Far-left politics in the United Kingdom
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (February 2021) |
.jpg)
| Part of a series on |
| Socialism in the United Kingdom |
|---|
 |
|
Far-left politics in the United Kingdom have existed since at least the 1840s, with the formation of various organisations following ideologies such as Marxism, revolutionary socialism, communism, anarchism and syndicalism.
Following the 1917
Following the
Definition
Ian Adams, in his Ideology and Politics in Britain Today, defines the British far-left as primarily those political organisations which are "committed to revolutionary Marxism."
The scope of this article limits the discussion of far left politics to the period since 1801 i.e. the formation of the United Kingdom. However at least one historian has identified the existence of a 'far left' in England as early as the 1640s.[5]
History
The early 19th Century saw a series of "popular disturbances", but were not the official policy of any organisation.
Background and early groups, 1840–1920
Far-left political groups have been active in the UK since the mid-19th century, beginning with the
The earliest avowedly-Marxist national political party in Britain was the Social Democratic Federation (SDF), founded by Henry Hyndman in 1881, initially as the Democratic Federation, and renamed following the affiliation of the Labour Emancipation League (LEL, formed 1880) in 1884. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels did not participate in the new "Marxist" organisation but the SDF counted among its members Marx's daughter Eleanor for a time, before she, her husband Edward Aveling, William Morris and the LEL broke away to found the libertarian Socialist League. Both parties were notable for not being willing to collaborate with "bourgeois" parties such as the Liberals on issues of reform, but differed on the question of participation in elections, which a majority of the Socialist League opposed. The SDF stood in elections from 1885 but with no success. The Socialist League suffered splits and gradual disintegration from 1888 - including the formation of the Bloomsbury Socialist Society and Hammersmith Socialist Society - and from 1889 until its dissolution in 1892 was effectively an anarchist organisation.[13]
Around the same time,
The Social Democratic Federation also fractured over the issue of creeping reformism and also the
The period leading up to the First World War saw a renewal of industrial militancy outside of the mainstream Labour Movement's traditional commitment to parliamentary politics. The
The SDF eventually morphed into a new Marxist party, the
Marxist–Leninism in Britain, 1920–1947
The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was officially established in 1920 as the British Section of the Communist International (also known as the Third International) and adopted the theories of Leninism. The largest chunk of its members came from the British Socialist Party; the internationalist faction which had ousted Hyndman in 1916. Other groups involved were the Communist Unity Group (primarily from Glasgow), which had split from the De Leonist Socialist Labour Party, represented by the likes of Arthur MacManus, Tom Bell and William Paul and also the South Wales Socialist Society, which mainly consisted of Welsh coal-miners.
Unity was not unanimous however, as some other groups were founded outside of CPGB control; the Communist Party of South Wales and the West of England, the Communist Labour Party (based in Scotland, featuring John Maclean) and the Communist Party (British Section of the Third International) (associated with suffragette Sylvia Pankhurst). There was also the Communist League of Guy Aldred, which included not only Marxists, but also anarcho-communists. By January 1921, most of the aforementioned groups had joined the CPGB, with the exception of the Communist League, which became the Anti-Parliamentary Communist Federation (which came to oppose Leninism).
The Labour Party leadership was unenthusiastic about the Bolsheviks' coup, and this in turn helped to exacerbated existing tensions between Labour and the far left. Since before 1900, one of the key issues splitting the British far left had been the attitude towards a trade union-based Labour Party, and such divisions had not been diminished once such an organization had been formed. The Labour leadership's lack of enthusiasm for the Bolshevik revolution, therefore, was the last straw for many BSPers.
— Andrew Thorpe, The British Communist Party and Moscow, 1920–43.[14]
Studies of the period have revealed that in terms of participation, the
The far-left were thrust into the spotlight in the lead up to the
In the Soviet Union,
In Europe, communist alternatives to liberalism were rivaled by ultra-nationalism; this included local variants such as the
The situation within British Trotskyism was more complex. There were two competing groups; the Revolutionary Socialist League (official representatives of the Fourth International, formed from a merger of various groups derived from the Communist League) and the Workers' International League. Trotskyists debated about whether the Soviet Union, despite Stalin, was worth defending. The WIL was pro-war, while the RSL was more fractured; the leadership adopted Trotsky's Proletarian Military Policy, while the Left Fraction and the Center supported "revolutionary defeatism."[22] Polemics were exchanged and the CPGB attacked Trotskyists with the pamphlet "Clear Out Hitler's Agents".[23][24] The Trotskyists unified as the Revolutionary Communist Party in 1944. The Allied victory in the war left the CPGB in its strongest position, with two MPs elected in 1945.
Dawning of the Cold War, 1947–1968
 | This section possibly contains original research. (March 2017) |
Following the defeat of the
While Trotskyist groups had existed prior to the 1950s, it was during this time that the key figures who would go on to define British Trotskyism for decades and lead it to becoming the most prominent far-left tendency with the decline of Marxist-Leninism, namely
According to George Matthews, Khrushchev made a deal with the CPGB to provide a secret annual donation of more than £100,000 in used notes.[28] The year 1956 would be definitive in the history of the CPGB, however. Not only did they have to deal with the fallout of Khrushchev's aforementioned "secret speech", which attacked the legacy of Joseph Stalin, alienating those within the party who regarded Stalin as a great socialist, but also the crushing of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 made some British communists uncomfortable, causing a membership drop.[25] One of the most significant defections in the aftermath of this was the resignation of a number of Communist Party Historians Group intellectuals (with the exception of Eric Hobsbawm), who defined themselves as against "the tankies." They went on to found the New Left current; E. P. Thompson and John Saville founded the New Reasoner, which eventually became the New Left Review. They became associated with the broad pacifist group the CND. The New Left was co-founded by Gramscian-inspired Stuart Hall who played a key role in the introduction of identity politics currents such as cultural studies and is called the "godfather of multiculturalism."
For the more ardent Marxist-Leninists who lamented what they regarded as the
1968ers and ascent of Trotskyism, 1968–1991
.jpg)
A new generation of political activists emerged growing partly from the groundwork prepared by the earlier revisionism of the first
In Continental Europe during the early 1970s, there were instances of the new radicalism turning into Marxist-Leninist paramilitary campaigns (such as the
For the CPGB, the significance of 1968 was different; in some ways a re-run of 1956, as Soviet tanks
 | This section may contain verify the text. (March 2017) ) |
The 1970s also heralded the growth of the
The decline of the CPGB and internal divisions between Eurocommunists and traditionalists were exemplified in the party's publications, with the Eurocommunists exercising control over the party's monthly theoretical journal
Other major far left UK organisations also fragmented during the 1980s. The Workers Revolutionary Party suffered a series of splits into smaller factions from 1985, none of which retained its former prominence[41][42] while the International Marxist Group also split from 1985 following its entrance (as the 'Socialist League') into the Labour Party.[43] However, the Socialist Workers Party "largely failed to attract significant numbers of activists, despite the implosion of its IMG, WRP and CPGB rivals."[44]
More successful for a time were the gains from Trotskyist entrism of
Since the Soviet dissolution, 1991–present
The dissolution of the
.The mid 1990s onwards saw a series of far left joint initiatives to build "alternative electoral vehicles"
The first of these attempts at regroupment was the Socialist Labour Party (1996), led by Arthur Scargill, a left-wing (rather than far-left) party which was nevertheless the site of competing struggles for far left influence,[54] and subsequent splits.[52] This was followed by a succession of left-wing campaigns, coalitions and parties, and some also labelled as far-left, including Respect (2004) and the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (2010). None of these achieved an electoral breakthrough, and with the ascendancy of Jeremy Corbyn to leadership of the Labour Party in 2015, the majority of groups to the left of the Labour Party (both left-wing and far-left) paused their activity. Some smaller groups such as Workers Power and Alliance for Workers' Liberty then dissolved[55] or deregistered[56] in order to enter or publicly support Labour.
Following the election of Keir Starmer as Labour leader in 2020, the party proscribed left-wing organisations including Socialist Appeal (in 2021[57]) and Alliance for Workers' Liberty (AWL) (in 2022[58]); the former, and Workers Power, subsequently relaunched independently.[59][60] Other groups, including the AWL,[61] continue to engage with Labour.
See also
- 21st-century communist theorists
- Anarchism in the United Kingdom
- British Left
- Far-right politics in the United Kingdom
Works cited
- Adams, Ian (1998). Ideology and Politics in Britain Today. Manchester University Press. ISBN 0719050561.
- Alexander, Robert Jackson (1991). International Trotskyism, 1929-1985: A Documented Analysis of the Movement. Duke University Press. ISBN 082231066X.[62]
- Alexander, Robert Jackson (2001). Maoism in the Developed World. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 0275961486.
- Andrews, Geoff (2004). Endgames and New Times: The Final Years of British Communism 1964–1991. Lawrence & Wishart. ISBN 0853159912.
- Barberis, Peter; et al. (2000). Encyclopedia of British and Irish Political Organizations: Parties, Groups and Movements of the 20th Century. A&C Black. ISBN 9781855672642.
- Callaghan, John (1987). The Far Left in British Politics. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 0631154892.
- Callaghan, John (1990). Socialism in Britain Since 1884. Blackwell. ISBN 0631164723.
- Copsey, Nigel (2016). Anti-Fascism in Britain. Routledge. ISBN 978-1317397618.
- Driver, Stephen (2011). Understanding British Party Politics. Polity. ISBN 978-0745640778.
- Eaden, James (2002). The Communist Party of Great Britain Since 1920. Palgrave. ISBN 0333949684.
- Hobsbawm, Eric; Rudé, George (1973). Captain Swing. Penguin. ISBN 978-01406-0013-1.
- Johnson, Elliott (2014). Historical Dictionary of Marxism. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1442237988.
- ISBN 0415322871.
- Royle, Edward (2000). Revolutionary Britannia? Reflections on the threat of revolution in Britain, 1789-1848. Manchester University Press. ISBN 9780719048029.
- Rudé, Eric (2005) [1964]. The Crowd in History. A Study of Popular Disturbances in France and England, 1730–1848. Serif. ISBN 978-1897959473.
- Smith, Evan (2014). Against the Grain: The British Far Left from 1956. Manchester University Press. ISBN 978-1526107343.
- Smith, Evan (2017). Waiting for the Revolution: The British Far Left from 1956. Manchester University Press. ISBN 978-1526113658.
- Thompson, E.P. (1991) [1963]. The Making of the English Working Class. Penguin. ISBN 9780140136036.
- Thorpe, Andrew (2000). The British Communist Party and Moscow, 1920–43. Manchester University Press. ISBN 0719053129.
- Virdee, Satnam (2014). Racism, Class and the Racialized Outsider. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-1137439482.
Further reading
- Baker, Blake (1981). The Far Left. Butler & Tanner. ISBN 0297780336.
- Barltrop, Robert (1975). The Monument: The Story of the Socialist Party of Great Britain. Pluto Press. ISBN 0904383008. PDF version.
- ISBN 0850364779.
- Bone, Ian (1991). Class War: A Decade of Disorder. Verso. ISBN 0860915581.
- Bornstein, Sam (1986). Against the Stream: A History of the Trotskyist Movement in Britain 1924-1938. Socialist Platform/Merlin. ISBN 0850366003.
- Bornstein, Sam (1986). War and the International: A History of the Trotskyist Movement in Britain, 1937-1949. Socialist Platform. ISBN 0950842338.
- Buchanan, Tom (2012). East Wind: China & the British Left, 1925-1976. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0199570331.
- Callaghan, John (1984). British Trotskyism: Theory and Practice. Basil Blackwell. ISBN 0855207426.
- Challinor, Raymond (1977). The Origins of British Bolshevism. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 0874719852.
- Chun, L. (1993). The British New Left. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 0748604227.
- Crick, Martin (1994). The History of the Social-Democratic Federation. Ryburn Pub., Keele University Press. ISBN 1853310913.
- Crick, Michael (2016). Militant. Biteback. ISBN 978-1785900297.
- Dewar, Hugo (1976). Communist Politics in Britain: The CPGB from its Origin to the Second World War. Pluto Press. ISBN 0904383040.
- Dworkin, Dennis (1997). Cultural Marxism in Post-War Britain. Duke University Press. ISBN 0822319144.
- Franks, Benjamin (2006). Rebel Alliances: The Means and Ends of Contemporary British Anarchisms. AK Press. ISBN 1904859402.
- Grant, Ted (2002). History of British Trotskyism. Well Red Publications. ISBN 190000710X.
- Hayes, Mark (2005). The British Communist Left 1914-45: A Contribution to the History of the Revolutionary Movement. ICC. ISBN 1897980116.
- Higgins, Jim (2012) [1997]. More Years For the Locust. Unkant. ISBN 978-0956817631.
- Hodgson, Keith (2011). Fighting Fascism: the British Left and the Rise of Fascism, 1919-39. Manchester University Press. ISBN 978-0719091216.
- Holton, Bob (1977). British Syndicalism 1900-1914. Pluto Press. ISBN 0904383229.
- Jones, Bob (1991). Left-wing communism in Britain 1917-21: An infantile disorder? (PDF). Pirate Press.
- Jupp, James (1982). The Radical Left in Britain: 1931-1941. Frank Cass. ISBN 071463123X.
- Kelly, John (2017). Contemporary Trotskyism: Parties, Sects and Social Movements in Britain. Routledge. ISBN 978-1138943797.
- Kendall, Walter (1969). Revolutionary Movement in Britain, 1900–21. Littlehampton Book Services. ISBN 0297762214.
- Kenny, Michael (1995). First New Left: British Intellectuals After Stalin. Lawrence & Wishart. ISBN 0853157979.
- Laybourn, Keith (1999). Under the Red Flag: The History of Communism in Britain. Sutton Publishing. ISBN 0750914858.
- MacIntyre, Stuart (1980). A Proletarian Science: Marxism in Britain 1917-1933. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 052122621X. Reprint by Lawrence & Wishart in 1986).
- Morgan, Kevin (2005). Communists and British Society 1920–1991: People of a Special Mould. Rivers Oram Press. ISBN 1854891448.
- Pearce, Brian (1995). A History of Communism in Britain. Bookmarks. ISBN 1898876096.
- Quail, John (1978). The Slow Burning Fuse: The Lost History of the British Anarchists. Paladin. ISBN 0586082255. Reprint by Freedom Press in 2017.
- Ray, Rob (2018). A Beautiful Idea: History of the Freedom Press Anarchists. Freedom Press. ISBN 978-1904491309.
- Shipley, Peter (1983). Militant Tendency: Trotskyism in the Labour Party. Foreign Affairs Publishing Company. ISBN 0900380330.
- Shipley, Peter (1976). Revolutionaries in Modern Britain. Bodley Head. ISBN 037011311X.
- Thompson, Willie (1992). The Good Old Cause, British Communism 1920–1991. Pluto Press. ISBN 0745305792.
- Tomlinson, John (1981). Left, Right: The March of Political Extremism in Britain. Calder Publications. ISBN 0714538558.
- Upham, Martin (1980). The History of British Trotskyism to 1949. Unpublished thesis
- Widgery, David (1976). The Left in Britain 1956-1968. Penguin. ISBN 0140550992.
Communist Party
Archive
- Aufheben journal archive
- Fabian Society archive
- Institute for Workers Control archive
- Marxism Today archive
- Marxists Internet Archive/Britain
- Revolutionary History journal Archived 2018-03-24 at the Wayback Machine
- Socialist History journal Archived 2007-04-02 at the Wayback Machine
- What Next Journal archive
Miscellaneous critiques
- SLL critique of the IS).
- Banda, Mike. The Theory and Practice of Revisionism (1971) (SLL critique of the IMG).
- Banda, Mike. Whither Thornett? (1975) (WRP critique of the WSL)
- [1] Hallas, Duncan. Revolutionaries and the Labour Party (1982).
- Hallas, Duncan. The Labour Party: Myth and Reality (1985).
- [2] Jim Higgins. Ten Years for the Locust.
- Reid, Betty (1969). Ultra-Leftism in Britain. CPGB.
- Slaughter, Cliff. Reform or Revolution. Workers Press, 1970 (SLL response to IMG's critique of SLL).
- Slaughter, Cliff. The Class Nature of the 'International Socialism' Group. Workers Press, 1970.
- Slaughter, Cliff. Who Are the International Socialists? Workers Press, 1971.
- John Sullivan. Go Fourth and Multiply.
- John Sullivan. As Soon As This Pub Closes.
- Thompson, Paul & Lewis, Guy. The Revolution Unfinished? A Critique of Trotskyism. Big Flame, 1977.
- Walker, Denver. Quite Right, Mr Trotsky! Harney & Jones, 1985 NCPB critique of British Trotskyism.
- Whelan, Tony. The Credibility Gap - The Politics of the SLL. IMG, 1970.
- [3] Red Partycritique of the AWL.
- [4] AWL critique of the SWP (1993).
- [5] AWL critique of the SWP (2013).
- [6] Socialist Party critique of the SWP.
- Socialist Party critique of Socialist Appeal.
- Communist Workers Movement critique of the SWP
- [7] Solidarity (U.S.)critique of the SWP (UK).
- [8] CPGB-ML critique of the SLP.
- CPGB-ML critique of the Morning Star/CPB.
- CPGB-ML critique of the RCPB-ML.
- "Carry on Recruiting": critique of the SWP, 1993.
- Trotspotting, 2009.
- Anon. One Step Beyond: Smash the Revolutionary Communist Party. Pirate Press/Phoenix Press, 1988.
- The Position of Trotskyism in Britain - CPGB, 1964.
References
- ^ Adams 1998, p. 183.
- ^ a b Adams 1998, p. 184.
- ISBN 0631154892.
- ISBN 978-1526107343.
- ^ "Dreams of equality: The levelling poor of the English Revolution".
- ISBN 978-1897959473
- ISBN 978-01406-0013-1.
- ^ Royle, Edward Revolutionary Britannia? Reflections on the threat of revolution in Britain, 1789-1848 Manchester University Press, 2000, p170
- ^ "Chartists arrested in 1848". Chartists. Archived from the original on 30 October 2008.
- ISBN 9780140136036.
- ISBN 0-275-97748-X.
- ^ "Forty years' recollections : Literary and political". 1880.
- ^ Clayton, Joseph The Rise and Decline of Socialism in Great Britain 1884 to 1924, London: Faber & Gwyer, 1926, p38-9
- ^ Thorpe 2000, p. 23.
- ^ Virdee 2014, p. 87.
- ^ "The secret of its weakness: racism and the working class movement in Britain". Revolutionary Socialism in the 21st Century. 18 December 2016.
- ^ Virdee 2014, p. 72.
- ^ a b c "John Maclean and the CPGB". What Next Journal. 18 December 2016.
- ^ "The First Labour PM and the Zinoviev Letter". BBC. 21 December 2016.
- ^ "Official: Zinoviev letter was forged". The Independent. 21 December 2016.
- ^ "Trotskyist Sources at the Modern Records Centre". University of Warwick. 18 December 2016.
- ^ Alexander 1991, p. 457.
- ^ Alexander 1991, p. 459.
- ^ "Clear Out Hitler's Agents". Communist Party of Great Britain. 18 December 2016.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Excerpt from 'Against the Grain: The British Far Left From 1956'". Socialist Unity. 18 December 2016.
- ISBN 0855207426
- ISBN 1785900293
- ^ "Obituary: George Matthews". The Guardian. 21 December 2016.
- ^ Alexander 2001, p. 90.
- ^ a b "An Obituary Essay: C. Desmond Greaves". Anthony Coughlan. 21 December 2016.
- ^ "In the Shadow of Gunmen: The Wolfe Tone Society, 1963-1969" (PDF). Kenneth Sheehy. 21 December 2016.
- ^ "Notes on the evolution of the B&ICO" (PDF). Sam Richards. 21 December 2016.
- ^ Alexander 1991, p. 493.
- ^ Alexander 1991, p. 474.
- ^ Andrews 2004, p. 59.
- ^ Andrews 2004, p. 63.
- ^ Copsey 2016, p. 119.
- ^ "'By whatever means necessary': The origins of the 'no platform' policy". Hatful of History. 26 January 2016.
- ^ Johnson 2014, p. 399.
- ^ "The crisis in the Communist Party and the way forward". 1985.
- ^ "Gerry Healy - Chapter 11".
- ISBN 0631154892.
- ^ Barberis, Peter; McHugh, John; Tyldesley, Mike. Encyclopedia of British and Irish Political Organizations: Parties, Groups and Movements of the 20th Century. A&C Black, 2000, p152
- ^ Burton-Cartledge, Phil. "Marching separately, seldom together. The political history of two principal trends in British Trotskyism, 1945-2009." in Smith, Evan. Against the Grain: The British Far Left from 1956, 2014, Manchester University Press, 1526107341
- ^ a b Driver 2011, p. 155
- ^ "Why entrism is such a small part of Jeremy Corbyn's rise". Channel 4. 26 January 2016.
- ^ a b Eaden 2002, p. 179
- ^ Laybourn 2005, p. 161
- ^ Beckett, Francis.Enemy Within: Rise and Fall of the British Communist Party, Merlin Press, 1998, pp. 238
- ^ "CPGB-ML's reply to the lies and slanders of the CPB". Lalkar. January–February 2009.
- ISBN 978-1526113658.
- ^ a b Burton-Cartledge, Phil. "Marching separately, seldom together. The political history of two principal trends in British Trotskyism, 1945-2009." in Smith, Evan. Against the Grain: The British Far Left from 1956, 2014, Manchester University Press, 1526107341, pp88-89
- ^ Barberis, Peter; McHugh, John; Tyldesley, Mike. Encyclopedia of British and Irish Political Organizations: Parties, Groups and Movements of the 20th Century. A&C Black, 2000, p155
- ^ Barberis, Peter; McHugh, John; Tyldesley, Mike. Encyclopedia of British and Irish Political Organizations: Parties, Groups and Movements of the 20th Century. A&C Black, 2000, p164
- ^ "Jeremy Corbyn's programme – a revolutionary socialist assessment | Workers Power". Archived from the original on 2021-01-26. Retrieved 2021-02-02.
- ^ Wintour, Patrick (24 October 2015). "Unite challenges expulsion of alleged Trotskyists from Labour party". The Guardian.
- ^ https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/jul/20/labour-votes-to-ban-four-far-left-factions-that-supported-corbyns-leadership
- ^ https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/mar/29/labour-to-ban-leftwing-groups-including-alliance-for-workers-liberty
- ^ https://communist.red/theses-on-the-coming-british-revolution/
- ^ https://workerspower.uk/editorial-why-we-are-relaunching-workers-power/
- ^ https://www.workersliberty.org/index.php/story/2023-05-04/labour-party-report
- ^ "Robert-j-alexander-international-trotskyism-1929-1985-a-documentary-history-of-the-movement".