History of the socialist movement in the United Kingdom

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Socialism in the United Kingdom is thought to stretch back to the 19th century from roots arising in the aftermath of the

philanthropism of Robert Owen through to the reformist electoral project enshrined in the birth of the Labour Party
that was founded in 1900.

Origins

The

Marxists
see as the world's first successful bourgeois revolution. During the war several proto-socialist groups emerged. The most important of these groups were the
radical utopian group the Diggers.[2][3][4][5]

19th century

Industrial Revolution and Robert Owen

The Industrial Revolution, the transition from a farming economy to an industrial one, began in the UK over thirty years before the rest of the world. Textile mills and coal mines sprang up across the whole country and peasants were taken from the fields to work down the mines, or into the "Dark, Satanic Mills", the chimneys of which blackened the sky over Lancashire and Yorkshire. Appalling conditions for workers, combined with support for the French Revolution, turned some intellectuals to socialism.

The pioneering work of

co-operative movement, before attempting to create a utopian community at New Harmony
.

Trade unions

Main article: Trade unions in the United Kingdom

The trade union movement in Britain gradually developed from the Medieval

Luddism and had been prominent in struggles such as the Radical War (or Scottish Insurrection) in Scotland in 1820, when 60,000 workers went on a general strike
, which was soon crushed.

From 1830 on, attempts were made to set up national general unions, most notably Robert Owen's Grand National Consolidated Trades Union in 1834, which attracted a range of socialists from Owenites to revolutionaries. It played a part in the protests after the Tolpuddle Martyrs' case, but soon collapsed.

Militants turned to Chartism, the aims of which were supported by most socialists, although none appear to have played leading roles.

More permanent trade unions were established from the 1850s, better resourced but often less radical. The London Trades Council was founded in 1860, and the Sheffield Outrages spurred the establishment of the Trades Union Congress in 1868. Union membership grew as unskilled and women workers were unionised, and socialists such as Tom Mann played an increasingly prominent role.

Christian socialism

The rise of Non-Conformist religions, in particular Methodism, played a large role in the development of trade unions and of British socialism. The influence of the radical chapels was strongly felt among some industrial workers, especially miners and those in the north of England and Wales.

The first group calling itself

James Keir Hardie.[7]

Chartist movement

The

Chartist movement of the 1830s and 1840s was the first mass revolutionary movement of the British working-class. Mass meetings and demonstrations involving millions of proletariat and petty-bourgeois were held throughout the country for years.[8][9]

The Chartists published several petitions to the British Parliament (ranging from 1,280,000 to 3,000,000 signatures), the most famous of which was called the People's Charter (hence their name) in 1842, which demanded:[10]

  1. Universal suffrage for men.
  2. The secret ballot.
  3. Removal of property qualifications for members of parliament.
  4. Salaries for members of parliament.
  5. Electoral districts representing equal numbers of people.
  6. Annually elected parliaments.

The government subsequently subjected the Chartists to brutal reprisals and arrested their leaders. The remaining party then split as a result of a divide in tactics: the Moral Force Party believed in bureaucratic reformism, while the Physical Force Party believed in workers' reformism (through strikes, etc.).

The Chartist movement's reformist goals, although not immediately and directly attained, were gradually achieved. In the same year as the People's Charter was created, the

British Parliament instead responded by passing the 1842 Mining Act. Carefully valving the steam of the working-class movement, Parliament reduced the working day to ten hours in 1847.[11]

Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels and Marxism

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels worked in England, and they influenced small émigré groups including the Communist League. Engels' book The Condition of the Working Class in England[12] became a popular expose of conditions for workers, but initially Marxism had little impact among Britain's working class.

The first nominally Marxist organisation was the Social Democratic Federation, founded in 1882. Engels refused to support the organisation, although Marx's daughter Eleanor joined.

The party soon split, with the Socialist League of William Morris becoming divided between anarchists and Marxists such as Morris and Eleanor Marx. A much later split produced the Socialist Party of Great Britain, Britain's oldest existing socialist party, and the Socialist Labour Party.

Although Marxism had some impact in Britain, it was far less than in many other European countries, with philosophers such as John Ruskin and John Stuart Mill having much greater influence. Some non-Marxists[who?] theorise that this was because Britain was amongst the most democratic countries of Europe of the period, the ballot box provided an instrument for change, so a parliamentary, reformist socialism seemed a more promising route than elsewhere.

Liberal–Labour and the Independent Labour Party

The

1867 Reform Act. This qualifier excluded a great number of British labourers, casual workers, and unemployed. The change in policy has been attributed to donations received by the League from Liberal Party politicians in 1866 and 1867.[13] At the time, Marx wrote that he and Engels had been "betrayed [...] in the Reform League where, against our wishes, [Cremer and Oder] have made compromises with the bourgeoisie".[14]

However, a great deal of collaboration came to exist between the Liberal Party and the leaders of the labour movement, though Marx saw these as effective bribes by the bourgeoisie and the government.

1867 Reform Act passed and enfranchised roughly three million people, around half of whom were working class. This was extended to five million by the Representation of the People Act 1884, which extended the householder's franchise.[13] The Liberal Party was worried about the prospect of a socialist party taking the bulk of the working-class vote, while their great rivals the Conservatives
initiated occasional intrigues to encourage socialist candidates to stand against the Liberals.

In 1874, the Liberals agreed not to put candidates against

Lib-Labs
for short. Other miner's leaders entered Parliament via the same route.

In 1888,

Lanarkshire North-West since the 1886 general election left the Liberal Party and formed his own, independent, Scottish Labour Party, becoming the first socialist MP in the Parliament of the United Kingdom
.

At the 1892 general election, Keir Hardie, another Liberal politician who had joined Cunninghame-Graham in the Scottish Labour Party, was elected as an Independent Labour MP, and this gave him the spur to found a UK-wide Independent Labour Party in 1893.

20th century

Timeline of parties in the broad socialist movement

The early twentieth century saw a number of socialist groups and movements in Britain. As well as the Independent Labour Party and the Social Democratic Federation, there was a mass movement around

British Labour Party
.

Birth of the Labour Party

Main article:
History of the British Labour Party

In 1900, representatives of various trade unions and of the Independent Labour Party, Fabian Society and Social Democratic Federation agreed to form a Labour Party backed by the unions and with its own whips. The

Labour Representation Committee
was founded with Keir Hardie as its leader. At the 1900 general election, the LRC won only two seats, and the SDF disaffiliated, but more unions signed up.

The LRC affiliated to the

House of Commons
.

Women's suffrage

The campaign for women's suffrage in Britain began in the mid-nineteenth century, with many early campaigners including Eleanor Marx being socialists, but many established socialists, including Robert Blatchford and

Workers Socialist Federation
.

Syndicalism and World War I

Supporters of

shop steward movement, which became particularly prominent in what became known as Red Clydeside. Socialists such as John Maclean
led strikes and demonstrations for better working conditions and a forty-hour working week.

This activity took place against the background of the

First World War. The Labour Party, like almost all the Socialist International, enthusiastically supported their country's leadership in the war, as did the leadership of the British Socialist Party. This split the BSP, and a new anti-war leadership emerging.[16]

Bolshevism and the Communist Party of Great Britain

The shop steward movement worried many right-wingers, who believed that socialists were fomenting a

Bolshevik revolution in Britain. A Communist Party of Great Britain
(CPGB) was founded, but it attracted only existing left-wing militants, with the British Socialist Party and Workers Socialist Federation joining many Socialist Labour Party activists in it.

The CPGB soon became known for its loyalty to the line of the

Trotskyists
.

Labour and the general strike

The Labour Party continued to grow as more unions affiliated and more Labour MPs were elected. In 1918, a new constitution was agreed, which laid out several aims of the party. These included

Zinoviev Letter, which was used as evidence of Labour's links with the Soviet Union
. It was later revealed to be a forgery.

In 1926, British miners went on strike over their appalling working conditions. The situation soon escalated into the

Trade Union Congress, ostensibly worried about reports of starvation in the pit villages
, called the strike off. The miners tried to continue alone, but without TUC support had eventually to give in.

Labour formed a minority government in

National Government with the Liberals and the Conservatives. The majority of the Labour Party regarded this as a betrayal and expelled them, whereupon they founded National Labour
.

The Great Depression devastated the industrial areas of Northern England, Wales and Central Scotland, and the Jarrow March of unemployed workers from the North East to London to demand jobs defined the period.

Ethical socialism

Ethical socialism is a variant of liberal socialism developed by British socialists.[17][18] It became an important ideology within the Labour Party of the United Kingdom.[19] Ethical socialism was founded in the 1920s by R. H. Tawney, a British Christian socialist, and its ideals were connected to Christian socialist, Fabian, and guild socialist ideals.[20] Ethical socialism has been publicly supported by British Prime Ministers Ramsay MacDonald,[21] Clement Attlee,[22] and Tony Blair.[19]

Oswald Mosley

Keynesian policies that would be accepted by later governments, it was too radical a set of proposals for 1930 and both the Labour government and the party rejected it. In response, Mosley left Labour in 1931 to found the New Party, taking four other Labour MPs with him. The New Party failed to win any seats in 1932 and Mosley subsequently came to support fascism, merging his party with several far-right groups to form the British Union of Fascists
.

Spanish Civil War and World War II

WWII badge for the "Birmingham Socialist ARP Canteen Fund"

The Independent Labour Party disaffiliated from the Labour Party in 1932, in protest at an erosion of their MPs' independence. For a time, they became a significant left-of-Labour force.

In 1936, the

anti-fascist forces, including George Orwell who wrote about his experiences in Homage to Catalonia
.

The Labour Party leadership always supported British involvement in

Revolutionary Communist Party
.

1945 landslide Labour victory

To widespread surprise, the Labour Party led by wartime Deputy Prime Minister

nationalised some industries (for example, coal mining), and created a welfare state
.

The CPGB also grew on the back of Stalinist successes in Eastern Europe and China, and recorded their best-ever result, with two MPs elected (one in London and another in Fife). The Trotskyite Revolutionary Communist Party collapsed.

Labour lost power in 1951 and after Clement Attlee retired as party leader in 1955, he was succeeded by the figurehead of the "right-establishment" Hugh Gaitskell, against Aneurin Bevan.

Although there were some disputes between the

Gaitskellites, these disputes were more about personality than ideology, and the rift was healed when Harold Wilson
, a Bevanite, was elected as Leader of the Labour Party after Gaitskell's sudden death.

1960s and 1970s

The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament briefly gained leverage over Labour Party policy at the beginning of the decade, but soon went into a long eclipse. The Vietnam War, given lukewarm support by Harold Wilson, radicalised a new generation. Significant anti-war protests were organised. Trotskyist groups like the International Marxist Group and the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign came to prominence, particularly due to high-profile members like the IMG's Tariq Ali.

After the Soviet Union's invasion of

Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist). Later in 1977, other traditionalist pro-Russian elements left to form the New Communist Party
.

In 1969, Wilson's Labour Government introduced

1974 UK miners' strike. More ominously for the left, the unsuccessful Grunwick dispute, and the 1978–79 Winter of Discontent were also blamed on them. The Labour leadership's failure to work with trade unions, or for their opponents an inability to keep them under control, resulted in the election in 1979 of an economically liberal Conservative government, led by Margaret Thatcher
, which finally ended the post-war political consensus.

1980s

After the 1979 Labour defeat,

Bennite motions. Callaghan resigned as party leader late that year and was replaced by Michael Foot, a left-winger who by then had distanced himself from Benn but failed to transmit this to the media or the voters. The following year, Denis Healey
only narrowly won the deputy leadership in a contest with Benn.

In 1981, thirty MPs on the right-wing of the Labour Party defected to found the

alliance with the Liberal Party
and opinion polls briefly saw the new alliance appear capable of winning a general election.

At the

first-past-the-post system.[23]

After the 1983 general election, Neil Kinnock, long associated with the left-wing of the Labour Party, became the new leader. By that point in time, the Labour Party was factionalised between the right, including Healey and deputy leader Roy Hattersley, a "soft left" associated with the Tribune group, and a "hard left" associated with Benn and the new Campaign Group.

The Trotskyist Militant tendency, using entryist tactics in the Labour Party, had gradually increased their profile. By 1982, they controlled Liverpool City Council, and had a presence in many Constituency Labour Parties. The Labour NEC began to expel Militant members, beginning with their newspaper's "editorial board", in effect their Central Committee. A revival in municipal socialism seemed, for a time, a solution to Conservative hegemony for many on the left. The Greater London Council, led by Ken Livingstone, gained the most attention, seeming genuinely innovative to its support base, but the GLC was abolished by the Conservatives in 1986.

The defining event of the 1980s for British socialists was the

privatise other state industries. Labour lost the 1987 general election by a wide margin, although it did manage to reduce the Conservative majority significantly.[24]

Socialism and nationalism

Scottish Workers Republican Party. The poet Hugh MacDiarmid, a Communist, was also an early member of the National Party of Scotland
. The CPGB eventually changed their position in the 1940s.

The early nationalist parties had little connection with socialism, but by the 1980s they had become increasingly identified with the left, and in the 1990s Plaid Cymru declared itself to be a socialist party.

Following the establishment of the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Parliament (established as the National Assembly for Wales), both the Scottish National Party and Plaid have been challenged by socialists in recent years. [clarification needed] The Scottish Socialist Party, who also support Scottish independence as an immediate goal, has had recent electoral success; it won six MSPs in the 2003 Scottish Parliament election. Forward Wales, with a less militant programme, aimed to replicate their success.

Irish republicanism came to be supported by socialists in Britain. Labour's election manifestos for 1983, 1987 and 1992 included a commitment to Irish unification by consent.

1990s

In 1989 in

Poll tax riot" on 31 March 1990. Margaret Thatcher's own party compelled her to step down on 22 November that year, and she was replaced by John Major
, who abolished the charge in 1991.

The CPGB dissolved itself in 1991, although their former newspaper, the

Democratic Left.[citation needed
]

In the run-up to the 1992 general election, polling showed that there might be a hung parliament, but possibly a small Labour majority – the party's lead on the opinion polls had shrunk and some polls had even seen the Tories creep ahead in spite of the deepening recession. In the event, the Conservatives led by John Major; won a fourth consecutive election with a majority of 21 seats. This has been attributed to both the Labour Party's premature triumphalism (in particular at the Sheffield Rally) and the Tories' "Tax Bombshell" advertising campaign, which highlighted the increased taxes that a Labour government would impose. This general election defeat was shortly followed by Kinnock's resignation after nearly a decade as leader. And, as had happened in the aftermath of the 1959 general election defeat, there was widespread public and media doubt as to whether a Labour government could be elected again, since it had failed in the face of a recession and rising unemployment.[25]

After the brief stewardship of John Smith in the early 1990s, Tony Blair was elected leader following Smith's sudden death from a heart attack in May 1994. He immediately decided to revamp Clause IV, dropping Labour's commitment to public ownership of key industries and utilities, along with other socialist policies.[26]

Many members of the party were unhappy with the proposed changes and several unions considered using their block vote to kill the motion, but in the end their leaderships backed down and settled for a new clause declaring the Labour Party a "democratic socialist party", broadening the party's electoral appeal. However, Labour had been ascendant in the opinion polls since the Black Wednesday economic fiasco a few months after the 1992 general election, and the increased lead of the polls under Blair's leadership remained strong in spite of the revolt, and the fact that the economy was growing again and unemployment was falling under Major's Conservative government. Labour's popularity was also helped by the fact that the Conservative government was now divided over Europe.[27]

Several party members, such as Arthur Scargill, regarded this as a betrayal of Labour's ideology and left the Labour Party. Scargill formed the Socialist Labour Party (SLP) which initially attracted some support, much of which transferred to the Socialist Alliance on its formation, but the SA has since been wound up and the SLP has become marginalised.[citation needed]

The Scottish Socialist Party have proven much more successful, while Ken Livingstone became the Mayor of London, standing against an official Labour Party candidate. Livingstone was re-admitted into the Labour Party in time for his re-election in 2004.

Under Blair, Labour launched a PR campaign to rebrand as New Labour. The party also introduced women-only shortlists in certain seats and central vetting of Parliamentary candidates to ensure that its candidates were seen as on-message. Labour won the 1997 general election with a landslide majority of 179 seats; their best result to date.[28]

21st century

Main article:
British Left

The international

2003 Iraq War
.

Several minor socialist parties merged in 2003 to form the Alliance for Green Socialism which is a socialist party that campaigns on a wide variety of policies including; economic, environmental and social.

After

Socialist Workers Party and leading figures from the Muslim Association of Britain. Galloway, who stood as a candidate for Respect, was elected as the Member of Parliament for Bethnal Green and Bow at the 2005 general election, where he defeated the sitting Labour MP; Oona King. Galloway strongly opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq while King strongly supported it.[30] The association with the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) ended in 2007. Galloway did not seek re-election for Bethnal Green and Bow at the 2010 general election, but stood at the Poplar and Limehouse constituency instead. However, he finished in third place, behind Tim Archer of the Conservatives and Jim Fitzpatrick of the Labour Party. After a two-year absence from Parliament, Galloway returned to the House of Commons after winning the 2012 Bradford West by-election.[31] Respect though has suffered from the resignation of leading members over the years,[32][33] and Galloway lost his seat to Naz Shah of the Labour Party at the 2015 general election
.

In 2013, director

Syriza in Greece, the perceived failures of previous Left of Labour projects such as Socialist Alliance and the perceived failings of Respect. The Left Unity
political party was founded in November 2013 as a result of the appeal.

2010 general election

Main article: 2010 United Kingdom general election

The Labour Party was defeated at the

recession of 2008 and 2009 under the premiership of Gordon Brown. The Conservatives returned to power with the Liberal Democrats as a coalition government following a hung parliament; the first in 36 years.[34]

Other socialists[

Awkward Squad" of the more left-wing trade union leaders, many of whom have joined the Labour Representation Committee. Others have turned to more community-based politics. Yet others[who?
] believe they can reclaim the Labour Party.

The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) was formed in January 2010 to contest the 2010 general election. Founding supporters include Bob Crow, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport workers union (RMT), Brian Caton, general secretary of the POA and Chris Baugh, assistant general secretary of the PCS. RMT and Socialist Party executive members, including Bob Crow, form the core of the steering committee. The coalition includes the Socialist Workers Party, which will also stand candidates under its banner,[35] RESPECT[36] and other trade unionists and socialist groups. This followed the No2EU coalition which fought the European elections in 2009 gaining the official backing of the RMT. The RMT declined to officially back the new TUSC coalition, but granted their branches the right to stand and fund local candidates as part of the coalition.[37]

2014 Scottish independence referendum

Main article: 2014 Scottish independence referendum

The Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) has been actively campaigning for Scottish independence since the announcement of the 2014 Scottish independence referendum. Its co-convenor, Colin Fox, sits on the advisory board of the Yes Scotland campaign organisation. The party's support for Scottish independence is rooted in a belief that "the tearing of the blue out of the Union Jack and the dismantling of the 300-year-old British state would [be] a traumatic psychological blow for the forces of capitalism and conservatism in Britain, Europe and the USA", and that it would be "almost as potent in its symbolism as the unravelling of the Soviet Union at the start of the 1990s". Representatives of the party have also claimed that while the break-up of the United Kingdom would not result in "instant socialism", it would cause "a decisive shift in the balance of ideological and class forces".[38]

The campaign for independence has also enjoyed support from a minority of trade unionists. In 2013, a branch of the

Communications Workers Union covering Edinburgh, Lothians, Fife, Falkirk, and Stirling voted to back a motion describing independence as "the only way forward for workers in Scotland", and agreeing to "do all in our power to secure [a Yes] outcome".[39] Additionally, the Scottish Trades Union Congress has refused to take a stance on the referendum, instead laying out "challenges for both sides of the debate", in particular calling on Better Together to "outline a practical vision of how social and economic justice can be achieved within the union".[40]
Other left-wing sections refused to support a nationalist position, instead arguing either for working-class unity or a critical approach to both sides. Campaigns such as Socialism First and the Red Paper Collective were a challenge to the official campaigns on both sides arguing for "Class over Nation".

Until 2006, the RMT was affiliated with the Scottish Socialist Party.[41]

The Labour Party campaigned in favour of a "No" vote through the referendum campaign, headed by former Labour

Scottish Labour joined Labour for Independence, a pressure group of Labour members who back Scottish independence. The appeal of independence is attributed by the group's leader to a feeling of being "let down and betrayed by a party who no longer represent them or the people of Scotland".[42]

2015 general election

Main article: 2015 United Kingdom general election

Opposition Party
.

Miliband's election as Leader of the Labour Party on the back of trade union member votes had been seen by some[

state pension.[48]
These were unpopular ideas with traditional socialists.

2017 general election

Main article: 2017 United Kingdom general election

Jeremy Corbyn became Leader of the Labour Party in September 2015. Corbyn identifies as a democratic socialist.[49]

A graph showing Labour Party individual membership, excluding affiliated members and supporters

In August 2015, prior to the 2015 leadership election, the Labour Party reported 292,505 full members.[50][51] As of December 2017, the party had approximately 570,000 full members, making it the largest political party by membership in Western Europe.[52][53]

On 18 April 2017, Prime Minister

opinion polls had shown a 20-point Conservative lead over Labour before the election was called, but this lead had narrowed by the day of the 2017 general election; which resulted in a hung parliament. Despite remaining in opposition for the third general election in a row, Labour won 40% of the popular vote, its greatest share of the vote since 2001. It was also the first time the Labour Party had made a net gain of seats since their 1997 landslide victory. Thirty new seats were gained to reach 262 total MPs, and, with a swing of 9.6%,[57] achieved the biggest percentage-point increase in its vote share at a single general election since 1945.[58] Immediately following the election, party membership rose by 35,000.[59]

In July 2017, opinion polling suggested Labour leads the Conservatives, 45% to 39%[60] while a YouGov poll gave Labour an 8-point lead over the Conservatives.[61]

Post 2019 General Election

Following the 2019 United Kingdom general election and Keir Starmer's winning of the Labour Party leadership in the 2020 leadership election, socialists in the Labour Party have been marginalised or expelled.[62] There has however been an uptick in industrial action.[63]

Leaders

See also

References

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Bibliography

  • Thompson, Noel W. (2006). Political economy and the Labour Party: the economics of democratic socialism, 1884–2005 (2nd ed.). Oxon, England, UK; New York City, USA: Routledge.

Further reading

  • Barrow, Logic and Bullock, Ian. Democratic Ideas and the British Labour Movement (Cambridge University Press, 1996)
  • Beilharz, Peter. Labour's Utopias: Bolshevism, Fabianism and Social Democracy (Routledge 1992)
  • Biagini, E.F. and Reid, A.J., eds. Currents of Radicalism: Popular Radicalism, Organized Labour and Party Politics in Britain 1850–1914, (Cambridge University Press, 1991)
  • Black, L. The Political Culture of the Left in Affluent Britain, 1951–64: old Labour, new Britain? (Basingstoke, 2003)
  • Bonin, Hugo. "Between Panacea and Poison: 'democracy' in British socialist thought, 1881–1891." Intellectual History Review (2020): 1-21.
  • Bryant, C. Possible Dreams: a personal history of British Christian Socialists (London, 1996)
  • Callaghan, John. Socialism in Britain since 1884 (Blackwell, 1990)
  • Hargreaves, John. "Sport and socialism in Britain." Sociology of sport journal 9.2 (1992): 131–153.
  • McKernan, James A. "The origins of critical theory in education: Fabian socialism as social reconstructionism in nineteenth-century Britain." British Journal of Educational Studies 61.4 (2013): 417–433.
  • Manton, Kevin. Socialism and education in Britain 1883-1902 (Routledge, 2013).
  • Miller, Kenneth E. Socialism and Foreign Policy: Theory and Practice in Britain to 1931 (Springer, 2012).
  • Morgan, Kenneth O.
    Ages of Reform: Dawns and Downfalls of the British Left (I.B. Tauris, dist. by Palgrave Macmillan; 2011), history of British left since the Great Reform Act, 1832.
  • Parker, Martin, et al. The Dictionary of Alternatives (Zed Books, 2007)
  • Rees, Jonathan.Proletarian Philosophers: Problems in Socialist Culture in Britain 1900–1940 (Oxford, 1984)
  • Rosen, Greg, ed. Dictionary of Labour Biography.
    Politicos Publishing
    , 2001, 665pp; short biographies.
  • Williams, Anthony A. J. Christian Socialism as Political Ideology: The Formation of the British Christian Left, 1877-1945 (Bloomsbury, 2020).
  • Winter, Jay M. Socialism and the Challenge of War: Ideas and Politics in Britain, 1912-18 (Routledge, 2014) excerpt.
  • Yeo, Stephen. "A new life: the religion of socialism in Britain, 1883–1896." History Workshop Journal 4#1 (1977).

Women

  • Bruley, Sue. Leninism, Stalinism and the Women's Movement in Britain, 1920–1939 (Garland, London and New York, 1986)
  • Graves, Pamela M. Labour Women: Women in British Working-Class Politics 1918–1939 (Cambridge University Press, 1994)
  • Hannam, Julie. Socialist Women: Britain 1880s to 1920s (Routledge, 2002)
  • Jackson, Angela. British Women and the Spanish Civil War (Routledge 2002
  • Mitchell, Juliet, and Ann Oakley, (eds). The Rights and Wrongs of Women (Penguin, London, 1976)
  • Rowbotham, Sheila. Hidden from History: 300 Years of Women's Oppression and the Fight Against It (Pluto Press, London, 1973)

Labour Party

See also: Labour Party (UK) § Further reading
  • Bassett, Lewis. "Corbynism: Social democracy in a new left garb." Political Quarterly 90.4 (2019): 777-784 online[dead link].
  • Durbin, Elizabeth. New Jerusalems: the Labour Party and the economics of democratic socialism (Routledge, 2018).
  • Lyman, Richard W. "The British Labour Party: The Conflict between Socialist Ideals and Practical Politics between the Wars". Journal of British Studies 5#1 1965, pp. 140–152. online
  • Pelling, Henry and Alastair J. Reid. A Short History of the Labour Party (12th ed. 2005) excerpt
  • Taylor, Robert. The Parliamentary Labour Party: A History 1906–2006 (2007).

Communist Party of Great Britain

Communist Party of Great Britain#Further reading

Far-left

Far-left politics in the United Kingdom#Bibliography

External links

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