"
From 1978 Tony Cliff became convinced by some of his comrades that the period of rising militancy had come to an end and a downturn had begun. Cliff wrote that: "The crisis in the organisation went on for about 3 years, 1976-79". By 1982 the SWP was refocused completely to a propagandist approach, with geographical branches as the main unit of the party, a focus on Marxist theory and an abandonment of perspective of building a rank and file movement. The rank and file organisations were wound down as was the women's organisation Women's Voice and the paper for ethnic minorities Flame. The closure of Women's Voice in particular was bitterly disputed, a sharp debate taking place between those who believed the result would be to ignore the specificities of women's oppression, and those who believed that feminist theories were in danger of losing contact with the united interests of men and women workers.During the 1984-85 miners strike the SWP's propaganda concentrated on the need for solidarity and explaining why this was not happening. Cliff described the approach as one of concrete propaganda: "It had to answer the question 'What slogan fits the issue the workers are fighting over?"
This change in outlook and methods was viewed by many on the left as being a retreat into sectarianism by the SWP but this change in methods is credited by the SWP as allowing it to survive a very hostile period with substantial numbers of party members. In contrast Murray Smith described it as "jumping from one campaign to the next and hostility towards the rest of the left."
The 1990s
The early 1990s for many of the far-left was a period of demoralisation and disorientation due to the collapse of the Soviet Union. However, for the SWP this was seen as a vindication of their long held analysis that the Soviet Union was a 'state capitalist' society. They believe that "the transition from state capitalism to multinational capitalism is neither a step forward nor a step backwards, but a step sidewards. The change only involves a shift from one form of exploitation to another form for the working class as a whole."The SWP were involved in the campaign against the Poll Tax in England although it has been claimed they failed to intervene in Scotland. It was this period, that the Revolutionary Democratic Group were expelled and became in their words, "an external faction". They also helped relaunch the ANL in 1992 in response to the growth of the British National Party
British National Party
The British National Party is a British far-right political party formed as a splinter group from the National Front by John Tyndall in 1982...
and campaigned against the Criminal Justice Bill
Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994
The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It introduced a number of changes to the existing law, most notably in the restriction and reduction of existing rights and in greater penalties for certain "anti-social" behaviours...
.
In 1997, despite being highly opposed to Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
's policies, they called for a vote for the Labour Party, with the belief that there would rapidly be a crisis of expectations in Labour which would lead New Labour voters to question their allegiances and open up opportunities and space for organisation and activity to the left of Labour that are traditionally occupied by Labour when it is in opposition. John Rees wrote in July 1997: "In the mid-term the 'sado-monetarist' strategy followed by the Labour government will clash increasingly sharply with a working class movement which has drawn hope and confidence from its electoral victory over the Tories."
Recent activity
The SWP's recent activity has been influenced by what it sees as a "revival in consciousness and combativity, discernible from the mid-1990s and unmistakable since the Seattle demonstration in 1999."In the aftermath of 9/11 the SWP approached other groups and individuals on the left and with them launched the Stop the War Coalition. The Coalition's aims were to oppose to the invasion of Afghanistan and subsequently Iraq and to campaign against attacks on Muslims and civil liberties. Leading SWP member Lindsey German was elected as Convenor and John Rees and Chris Nineham were appointed as national officers. In terms of mass participation, this was by far the biggest campaign that the Party had ever been ever been involved with. The Coalition organised the biggest demonstration in British history in February 2003 when up to two million people marched through London in opposition the invasion of Iraq. Activity in the Stop the War Coalition was central to the SWP for the next five years. The SWP described the Iraqi insurgency
Iraqi insurgency
The Iraqi Resistance is composed of a diverse mix of militias, foreign fighters, all-Iraqi units or mixtures opposing the United States-led multinational force in Iraq and the post-2003 Iraqi government...
as a "resistance" movement against military occupation and endorsed George Galloway
George Galloway
George Galloway is a British politician, author, journalist and broadcaster who was a Member of Parliament from 1987 to 2010. He was formerly an MP for the Labour Party, first for Glasgow Hillhead and later for Glasgow Kelvin, before his expulsion from the party in October 2003, the same year...
's support of Hezbollah, who they describe as "the resistance", leading to criticism from those who see it as supporting all groups opposed to the United States government without offering independent working-class perspectives.
The SWP was involved with the Socialist Alliance
Socialist Alliance (England)
The Socialist Alliance was a left-wing electoral alliance in England between 1992 and 2005.In late 2005, a small group reformed with the name "Socialist Alliance", with a mutual affiliation with the larger Alliance for Green Socialism.-Origins:...
in England and the Welsh Socialist Alliance
Welsh Socialist Alliance
The Welsh Socialist Alliance was a socialist political organisation in Wales. It was closely related to, but separate from the Socialist Alliance.It was founded by the Socialist Party of England and Wales and Cymru Goch and some independents...
. Its Scottish members joined 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....
as the Socialist Worker Platform in May 2001. In England and Wales involvement in the Socialist Alliance was succeeded by involvement in Respect
RESPECT The Unity Coalition
Respect is a socialist political party in England and Wales founded in 2004. Its name is a contrived acronym standing for Respect, Equality, Socialism, Peace, Environmentalism, Community and Trade Unionism.-Policies:...
, an electoral alliance with one Member of Parliament, George Galloway
George Galloway
George Galloway is a British politician, author, journalist and broadcaster who was a Member of Parliament from 1987 to 2010. He was formerly an MP for the Labour Party, first for Glasgow Hillhead and later for Glasgow Kelvin, before his expulsion from the party in October 2003, the same year...
, and a small number of councillors (one of whom, Michael Lavalette
Michael Lavalette
Michael Lavalette is a member of the Socialist Workers Party and until May 2011 a local councillor in Preston, Lancashire, England. He was first elected as a Socialist Alliance candidate shortly after the start of the Iraq War in 2003. And re-elected as a Respect councillor in 2007...
, is a member of the SWP). However, after a schism within Respect a faction led by the SWP formed the Left List
Left List
Left Alternative was a UK political party resulting from the split within Respect – The Unity Coalition in late 2007. It operated in England and Wales. It was backed by the Socialist Workers Party...
(now called Left Alternative). In Scotland, the SWP existed as a platform of 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....
but in August 2006, it decided to split from the SSP in order to pursue a new political grouping with Tommy Sheridan
Tommy Sheridan
Tommy Sheridan is a Scottish socialist politician. He has had various prominent roles within the socialist movement in Scotland and is currently one of two co-convenors of the left-wing Scottish political party Solidarity....
, Solidarity. In 2010, the SWP joined the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition
Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition
Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition is a socialist electoral alliance launched in Britain for the 2010 General Election.The coalition was negotiated between groups which had taken part in the No2EU coalition that fought the June 2009 European elections...
and stood five candidates in the general election.
In January 2009, John Rees, Lindsey German
Lindsey German
Lindsey German is the convenor of the British anti-war organisation Stop the War Coalition and a former member of the central committee of the Socialist Workers Party. She was editor of Socialist Review for twenty years until 2004...
and Chris Nineham
Chris Nineham
Chris Nineham is one of the founder members and now one of the National Officers of the Stop the War Coalition in the UK. He was one of the main organisers of the 15 February 2003 anti-war protest against the invasion on Iraq....
resigned from the Central Committee at party conference before forming an oppositional Left Platform in the party in October 2009 with the support of 64 members. The faction agreed to disband after the party's January 2010 conference. Two members of the Left Platform were expelled over allegations of secret factionalising outside of the three-month period prior to conference (in which open factions are permitted). The expulsions were contested at the conference of 2010 but a majority of the more than 500 delegates voted in favour of the expulsions which were then ratified. In February 2010, sixty former members of the Left Platform including John Rees, Lindsey German
Lindsey German
Lindsey German is the convenor of the British anti-war organisation Stop the War Coalition and a former member of the central committee of the Socialist Workers Party. She was editor of Socialist Review for twenty years until 2004...
and Chris Nineham
Chris Nineham
Chris Nineham is one of the founder members and now one of the National Officers of the Stop the War Coalition in the UK. He was one of the main organisers of the 15 February 2003 anti-war protest against the invasion on Iraq....
resigned from the SWP. In response to the financial crisis of 2007–2010, the SWP initiated the Right to Work campaign in June 2009.
In October 2009, the SWP's National Secretary Martin Smith was charged with assaulting a police officer at the Unite Against Fascism
Unite Against Fascism
Unite Against Fascism is an anti-fascist pressure group in the United Kingdom, with support from politicians of all mainstream UK political parties...
(UAF) demonstration against British National Party
British National Party
The British National Party is a British far-right political party formed as a splinter group from the National Front by John Tyndall in 1982...
(BNP) leader Nick Griffin
Nick Griffin
Nicholas John "Nick" Griffin is a British politician, chairman of the British National Party and Member of the European Parliament for North West England....
's appearance on the BBC's Question Time
Question Time (TV series)
Question Time is a topical debate BBC television programme in the United Kingdom, based on Any Questions?. The show typically features politicians from at least the three major political parties as well as other public figures who answer questions put to them by the audience...
. Smith was found guilty of the assault at South Western Magistrates' Court, London, on 7 September 2010. He was sentenced to a 12-month community order, with 80 hours' unpaid work, and was fined £450 pending an appeal. Following a UAF demonstration against the English Defence League
English Defence League
The English Defence League is a far-right street protest movement which opposes what it considers to be a spread of Islamism, Sharia law and Islamic extremism in the UK. The EDL uses street marches to protest against Islamic extremism...
(EDL) in Bolton
Bolton
Bolton is a town in Greater Manchester, in the North West of England. Close to the West Pennine Moors, it is north west of the city of Manchester. Bolton is surrounded by several smaller towns and villages which together form the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, of which Bolton is the...
on 20 March 2010, SWP Central Committee member Weyman Bennett was charged with conspiracy to incite violent disorder
Violent Disorder
Violent disorder is a statutory offence in England and Wales. It is created by of the Public Order Act 1986. Sections 2 to of that Act provide:...
but the charge was dropped in November 2010.
On 22 May 2010, around 100 SWP members disrupted negotiations between Unite
Unite the Union
Unite – the Union, known as Unite, is a British and Irish trade union, formed on 1 May 2007, by the merger of Amicus and the Transport and General Workers' Union...
and British Airways
British Airways
British Airways is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom, based in Waterside, near its main hub at London Heathrow Airport. British Airways is the largest airline in the UK based on fleet size, international flights and international destinations...
inside the Acas
Acas
The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service is a Crown non-departmental public body of the Government of the United Kingdom. Its purpose is to improve organisations and working life through the promotion and facilitation of strong industrial relations practice...
building, much to the diapproval of both parties. The talks had to be abandoned. Martin Smith claimed on Channel 4 News
Channel 4 News
Channel 4 News is the news division of British television broadcaster Channel 4. It is produced by ITN, and has been in operation since the broadcaster's launch in 1982.-Channel 4 News:...
that the actions of Willie Walsh, then BA chief executive, were far worse.
In 2010 elections SWP joined the Trade Union and Socialist Coalition; this alliance received 0.04% of votes.
In April 2011, Chris Bambery, one of the last two Central Committee members to have worked alongside Tony Cliff, and the organiser of the Right To Work campaign, resigned from the party arguing, in his resignation letter, that it was ridden with factionalism, that he had learned about the founding of RTW from 'Party Notes' and that the party has no credible strategy to fight the government's cuts agenda. Bambery's resignation was followed by 38 members in Scotland with the intention of forming a new Marxist grouping north of the border. 50 ex-members of the SWP formed the International Socialist Group (Scotland)
International Socialist Group (Scotland)
The International Socialist Group is a revolutionary socialist organisation based in Scotland which formed in April 2011. The group produces a monthly magazine, the International Socialist, and operates a website with articles and features on current events and socialist theory...
shortly thereafter.
Theory
Duncan HallasDuncan Hallas
Duncan Hallas , was a prominent member of the Trotskyist movement and a leading member of the Socialist Workers Party in Great Britain.-Biography:...
, a founding member of the IS, predecessor of the SWP, wrote: "The founders of the group saw themselves as mainstream Trotskyists, differing on important questions from the dominant group in the International, but belonging to the same basic tendency." Here "the group" refers to the Socialist Review Group, forerunner of the SWP and "the International" to the Fourth International
Fourth International
The Fourth International is the communist international organisation consisting of followers of Leon Trotsky , with the declared dedicated goal of helping the working class bring about socialism...
- the main Trotskyist grouping.
The SWP describes itself as a 'revolutionary socialist party' and considers itself to stand in the 'tradition' of Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky , born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein, was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and theorist, Soviet politician, and the founder and first leader of the Red Army....
. It also shares many of the political positions of other Trotskyist groups, a tradition rooted in Marxism
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
and Leninism
Leninism
In Marxist philosophy, Leninism is the body of political theory for the democratic organisation of a revolutionary vanguard party, and the achievement of a direct-democracy dictatorship of the proletariat, as political prelude to the establishment of socialism...
(see for example Tony Cliff, Marxism at the Millennium.) In common with other Trotskyists the SWP defends the body of ideas codified by the first four Congresses of the Communist International and the founding Congress of the Fourth International
Fourth International
The Fourth International is the communist international organisation consisting of followers of Leon Trotsky , with the declared dedicated goal of helping the working class bring about socialism...
of Leon Trotsky in 1938.
Its supporters often refer to their beliefs as 'socialism from below', a term which has been attributed to Hal Draper
Hal Draper
Hal Draper was an American socialist activist and author who played a significant role in the Berkeley, California, Free Speech Movement and is perhaps best known for his extensive scholarship on the history and meaning of the thought of Karl Marx.Draper was a lifelong advocate of what he called...
. This concept can also be traced back to the rules of the First International which stated: "the emancipation of the working classes must be conquered by the working classes themselves." They see this as distinguishing themselves from other socialist groups, particularly both from reformist parties such as the Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
(described as a 'capitalist workers' party') and from various forms of what they disparagingly term 'Stalinism
Stalinism
Stalinism refers to the ideology that Joseph Stalin conceived and implemented in the Soviet Union, and is generally considered a branch of Marxist–Leninist ideology but considered by some historians to be a significant deviation from this philosophy...
'—forms of socialism usually associated with the former Soviet Bloc and the old Communist Parties. These are seen as advocating socialism from above. In contrast Cliff argued: "The heart of Marxism is that the emancipation of the working class is the act of the working class. The Communist Manifesto states: 'All previous historical movements were movements of minorities, or in the interest of minorities. The proletarian movement is the self-conscious, independent movement of the immense majority, in the interest of the immense majority.'" For more on this see Marxism at the Millennium (2000)
The SWP also seeks to differentiate itself from other Trotskyist tendencies. Three key theories are at the centre of its difference from other Trotskyists: State Capitalism, Deflected Permanent Revolution and The Permanent Arms Economy (see below).
Unlike most Troskyist organisations, the SWP does not have a formal programme (like the Fourth International's founding document, the Transitional Program
Transitional Program
The Transitional Program, the full name of which is The Death Agony of Capitalism and the Tasks of the Fourth International, is a political platform adopted by the 1938 founding congress of the Fourth International, the international Leninist organization founded by Leon Trotsky...
), but an outline of the SWP's ideas called "Where We Stand" is published in Socialist Worker every week.
'State Capitalism'
The SWP maintains an opposition to what it terms "substitutionistSubstitutionism
Substitutionism is a term in Marxist theory which refers to the relationship between the revolutionary party and the working class, where the former's activity substitutes the latter's. It is seen as an inverse to classical Marxism, where the "emancipation of the working class must be the work of...
strategies". This is the idea that social forces other than the proletariat
Proletariat
The proletariat is a term used to identify a lower social class, usually the working class; a member of such a class is proletarian...
, which is for Marxists the potentially social revolutionary class due to its 'radical chains', may substitute for the proletariat in the struggle for a socialist society (see above). This idea led the founder of the SWP, Tony Cliff
Tony Cliff
Tony Cliff , was a Trotskyist who was a founding member of the Socialist Review Group which went on to become the Socialist Workers Party...
, to reject the idea that the USSR was a 'degenerated workers' state
Degenerated workers' state
In Trotskyist political theory the term degenerated workers' state has been used since the 1930s to describe the state of the Soviet Union after Joseph Stalin's consolidation of power in or about 1924...
', the position held by other Trotskyists and derived from Leon Trotsky's analysis in the 1930s. Cliff argued that in fact the USSR and Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
used a form of capitalism which he referred to as 'bureaucratic state capitalist
State capitalism
The term State capitalism has various meanings, but is usually described as commercial economic activity undertaken by the state with management of the productive forces in a capitalist manner, even if the state is nominally socialist. State capitalism is usually characterized by the dominance or...
', and that later so did other countries ruled by what he termed Stalinist parties, such as China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
and Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
. Cliff's approach to this idea was published in the 1948 article The Nature of Stalinist Russia as it was further advanced on in his 2000 publication Trotskyism after Trotsky where he discussed the decline of the USSR.
Other IS/SWP theoreticians such as Nigel Harris
Nigel Harris (economist)
Nigel Harris is a British economist specializing in the economics of metropolitan areas. He is Professor Emeritus of the Economics of the City at University College London. He is also a senior policy consultant to the think tank, the European Policy Centre, in Brussels, on the subject of...
and Chris Harman
Chris Harman
Chris Harman was a British journalist and political activist, and a member of the Central Committee of the Socialist Workers Party...
would later extend and develop a distinct body of state capitalist analysis based on Cliff's initial work. This theory was summed up in the slogan "Neither Washington nor Moscow, but International Socialism". The slogan is said to have originally come from Max Shachtman
Max Shachtman
Max Shachtman was an American Marxist theorist. He evolved from being an associate of Leon Trotsky to a social democrat and mentor of senior assistants to AFL-CIO President George Meany.-Beginnings:...
's group, the Workers Party
Workers Party (US)
Not to be confused with the modern Marxist-Leninist party, Workers Party, USA.The Workers Party was a Third Camp Trotskyist group in the United States. It was founded in April 1940 by members of the Socialist Workers Party who opposed the Soviet invasion of Finland. They included Max Shachtman,...
, in their paper 'Labor Action' and was only borrowed by the IS/SWP at a later date. This is seen as ironic because one of Cliff's concerns when first developing his idea of state capitalism was to differentiate his ideas from the idea of bureaucratic collectivism
Bureaucratic collectivism
Bureaucratic collectivism is a theory of class society. It is used by some Trotskyists to describe the nature of the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin, and other similar states in Central and Eastern Europe and elsewhere .- Theory :...
associated with Shachtman (see for example The theory of bureaucratic collectivism: A critique (1948).) However, the formula also echoes the Fourth International
Fourth International
The Fourth International is the communist international organisation consisting of followers of Leon Trotsky , with the declared dedicated goal of helping the working class bring about socialism...
's 1948 manifesto, Neither Wall Street nor the Kremlin. Cliff's version of the theory of state capitalism can be differentiated from those associated with other dissident Trotskyists and left communists, such as CLR James and Raya Dunayevskaya
Raya Dunayevskaya
Raya Dunayevskaya was the founder of the philosophy of Marxist Humanism in the United States of America. At one time Leon Trotsky's secretary, she later split with him and ultimately founded the organization News and Letters Committees and was its leader until her death.-Biography:Of Jewish...
.
'Deflected Permanent Revolution'
As a Trotskyist tendency, the SRG/IS was faced with developing an explanation as to why and how a number of countries in the former colonial world had succeeded in overthrowing the rule of various imperial powers and forming states characterised by the SRG/IS as being bureaucratic state capitalist. In part, such an explanation was needed to understand why these colonial revolutions had not developed into uninterrupted or Permanent RevolutionPermanent Revolution
Permanent revolution is a term within Marxist theory, established in usage by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels by at least 1850 but which has since become most closely associated with Leon Trotsky. The use of the term by different theorists is not identical...
s, as predicted by Leon Trotsky in his theory of the same name. Taking Trotsky's theory as his starting point, Tony Cliff developed his own theory of 'deflected permanent revolution'. He argued that where a revolutionary working class did not exist, the intelligentsia could, in certain limited circumstances, take the leadership of the nation and lead a successful revolution in the direction of a state capitalist solution. The outcome of such a revolution would be deflected from the goal of a social revolution as envisaged in Trotsky's original work.
Cliff's essay "Permanent Revolution" was first published in International Socialism Journal, No. 12 Spring 1963, in response to the Cuban Revolution
Cuban Revolution
The Cuban Revolution was an armed revolt by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement against the regime of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista between 1953 and 1959. Batista was finally ousted on 1 January 1959, and was replaced by a revolutionary government led by Castro...
and largely took it and the earlier Chinese Revolution as its subject. However, the general concept of a deflected permanent revolution would be much exercised as a key analytical tool by IS theoreticians in the coming years. Most notable in this respect is the work of Nigel Harris in relation to India and later of Mike Gonzalez on Cuba and Nicaragua. Most recently the theory has been given a central place in Cem Uzun's work Making the Turkish Revolution.
The 'permanent arms economy'
State capitalism and deflected permanent revolution came to be seen as central to a distinct IS politics by the mid-1960s along with the theory of the 'permanent arms economy' (PAE) which sought to explain the long boom in the global economy after the Second World War. This boom was in contrast to the period after the First World war where there was a period of stagnation.The three theories taken together are often seen as being the hallmarks of the IS tradition, although this is contested by some former leaders of the IS, including Nigel Harris and Michael Kidron
Michael Kidron
Michael Kidron was a revolutionary thinker and cartographer. He was part of the leadership of the International Socialists through the 1960s and 1970s. He is perhaps best remembered for his visually arresting The State Of The World Atlas.-Early life and career:Kidron was born on 20 September...
both of whom worked on the PAE and now repudiate it, and by some other Trotskyists outside the IS Tradition. The PAE, the most contested of the three theories, is also the only one that did not originate with Tony Cliff.
The PAE originated with a member of Max Shachtman's Workers' Party/Independent Socialist League named Ed Sard in 1944. Sard, writing as Walter J. Oakes, argued in Politics that the PAE was to be understood as allowing capitalism to achieve a level of stability by preventing the rate of profit from falling as spending on arms was unproductive and would not lead to the increase of the organic composition of capital. Later in 1951 in New International, this time writing as T. N. Vance, Sard argued that the PAE operated through its ability to apply Keynes
John Maynard Keynes
John Maynard Keynes, Baron Keynes of Tilton, CB FBA , was a British economist whose ideas have profoundly affected the theory and practice of modern macroeconomics, as well as the economic policies of governments...
' multiplier effect. Although briefly mentioned by Duncan Hallas in a Socialist Review of 1952 the theory was only introduced to the IS by Cliff in 1957.
In his May 1957 article "Perspectives of the Permanent War Economy", Cliff offered the PAE to readers in a version derived from Sard's earlier essays but without reference to Keynes and using a Marxist theoretical framework. This was the only attempt to develop the idea, which it is suggested explains the long post war boom, until the publication of Mike Kidron's Western Capitalism Since the War in 1968. Kidron would further develop the theory in his Capitalism and Theory. Additional work was also contributed by Nigel Harris and later by Chris Harman. However it should also be noted that Mike Kidron was to repudiate the theory as early as the mid-1970s in his essay "Two Insights Don't Make a Theory" in International Socialism No. 100. This was followed by a rejoinder from Chris Harman ("Better a valid insight than a wrong theory").
Current
- Ian BirchallIan BirchallIan Birchall is a British Marxist historian and translator, a member of the Socialist Workers Party and author of numerous articles and books, particularly relating to the French Left...
(historian) - Alex CallinicosAlex CallinicosAlexander Theodore Callinicos is a Trotskyist political theorist, a member of the Central Committee of the Socialist Workers Party and its International Secretary, and is Director of the Centre for European Studies at King's College London...
(political philosopher and current Director of the Centre for European Studies at King's College LondonKing's College LondonKing's College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London. King's has a claim to being the third oldest university in England, having been founded by King George IV and the Duke of Wellington in 1829, and...
) - Keith FlettKeith FlettKeith Flett is a socialist historian and a prolific letter writer in the British press.-Activities:Letters from "Keith Flett, London N17" are regularly published in the press, literary and political journals, advancing his favoured causes of socialism and the Beard Liberation Front...
(prolific letter writer to the British press, historian) - Mike GonzalezMike Gonzalez (historian)Mike Gonzalez is a British historian and literary critic, who was Professor of Latin American Studies in the Hispanics Department of the University of Glasgow.He has written widely on Latin America...
(historian) - Michael LavaletteMichael LavaletteMichael Lavalette is a member of the Socialist Workers Party and until May 2011 a local councillor in Preston, Lancashire, England. He was first elected as a Socialist Alliance candidate shortly after the start of the Iraq War in 2003. And re-elected as a Respect councillor in 2007...
(Preston socialist councillor) - China MiévilleChina MiévilleChina Tom Miéville is an award-winning English fantasy fiction writer. He is fond of describing his work as "weird fiction" , and belongs to a loose group of writers sometimes called New Weird. He is also active in left-wing politics as a member of the Socialist Workers Party...
, (science fiction author and legal theorist) - John Molyneux (art historian)
- Dave RentonDave RentonDave Renton is a left-wing writer and historian.Renton is a great-nephew of the Communist historian Dona Torr and the explorer Rosita Forbes...
(historian of fascism) - John RoseJohn Rose (UK politician)John Rose is a British Trotskyist politician and a leading member of the Socialist Workers Party. He is of Jewish descent and best known as a speaker on Israel and Palestine and as a critic of Zionism...
(sociologist and Jewish anti-Zionist activist) - Richard SeymourRichard Seymour (writer)Richard Seymour is a British writer, activist and owner of the blog Lenin's Tomb. The author of The Liberal Defence of Murder and other books, Seymour was born in Ballymena, Northern Ireland to a Protestant family, and currently lives in London. He is a member of the Socialist Workers Party...
(writer and "Lenin's Tomb" blogger)
Former (including former members of the IS)
- Chris BamberyChris BamberyChris Bambery was a member of the Central Committee of the British Socialist Workers Party until April 2011 when he resigned from the party. He is a leading member of the newly formed International Socialist Group ....
(journalist and activist) - Sue Blackwell (academic)
- Verity BurgmannVerity BurgmannVerity Burgmann is Professor of Political Science at the University of Melbourne.Burgmann was born in Sydney, Australia, the daughter of Victor Burgmann and Lorna Bradbury. In 1971 she ran away from home to attend the London School of Economics, where she completed a B.Sc with a major in politics...
(political scientist and labour historian) - Julie BurchillJulie BurchillJulie Burchill is an English writer and journalist. Beginning as a writer for the New Musical Express at the age of 17, she has written for newspapers such as The Sunday Times and The Guardian. She is a self-declared "militant feminist". She has several times been involved in legal action...
(journalist) - Garry BushellGarry BushellGarry Bushell is an English newspaper columnist, rock music journalist, television presenter, author and political activist. Bushell also sings in the Oi! band The Gonads and manages the New York City Oi! band Maninblack. Bushell's recurring themes are comedy, country and class...
(journalist) - Raymond ChallinorRaymond ChallinorRaymond Challinor was a distinguished Marxist historian of the British labour movement, particularly in the North East of England...
(labour historian) - Terry EagletonTerry EagletonTerence Francis Eagleton FBA is a British literary theorist and critic, who is regarded as one of Britain's most influential living literary critics...
(literary critic) - Neil FaulknerNeil Faulkner (archaeologist)Dr. Neil Faulkner is an archaeologist, historian, Editor of Military Times, Features Editor of the magazine Current Archaeology, a tour guide and a lecturer.- Biography :...
(archaeologist) - Jim FitzpatrickJim Fitzpatrick (politician)James Fitzpatrick is a British Labour Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for Poplar and Limehouse since the 2010 General Election. From 1997 to the 2010 election he was the member for Poplar and Canning Town...
(politician) - Lindsey GermanLindsey GermanLindsey German is the convenor of the British anti-war organisation Stop the War Coalition and a former member of the central committee of the Socialist Workers Party. She was editor of Socialist Review for twenty years until 2004...
(convenor of the Stop the War Coalition) - John Rees (former National Secretary of Respect and the Left Alternative)
- Alan GibbonsAlan GibbonsAlan Gibbons is an author of children's books and a Blue Peter Book Award. He currently lives in Liverpool, England, where he used to teach in a primary school. His father was a farm laborer, but was hurt in an accident when Alan was eight years old. The family had to move to Crewe, Cheshire...
(children's author) - Ian GibsonIan Gibson (politician)Ian Gibson is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Norwich North from 1997 to 2009...
(politician) - Nigel HarrisNigel Harris (economist)Nigel Harris is a British economist specializing in the economics of metropolitan areas. He is Professor Emeritus of the Economics of the City at University College London. He is also a senior policy consultant to the think tank, the European Policy Centre, in Brussels, on the subject of...
(economist) - Christopher HitchensChristopher HitchensChristopher Eric Hitchens is an Anglo-American author and journalist whose books, essays, and journalistic career span more than four decades. He has been a columnist and literary critic at The Atlantic, Vanity Fair, Slate, World Affairs, The Nation, Free Inquiry, and became a media fellow at the...
(journalist) - Peter HitchensPeter HitchensPeter Jonathan Hitchens is an award-winning British columnist and author, noted for his traditionalist conservative stance. He has published five books, including The Abolition of Britain, A Brief History of Crime, The Broken Compass and most recently The Rage Against God. Hitchens writes for...
(journalist) - Rod LiddleRod LiddleRoderick E. L. Liddle is an English print, radio, and television journalist.He is an associate editor of The Spectator, and former editor of BBC Radio 4's Today programme, he is the author of Too Beautiful for You , Love Will Destroy Everything , and co-author of The Best of Liddle Britain...
(journalist) - Alasdair MacIntyreAlasdair MacIntyreAlasdair Chalmers MacIntyre is a British philosopher primarily known for his contribution to moral and political philosophy but known also for his work in history of philosophy and theology...
(philosopher) - Sean MatgamnaSean MatgamnaSean Matgamna, also known as John O'Mahony is a Trotskyist theorist and activist. He was a founder of Workers' Fight in 1966 and is still a prominent member of the group, now called the Alliance for Workers' Liberty.- Early political experience :He joined the Young Communist League as a teenager...
(political activist) - Andrew MilnerAndrew MilnerAndrew Milner , Australian cultural theorist and literary critic, is Professor of Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies at Monash University....
(sociologist) - Stan Newens (politician)
- Seymour PapertSeymour PapertSeymour Papert is an MIT mathematician, computer scientist, and educator. He is one of the pioneers of artificial intelligence, as well as an inventor of the Logo programming language....
(mathematician) - Roger ProtzRoger ProtzRoger Protz is a British writer, journalist and campaigner. He was an early member of the Campaign for Real Ale in 1971, and has written several books on beer and pubs...
(beer writer) - Sheila RowbothamSheila RowbothamSheila Rowbotham is a British socialist feminist theorist and writer.-Early life:Rowbotham was born in Leeds, the daughter of a salesman for an engineering company and an office clerk From an early age, she was deeply interested in history...
(feminist writer) - Martin ShawMartin Shaw (professor)Martin Shaw is a professor of international relations. Best known for his sociological work on war, genocide and global politics, his work has also had a consistent political content.-Biography:...
(political scientist) - Mark SteelMark SteelMark Steel is a British socialist columnist, author and comedian. He was a member of the Socialist Workers Party from his late teens until 2007.-Early life:...
(Comedian) - Laurie TaylorLaurie Taylor (sociologist)Laurence John "Laurie" Taylor is an English sociologist and radio presenter originally from Liverpool.-Academic career:After attending Roman Catholic schools including the direct grant grammar school St Mary's College in Crosby at the same time as Liverpool poet, Roger McGough, Taylor first...
(sociologist and broadcaster) - Frank WebsterFrank WebsterFrank Webster is a British sociologist. His critical writing on the "information society" has been translated into many languages. In his book Theories of the Information Society, he examined six analytically separable conceptions of the information society, arguing that all are suspect to some...
(sociologist) - Samuel WestSamuel WestSamuel Alexander Joseph West is an English actor and theatre director. He is perhaps best known for his role in Howards End and his work on stage. He also starred in the award-winning play ENRON...
(actor)
Deceased (including deceased former members)
- Tom BehanTom BehanTom Behan was an academic and writer on Italian history, politics and culture and an active member of the British Socialist Workers Party for over 30 years....
(historian) - Tony CliffTony CliffTony Cliff , was a Trotskyist who was a founding member of the Socialist Review Group which went on to become the Socialist Workers Party...
(founding member, IS and SWP) - Paul FootPaul FootPaul Mackintosh Foot was a British investigative journalist, political campaigner, author, and long-time member of the Socialist Workers Party...
(investigative journalist) - Duncan HallasDuncan HallasDuncan Hallas , was a prominent member of the Trotskyist movement and a leading member of the Socialist Workers Party in Great Britain.-Biography:...
- Chris HarmanChris HarmanChris Harman was a British journalist and political activist, and a member of the Central Committee of the Socialist Workers Party...
(former editor of Socialist Worker) - Alistair HulettAlistair HulettAlistair Hulett, was a Scottish acoustic folk singer and revolutionary socialist, best known as the singer of the folk punk band, Roaring Jack.-Early life:...
(folk singer) - Michael KidronMichael KidronMichael Kidron was a revolutionary thinker and cartographer. He was part of the leadership of the International Socialists through the 1960s and 1970s. He is perhaps best remembered for his visually arresting The State Of The World Atlas.-Early life and career:Kidron was born on 20 September...
(writer and cartographer) - Peter SedgwickPeter SedgwickPeter Sedgwick was a translator of Victor Serge, author of a number of books including PsychoPolitics and a revolutionary socialist activist.-Life:...
(writer) - Harry WicksHarry WicksHarry Wicks was a British socialist activist.-Biography:Born in Battersea, London, he went to work on the railways and joined the National Union of Railwaymen in 1919. He joined the Labour Party, but after Black Friday moved to the Communist Party of Great Britain . After studying with A. E. E...
(activist) - David WidgeryDavid WidgeryDavid Widgery was a British Trotskyist writer, journalist, polemicist, physician, and activist.Widgery was born in Barnet and grew up in Maidenhead, Berkshire...
(physician)
See also
- History of the Socialist Workers PartyHistory of the Socialist Workers Party (Britain)The History of the Socialist Workers Party begins with the formation of the Socialist Review Group in 1950, followed by the creation of the International Socialists in 1962 and continues through to the present day with the formation of the Socialist Workers Party in 1977.-Origins:The SWP's origins...
- International Socialism
- International Socialist TendencyInternational Socialist TendencyThe International Socialist Tendency is an international grouping of unorthodox Trotskyist organisations based around the ideas of Tony Cliff, founder of the Socialist Workers Party in Britain...
- Socialist ReviewSocialist ReviewThe Socialist Review is the monthly magazine of the British Socialist Workers Party. As well as being printed it is also published online.-Original publication: 1950-1962:...
- Socialist WorkerSocialist WorkerSocialist Worker is the name of several socialist/communist newspapers associated with the International Socialist Tendency...
- Socialist Workers' Student SocietySocialist Workers' Student SocietyThe Socialist Worker Student Society, commonly known as SWSS , is the student section of the Socialist Workers Party in Britain.Mark Bergfeld was elected onto the NUS NEC in 2010 and re-elected to the NUS NEC in 2011 with the highest number of first preference votes along with Ruby...
- TrotskyismTrotskyismTrotskyism is the theory of Marxism as advocated by Leon Trotsky. Trotsky considered himself an orthodox Marxist and Bolshevik-Leninist, arguing for the establishment of a vanguard party of the working-class...
- Tony CliffTony CliffTony Cliff , was a Trotskyist who was a founding member of the Socialist Review Group which went on to become the Socialist Workers Party...
- Left Alternative
- Respect – The Unity Coalition
- Stop the War CoalitionStop the War CoalitionThe Stop the War Coalition is a United Kingdom group set up on 21 September 2001 that campaigns against what it believes are unjust wars....
- Unite Against FascismUnite Against FascismUnite Against Fascism is an anti-fascist pressure group in the United Kingdom, with support from politicians of all mainstream UK political parties...
SWP pages
- SWP web site
- Socialist Worker online
- Socialist Review online
- International Socialism online
- Searchable text of several SWP publications including ISJ and SR
- Bookmarks the SWP's bookshop and publisher
- International Socialist Archive
- The Smallest Mass Party In The World by Ian BirchallIan BirchallIan Birchall is a British Marxist historian and translator, a member of the Socialist Workers Party and author of numerous articles and books, particularly relating to the French Left...
: a history of the SWP and its predecessors to 1981, written by a prominent SWP member. - T. Cliff, A World to Win, Bookmarks Publications, London, 2000. ISBN 1-898876-62-2 Tony Cliff's autobiography.
- Origins of the International Socialists, Duncan HallasDuncan HallasDuncan Hallas , was a prominent member of the Trotskyist movement and a leading member of the Socialist Workers Party in Great Britain.-Biography:...
- Resistance MP3s, site with MP3s mainly recorded at the SWP's annual Marxism conference
Non-SWP pages
- Socialist Alternative (Australia) on the SWP and Respect
- The AWL on the Socialist Workers Party
- The CPGB on the Socialist Workers Party
- Debate between the Socialist Party and the SWP
- More Years for the Locust: The Origins of the SWP, Critique of Cliff and the SWP by Jim Higgins, former National Secretary of the International Socialists.
- The Fourth International on the Socialist Workers Party, International ViewpointInternational ViewpointInternational Viewpoint is the English-language edition of the monthly magazine of the reunified Fourth International. It focuses on translating articles into English written by socialists in other languages. Its ISSN is 0294-2925....
- Martin Shaw, "The Making of a Party? The International Socialists 1965-1976"
- "The Struggle for Socialism Today" - A reply to the politics of the Socialist Workers Party by the Socialist Party
- Mark Thomas has had enough of the SWP
- Workers Power on the Socialist Workers Party