History of socialism in Great Britain
Encyclopedia
The History of socialism in the United Kingdom is generally thought to stretch back to the 19th century. Starting to arise in the aftermath of the English Civil War
notions of socialism
in Great Britain
and Northern Ireland
have taken many different forms from the utopian philanthropism
of Robert Owen
through to the reformist
electoral project enshrined in the birth of the Labour Party
.
occurred later in Britain than in most of mainland Europe. As in the rest of Europe, various liberal
thinkers such as Thomas More
became prominent, but another important current was the emergence of the radical Puritan
s who wanted to reform both religion and the nation. The Puritans were oppressed by both the monarchy and by the established church. Eventually these pressures exploded in the violent social revolution known as the English Civil War
, which many Marxists see as the world's first successful bourgeois revolution.
After the war several proto-socialist groups emerged. The most important of these groups were the Levellers
, who advocated electoral reform
, universal trial by jury
, progressive taxation and the abolition of the monarchy and aristocracy
and of censorship
. This was strongly opposed by Oliver Cromwell
's government, who also persecuted the moderate reformist group the Fifth Monarchy Men and the radical
utopian group the Diggers.
, the transition from a farming economy to an industrial one, began in the UK over 30 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 blacked the sky over Lancashire
and West Yorkshire
. Appalling conditions for workers, combined with support for the French Revolution
turned some intellectuals to socialism.
The pioneering work of Robert Owen
, a Welsh radical, at New Lanark
in Scotland, is sometimes credited as being the birth of British Socialism. He stopped employing Children under the age of 10, and instead arranged for their education, and improved the working and living conditions of all his workers. He also lobbied Parliament
over child labour, and helped to create the co-operative movement, before attempting to create a utopian community at New Harmony.
movement in Britain gradually developed from the Mediaeval guild
system. Unions were subject to often severe repression until 1824, but were already widespread in cities such as London
. Workplace militancy had also manifested itself as Luddism and had been prominent in struggles such as the 1820 Rising in Scotland
where 60,000 workers went on a general strike
, which was soon crushed.
From 1830 on, attempts were made to set up national general union
s, 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.
, played a large role in the development of trade union
s 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 Christian Socialists formed in 1848 under the leadership of Frederick Denison Maurice. Its membership mainly consisted of Chartists (see below). The group became dormant after only six years, but there was a considerable revival of Christian socialism in the 1880s, and a number of groups sprang up. Ultimately, Christian socialists dominated the leadership of the Independent Labour Party
, including James Keir Hardie.
The Chartists published several petition
s 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:
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, British Parliament reduced the working day to ten hours in 1847.
Source: Encyclopedia of Marxism, available under the terms of GFDL.
and Friedrich Engels
worked in England, and they influenced small émigré groups including the Communist League
. Engel's Condition of the Working Class in England 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 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.
, who made up a majority of the electorate. The Liberal Party
was worried about the possibility 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 Thomas Burt
and Alexander Macdonald
, two miners' leaders who were standing for Parliament
. Both were elected and became known as Liberal-Labour or Lib-Labs for short. Other miner’s leaders entered Parliament via the same route.
In 1888 Robert Cunninghame-Graham
the MP for Lanarkshire North-West since the 1886 general election
left the Liberals and formed his own, independent, Scottish Labour Party, becoming the first socialist MP in the United Kingdom Parliament.
In 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.
's newspaper The Clarion
from the 1890s to the 1930s; the more intellectual gradualist Fabian Society
; and more radical groups such as the Socialist Labour Party. However, the movement was increasingly dominated by the formation of the British Labour Party.
The LRC affiliated to the Socialist International
and in 1906 changed its name to Labour Party. It formed an electoral pact
with the Liberals, intending to cause maximum damage to the Unionist
Government in the forthcoming election. This was successful, and in the process, 29 Labour MPs were elected.
women in it. Sylvia Pankhurst
campaigned for enfranchisement among women in the East End of London and eventually built up the Workers Socialist Federation
.
in the Social Democratic Federation chiefly in Scotland split to form the Socialist Labour Party. Their fellow impossibilists
in London split from the SDF the following year to form the Socialist Party of Great Britain
(SPGB, still in existence). The remainder of the SDF attempted to form a broader Marxist party, the British Socialist Party
. The SLP and BSP parties came to influence the 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.
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 Comintern
, and proposed the motion to expel Leon Trotsky
from the international. Under the leadership of Harry Pollitt
, it finally gained its first MP, and began to expel Trotskyists.
was agreed, which laid out several aims of the party. These included Clause IV
, calling for "common ownership" of key industry. With their success in the 1924 general election
, Labour were able to form their first minority government
, led by Ramsay MacDonald
. This government was undermined by the infamous Zinoviev Letter
, which was used as evidence of Labour's links with the Soviet Union
. It was later shown to be a hoax.
In 1926, Welsh miners went on strike over their appalling working conditions. The situation soon escalated into the General Strike, but the Trade Union Congress, ostensibly worried about reports of starvation in the pit village
s, called the strike off. The miners tried to continue alone, but without TUC support had eventually to give in.
Labour won a minority government in 1929
again under MacDonald, but following the Stock Market Crash of 1929, the Great Depression
engulfed the country. The government split over its response to the crisis. MacDonald and a few supporters agreed to form a 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.
In 1936, the Spanish Civil War
was viewed by many socialists as a contest against the rise of fascism
which it was vital to win. Many CPGB and Independent Labour Party members went to fight for the Republic and with the Stalinist led International Brigades and the Workers' Party of Marxist Unification (POUM
) anti-fascist forces, including George Orwell
who wrote about his experiences in Homage to Catalonia
.
The Labour Party leadership always supported World War II
, and they joined a national government with the Conservative Party and the Liberals, and agreed a non-contest pact in elections. The CPGB at first supported the war, but after Joseph Stalin
signed a treaty with Adolf Hitler
, opposed it. After the fascist
invasion of the Soviet Union
, they again supported the war, joined the non-contest pact, and did all in their power to prevent strikes. But strikes did occur, and they were supported by the anti-war Independent Labour Party and the newly-formed Trotskyist Revolutionary Communist Party.
won a landslide victory over popular war leader Winston Churchill
in the 1945 general election
, and implemented their social democratic programme. They established the National Health Service
, nationalised some industries (for instance, 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 one in Fife
). The Trotskyite Revolutionary Communist Party collapsed.
Labour lost office in 1951
(despite polling 200,000 more votes than the Conservatives), and after Clement Attlee retired as 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 Bevanites and the Gaitskellites, these disputes were more about personality than ideology, and the rift was healed when Harold Wilson
, a Bevanite, was elected leader after Gaitskell's death.
, given lukewarm support by Harold Wilson
, radicalised a new generation. Massive anti-war protests were organised. The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
and Trotskyist groups like the International Marxist Group
and the International Socialists
came to prominence, particularly due to high-profile members like the IMG's Tariq Ali
.
The CPGB became increasingly divided between Stalinists and Eurocommunists when they voted to disapprove of the Soviet Union's invasion of Czechoslovakia
in 1968. The party suffered a series of splits. Various Maoist inclined elements left, the most significant forming the Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist)
. Later in 1977 other traditionalist pro-Russian elements left to form the New Communist Party.
Throughout most of the rest of the twentieth century, Labour alternated in office with the Conservatives, most notably in the Wilson-Heath
years (1964–1976). During this period, Labour introduced In Place of Strife
, a plan designed to circumvent strikes
by imposing compulsory arbitration. Opposed by many socialists and trade unionists, it had little success as union militants, many close to the CPGB, led the successful 1974 UK miners' strike, the well-supported but ultimately unsuccessful Grunwick dispute
, and the 1978-79 Winter of Discontent
.
The Labour leadership's inability to work with trade unions, coupled with a world recession, resulted in the election in 1979
of a right-wing Conservative government headed by Margaret Thatcher
.
tried in vain to keep the left of the party (in which Tony Benn
was prominent) and the right (in which Roy Jenkins
was prominent) together. In 1980, the party conference was dominated by factional disputes and what Callaghan regarded as Bennite motions. Callaghan resigned as party leader, and was replaced by Michael Foot
, a left-winger who distanced himself from Benn but failed to transmit this to the media or the voters. Benn only lost the deputy leadership narrowly to Denis Healey
.
In 1981 the right-wing split from the Labour Party to found the Social Democratic Party
. In the 1983 general election
, Thatcher rode a wave of nationalism
brought about by the Falklands War
and compounded by the Labour leadership's failure to campaign on their manifesto, their most left-wing for many years (famously described by the right-wing Labour MP Gerald Kaufman
as "the longest suicide note in history"). Labour suffered their worst election defeat since 1918 with eight and a half million votes, over three million votes down on the previous general election. Many former Labour voters voted for the SDP-Liberal Alliance
instead. During this period, the Labour Party was split between the right, including Healey and Roy Hattersley
, a "soft left
" associated with the Tribune
group, and a "hard left
" associated with Benn and the Campaign Group.
The Trotskyist Militant tendency
, working in the Labour Party, had gradually increased their support. By 1982, they controlled Liverpool City Council
, and took the lead in opposing Conservative budget cuts. However, after a fight, many of their councillors were surcharged and thrown out of office. The Labour leadership followed this by expelling Militant members from the party. Thatcher's other chief opponent in local government, Ken Livingstone
of the Greater London Council
, was left powerless when she abolished the metropolitan county councils and GLC in 1986. The term municipal socialism
is used to describe the control of some urban local authorities by the Labour left in this period.
The defining event of the 1980s for British socialists was the 1984-5 miners' strike. Miners in the National Union of Mineworkers, led by Arthur Scargill
, struck against the closure of collieries. Despite widespread support, including alliances forged with students and the prominent role of many miners' wives in Women Against Pit Closures
, the strike was eventually lost. This increased the Tories' confidence, and they undertook massive privatisations and other neo-liberal legislation.
After the 1983 election, the right-winger Neil Kinnock
, who had moved from the left of the party, was chosen as the new leader of Labour. He attempted to reform the party by expelling revolutionaries and dropping many socialist policies. In the process the party beat off the challenge from the SDP. However, Labour lost the 1987 general election
by a wide margin.
and Welsh nationalism
have been the concern of many socialists. Having been raised in the nineteenth century by Liberals also calling for Irish Home Rule, Scottish Home Rule became the official policy of the ILP, and of the Labour Party until 1958. John Maclean campaigned for a separate Communist Party in Scotland in the 1920s, and when the CPGB refused to support Scottish independence, he formed the 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 Assembly, both the Scottish National Party
and Plaid have been challenged by socialists in recent years. The Scottish Socialist Party
, who include an independent Scotland in their programme, has had successes including the election of six MSPs
. Forward Wales, with a less militant programme, are aiming to replicate this success.
Irish republicanism
came to be supported by socialists in Britain. Labour's election manifesto's for 1983, 1987 and 1992 included a commitment to Irish unification
by consent.
. For the first time in the decade, socialists were able to organise effective opposition, culminating in the "Poll tax riot". Margaret Thatcher's own party compelled her to step down, and she was replaced by John Major
, who abolished the charge.
The CPGB finally disintegrated in 1991, although their former newspaper, The Morning Star
, continues to be published by the Communist Party of Britain
. The Eurocommunists, who had controlled the party's magazine Marxism Today
formed the Democratic Left
In the run-up to the 1992 general election, polling showed that there might be a hung parliament
, but possibly a small Labour majority. In the event, Major got in again with a majority of 21. This has been attributed to both triumphalism of the Labour Party (in particular the infamous Sheffield Rally
) and the Tories' "Tax Bombshell" advertising campaign.
After the brief stewardship of John Smith
, Tony Blair
was elected leader. He immediately decided to re-write Clause IV, dropping Labour's commitment to workers' control. 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".
Several party members, such as Arthur Scargill
regarded this as a betrayal of Labour's ideology and left Labour in disgust. 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. The Scottish Socialist Party have proven much more successful, while Ken Livingstone became the Mayor of London
, standing against an official Labour Party candidate. Livingtone was re-admitted into the Labour party in time for his re-election in 2004.
Under Blair, Labour launched a massive PR campaign to rebrand as New Labour, 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 large majority, and were in power until 2010. However, they have not reversed many Tory policies, and have disappointed many socialists.
George Galloway
after his expulsion from the Labour Party
in October 2003 (following controversial statements about the war in Iraq) joined with some far-left groups, mainly the Socialist Workers Party
, then the largest left-of-Labour grouping, and independents, including leading figures from the Muslim Association of Britain
, to form RESPECT The Unity Coalition
. Galloway succeeded in being elected as a Respect MP for Bethnal Green and Bow in the 2005 general election
. Respect had hoped to take over the left-wing space they saw as deserted by New Labour and start to attract disaffected labour grass-roots members, but suffered a series of splits.
Other socialists place their hopes in a trade union
revival, perhaps around the "Awkward Squad
" of the more leftist trade union leaders, many of whom have joined the Labour Representation Committee
. Others have turned to more community-based politics. Yet others believe they can reclaim the Labour Party.
The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition
(TUSC) was formed in January 2010 to fight 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, RESPECT 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 its branches the right to stand and fund local candidates as part of the coalition.
Ed Miliband
's election as leader of the Labour Party, on the back of Trade Union member votes, has been seen by some as a return to the left following New Labour and Miliband has been nicknamed 'Red Ed' by right-wing media. Since assuming office as Leader of the Opposition, Miliband has softened some of the more left-wing ideas he had adopted during the leadership election but remains committed to causes such as a Living Wage
and the 50% tax rate.
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
notions of socialism
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
in Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
and Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
have taken many different forms from the utopian philanthropism
Philanthropist
A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...
of Robert Owen
Robert Owen
Robert Owen was a Welsh social reformer and one of the founders of utopian socialism and the cooperative movement.Owen's philosophy was based on three intellectual pillars:...
through to the reformist
Reformism
Reformism is the belief that gradual democratic changes in a society can ultimately change a society's fundamental economic relations and political structures...
electoral project enshrined in the birth of 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...
.
Origins
The ReformationProtestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
occurred later in Britain than in most of mainland Europe. As in the rest of Europe, various liberal
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
thinkers such as Thomas More
Thomas More
Sir Thomas More , also known by Catholics as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, social philosopher, author, statesman and noted Renaissance humanist. He was an important councillor to Henry VIII of England and, for three years toward the end of his life, Lord Chancellor...
became prominent, but another important current was the emergence of the radical Puritan
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
s who wanted to reform both religion and the nation. The Puritans were oppressed by both the monarchy and by the established church. Eventually these pressures exploded in the violent social revolution known as the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
, which many Marxists see as the world's first successful bourgeois revolution.
After the war several proto-socialist groups emerged. The most important of these groups were the Levellers
Levellers
The Levellers were a political movement during the English Civil Wars which emphasised popular sovereignty, extended suffrage, equality before the law, and religious tolerance, all of which were expressed in the manifesto "Agreement of the People". They came to prominence at the end of the First...
, who advocated electoral reform
Electoral reform
Electoral reform is change in electoral systems to improve how public desires are expressed in election results. That can include reforms of:...
, universal trial by jury
Trial by Jury
Trial by Jury is a comic opera in one act, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It was first produced on 25 March 1875, at London's Royalty Theatre, where it initially ran for 131 performances and was considered a hit, receiving critical praise and outrunning its...
, progressive taxation and the abolition of the monarchy and aristocracy
Aristocracy
Aristocracy , is a form of government in which a few elite citizens rule. The term derives from the Greek aristokratia, meaning "rule of the best". In origin in Ancient Greece, it was conceived of as rule by the best qualified citizens, and contrasted with monarchy...
and of censorship
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
. This was strongly opposed by Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
's government, who also persecuted the moderate reformist group the Fifth Monarchy Men and the radical
Radicalism (historical)
The term Radical was used during the late 18th century for proponents of the Radical Movement. It later became a general pejorative term for those favoring or seeking political reforms which include dramatic changes to the social order...
utopian group the Diggers.
The Industrial Revolution and Robert Owen
The Industrial RevolutionIndustrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
, the transition from a farming economy to an industrial one, began in the UK over 30 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 blacked the sky over Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
and West Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
. Appalling conditions for workers, combined with support for the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
turned some intellectuals to socialism.
The pioneering work of Robert Owen
Robert Owen
Robert Owen was a Welsh social reformer and one of the founders of utopian socialism and the cooperative movement.Owen's philosophy was based on three intellectual pillars:...
, a Welsh radical, at New Lanark
New Lanark
New Lanark is a village on the River Clyde, approximately 1.4 miles from Lanark, in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It was founded in 1786 by David Dale, who built cotton mills and housing for the mill workers. Dale built the mills there to take advantage of the water power provided by the river...
in Scotland, is sometimes credited as being the birth of British Socialism. He stopped employing Children under the age of 10, and instead arranged for their education, and improved the working and living conditions of all his workers. He also lobbied Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
over child labour, and helped to create the co-operative movement, before attempting to create a utopian community at New Harmony.
Trade unions
The trade unionTrade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
movement in Britain gradually developed from the Mediaeval guild
Guild
A guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade. The earliest types of guild were formed as confraternities of workers. They were organized in a manner something between a trade union, a cartel, and a secret society...
system. Unions were subject to often severe repression until 1824, but were already widespread in cities such as London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. Workplace militancy had also manifested itself as Luddism and had been prominent in struggles such as the 1820 Rising in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
where 60,000 workers went on a general strike
General strike
A general strike is a strike action by a critical mass of the labour force in a city, region, or country. While a general strike can be for political goals, economic goals, or both, it tends to gain its momentum from the ideological or class sympathies of the participants...
, which was soon crushed.
From 1830 on, attempts were made to set up national general union
General union
A General Union is a trade union which represents workers from all industries and companies, rather than just one organization or a particular sector, as in a craft union or industrial union...
s, most notably Robert Owen's Grand National Consolidated Trades Union
Grand National Consolidated Trades Union
The Grand National Consolidated Trades Union of 1834 was an early attempt to form a national union confederation in the United Kingdom.There had been several attempts to form national general unions in the 1820s, culminating with the National Association for the Protection of Labour, established in...
in 1834, which attracted a range of socialists from Owenites to revolutionaries. It played a part in the protests after the Tolpuddle Martyrs
Tolpuddle Martyrs
The Tolpuddle Martyrs were a group of 19th century Dorset agricultural labourers who were arrested for and convicted of swearing a secret oath as members of the Friendly Society of Agricultural Labourers. The rules of the society show it was clearly structured as a friendly society and operated as...
' case, but soon collapsed.
Militants turned to Chartism
Chartism
Chartism was a movement for political and social reform in the United Kingdom during the mid-19th century, between 1838 and 1859. It takes its name from the People's Charter of 1838. Chartism was possibly the first mass working class labour movement in the world...
, 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
London Trades Council
The London Trades Council was an early labour organisation, uniting London's trade unionists. Its modern successor organisation is the Greater London Association of Trades Councils...
was founded in 1860, and the Sheffield Outrages
Sheffield Outrages
Sheffield's early success in steel production had involved long working hours, in desperately unpleasant conditions which offered little or no safety protection. quotes a local doctor, Dr. Knight, regarding the so-called "Grinder's Asthma" suffered by the Sheffield cutlery workers in the mid 19th...
spurred the establishment of the Trades Union Congress
Trades Union Congress
The Trades Union Congress is a national trade union centre, a federation of trade unions in the United Kingdom, representing the majority of trade unions...
in 1868. Union membership grew as unskilled and women workers were unionised, and socialists such as Tom Mann
Tom Mann
Tom Mann was a noted British trade unionist. Largely self-educated, Mann became a successful organiser and a popular public speaker in the labour movement.-Early years:...
played an increasingly prominent role.
Ethical socialism
The rise of Non-Conformist religions, in particular MethodismMethodism
Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...
, played a large role in the development of trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
s 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 Christian Socialists formed in 1848 under the leadership of Frederick Denison Maurice. Its membership mainly consisted of Chartists (see below). The group became dormant after only six years, but there was a considerable revival of Christian socialism in the 1880s, and a number of groups sprang up. Ultimately, Christian socialists dominated the leadership of the Independent Labour Party
Independent Labour Party
The Independent Labour Party was a socialist political party in Britain established in 1893. The ILP was affiliated to the Labour Party from 1906 to 1932, when it voted to leave...
, including James Keir Hardie.
The Chartist movement
The Chartist movement of 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.The Chartists published several petition
Petition
A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer....
s 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
Chartism
Chartism was a movement for political and social reform in the United Kingdom during the mid-19th century, between 1838 and 1859. It takes its name from the People's Charter of 1838. Chartism was possibly the first mass working class labour movement in the world...
(hence their name) in 1842, which demanded:
- Universal suffrage for men.
- The secret ballot.
- Removal of property qualifications for Members of Parliament.
- Salaries for Members of Parliament.
- Electoral districts representing equal numbers of people.
- 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, British Parliament reduced the working day to ten hours in 1847.
Source: Encyclopedia of Marxism, available under the terms of GFDL.
Marx and early Marxism
Karl MarxKarl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
and Friedrich Engels
Friedrich Engels
Friedrich Engels was a German industrialist, social scientist, author, political theorist, philosopher, and father of Marxist theory, alongside Karl Marx. In 1845 he published The Condition of the Working Class in England, based on personal observations and research...
worked in England, and they influenced small émigré groups including the Communist League
Communist League
The Communist League was the first Marxist international organization. It was founded originally as the League of the Just by German workers in Paris in 1834. This was initially a utopian socialist and Christian communist group devoted to the ideas of Gracchus Babeuf...
. Engel's Condition of the Working Class in England 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
Social Democratic Federation
The Social Democratic Federation was established as Britain's first organised socialist political party by H. M. Hyndman, and had its first meeting on June 7, 1881. Those joining the SDF included William Morris, George Lansbury and Eleanor Marx. However, Friedrich Engels, Karl Marx's long-term...
, founded in 1882. Engels refused to support the organisation, although Marx's daughter Eleanor
Eleanor Marx
Jenny Julia Eleanor "Tussy" Marx , also known as Eleanor Marx Aveling, was the English-born youngest daughter of Karl Marx. She was herself a socialist activist, who sometimes worked as a literary translator...
joined.
The party soon split, with the Socialist League
Socialist League (UK, 1885)
The Socialist League was an early revolutionary socialist organisation in the United Kingdom. The organisation began as a dissident offshoot of the Social Democratic Federation of Henry Hyndman at the end of 1884. Never an ideologically harmonious group, by the 1890s the group had turned from...
of William Morris
William Morris
William Morris 24 March 18343 October 1896 was an English textile designer, artist, writer, and socialist associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the English Arts and Crafts Movement...
becoming divided between anarchists and Marxists such as Morris and Eleanor Marx. A much later split produced the Socialist Party of Great Britain
Socialist Party of Great Britain
The Socialist Party of Great Britain , is a small Marxist political party within the impossibilist tradition. It is best known for its advocacy of using the ballot box for revolutionary purposes; opposition to reformism; and its early adoption of the theory of state capitalism to describe the...
, Britain's oldest existing socialist party, and the Socialist Labour Party
Socialist Labour Party (UK, 1903)
The Socialist Labour Party was a socialist political party in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1903 as a splinter from the Social Democratic Federation by James Connolly, Neil Maclean and SDF members impressed with the politics of the American socialist Daniel De Leon, a Marxist...
.
Although Marxism had some impact in Britain, it was far less than in many other European countries, with philosophers such as John Ruskin
John Ruskin
John Ruskin was the leading English art critic of the Victorian era, also an art patron, draughtsman, watercolourist, a prominent social thinker and philanthropist. He wrote on subjects ranging from geology to architecture, myth to ornithology, literature to education, and botany to political...
and John Stuart Mill
John Stuart Mill
John Stuart Mill was a British philosopher, economist and civil servant. An influential contributor to social theory, political theory, and political economy, his conception of liberty justified the freedom of the individual in opposition to unlimited state control. He was a proponent of...
having much greater influence. Some non-Marxists theorise that this was because Britain was amongst the most democratic
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
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.
Lib-Labs and the ILP
The 1867 Reform Act finally enfranchised the majority of the male working classWorking class
Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
, who made up a majority of the electorate. The Liberal Party
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
was worried about the possibility of a socialist party taking the bulk of the working class vote, while their great rivals the Conservatives
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
initiated occasional intrigues to encourage socialist candidates to stand against the Liberals.
In 1874, the Liberals agreed not to put candidates against Thomas Burt
Thomas Burt
Thomas Burt PC was a British trade unionist and one of the first working-class Members of Parliament.-Career:...
and Alexander Macdonald
Alexander Macdonald (Lib-Lab politician)
Alexander Macdonald was a Scottish miner, teacher, trade union leader and Lib–Lab politician.-Family and education:Macdonald was born in New Monkland, Lanarkshire, the son of Daniel McDonald and his wife Ann...
, two miners' leaders who were standing for Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
. Both were elected and became known as Liberal-Labour or Lib-Labs for short. Other miner’s leaders entered Parliament via the same route.
In 1888 Robert Cunninghame-Graham
Robert Cunninghame-Graham
Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham was a Scottish politician, writer, journalist and adventurer...
the MP for Lanarkshire North-West since the 1886 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1886
-Seats summary:-See also:*MPs elected in the UK general election, 1886*The Parliamentary Franchise in the United Kingdom 1885-1918-References:*F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987**...
left the Liberals and formed his own, independent, Scottish Labour Party, becoming the first socialist MP in the United Kingdom Parliament.
In the 1892 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1892
The 1892 United Kingdom general election was held from 4 July to 26 July 1892. It saw the Conservatives, led by Lord Salisbury, win the greatest number of seats, but not enough for an overall majority as William Ewart Gladstone's Liberals won many more seats than in the 1886 general election...
Keir Hardie
Keir Hardie
James Keir Hardie, Sr. , was a Scottish socialist and labour leader, and was the first Independent Labour Member of Parliament elected to the Parliament of the United Kingdom...
, 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
Independent Labour Party
The Independent Labour Party was a socialist political party in Britain established in 1893. The ILP was affiliated to the Labour Party from 1906 to 1932, when it voted to leave...
in 1893.
The 20th century
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 Robert BlatchfordRobert Blatchford
Robert Peel Glanville Blatchford was a socialist campaigner, journalist and author in the United Kingdom. He was a prominent atheist and opponent of eugenics. He was also an English patriot...
's newspaper The Clarion
The Clarion
The Clarion was a weekly newspaper published by Robert Blatchford, based in the United Kingdom. It was a socialist publication though adopting a British-focused rather than internationalist perspective on political affairs, as seen in its support of the British involvement in the Anglo-Boer Wars...
from the 1890s to the 1930s; the more intellectual gradualist Fabian Society
Fabian Society
The Fabian Society is a British socialist movement, whose purpose is to advance the principles of democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist, rather than revolutionary, means. It is best known for its initial ground-breaking work beginning late in the 19th century and continuing up to World...
; and more radical groups such as the Socialist Labour Party. However, the movement was increasingly dominated by the formation of the British Labour Party.
The birth of the 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 election the LRC won only two seats, and the SDF disaffiliated, but more unions signed up.The LRC affiliated to the Socialist International
Socialist International
The Socialist International is a worldwide organization of democratic socialist, social democratic and labour political parties. It was formed in 1951.- History :...
and in 1906 changed its name to Labour Party. It formed an electoral pact
Gladstone-MacDonald pact
The Gladstone-MacDonald pact of 1903 was a secret informal electoral agreement negotiated by Herbet Gladstone, Liberal Party Chief Whip, and Ramsay MacDonald, Secretary of the Labour Representation Committee...
with the Liberals, intending to cause maximum damage to the Unionist
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
Government in the forthcoming election. This was successful, and in the process, 29 Labour MPs were elected.
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 Ernest Bax opposed or ignored the movement. By the early twentieth century, the campaign had become more militant, but some of its leaders were reluctant to involve working classWorking class
Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
women in it. Sylvia Pankhurst
Sylvia Pankhurst
Estelle Sylvia Pankhurst was an English campaigner for the suffragist movement in the United Kingdom. She was for a time a prominent left communist who then devoted herself to the cause of anti-fascism.-Early life:...
campaigned for enfranchisement among women in the East End of London and eventually built up the Workers Socialist Federation
Workers Socialist Federation
The Workers' Socialist Federation was a socialist political party in the United Kingdom, led by Sylvia Pankhurst. Under many different names, it gradually broadened its politics from a focus on women's suffrage to eventually become a left communist grouping....
.
Syndicalism and World War I
Supporters of Daniel De LeonDaniel De Leon
Daniel DeLeon was an American socialist newspaper editor, politician, Marxist theoretician, and trade union organizer. He is regarded as the forefather of the idea of revolutionary industrial unionism and was the leading figure in the Socialist Labor Party of America from 1890 until the time of...
in the Social Democratic Federation chiefly in Scotland split to form the Socialist Labour Party. Their fellow impossibilists
Impossibilism
Impossibilism is an interpretation of Marxism. It emphasizes the limited value of reforms in overturning capitalism and insists on revolutionary political action as the only reliable method of bringing about socialism.-Origins of the concept:...
in London split from the SDF the following year to form the Socialist Party of Great Britain
Socialist Party of Great Britain
The Socialist Party of Great Britain , is a small Marxist political party within the impossibilist tradition. It is best known for its advocacy of using the ballot box for revolutionary purposes; opposition to reformism; and its early adoption of the theory of state capitalism to describe the...
(SPGB, still in existence). The remainder of the SDF attempted to form a broader Marxist party, the British Socialist Party
British Socialist Party
The British Socialist Party was a Marxist political organisation established in Great Britain in 1911. Following a protracted period of factional struggle, in 1916 the party's anti-war forces gained decisive control of the party and saw the defection of its pro-war Right Wing...
. The SLP and BSP parties came to influence the shop steward movement, which became particularly prominent in what became known as Red Clydeside
Red Clydeside
Red Clydeside is a term used to describe the era of political radicalism that characterised the city of Glasgow in Scotland, and urban areas around the city on the banks of the River Clyde such as Clydebank, Greenock and Paisley...
. Socialists such as John Maclean
John MacLean
John MacLean may refer to:* John MacLean , US musician, formerly of Six Finger Satellite, now of The Juan MacLean* John MacLean , professional ice hockey player and coach...
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
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. 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.
Bolshevism and the CPGB
The shop steward movement worried many right-wingers, who believed that socialists were fomenting a BolshevikBolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
revolution in Britain. A Communist Party of Great Britain
Communist Party of Great Britain
The Communist Party of Great Britain was the largest communist party in Great Britain, although it never became a mass party like those in France and Italy. It existed from 1920 to 1991.-Formation:...
(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 Comintern
Comintern
The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...
, and proposed the motion to expel 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....
from the international. Under the leadership of Harry Pollitt
Harry Pollitt
Harry Pollitt was the head of the trade union department of the Communist Party of Great Britain and the General Secretary of the party for more than 20 years.- Early life :...
, it finally gained its first MP, and began to expel 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 constitutionConstitution
A constitution is a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is governed. These rules together make up, i.e. constitute, what the entity is...
was agreed, which laid out several aims of the party. These included Clause IV
Clause IV
Clause IV historically refers to part of the 1918 text of the British Labour Party constitution which set out the aims and values of the party. Before its revision in 1995, its application was the subject of considerable dispute.-Text:...
, calling for "common ownership" of key industry. With their success in the 1924 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1924
- Seats summary :- References :* F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987* - External links :* * *...
, Labour were able to form their first minority government
Minority government
A minority government or a minority cabinet is a cabinet of a parliamentary system formed when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in the parliament but is sworn into government to break a Hung Parliament election result. It is also known as a...
, led by Ramsay MacDonald
Ramsay MacDonald
James Ramsay MacDonald, PC, FRS was a British politician who was the first ever Labour Prime Minister, leading a minority government for two terms....
. This government was undermined by the infamous Zinoviev Letter
Zinoviev Letter
The "Zinoviev Letter" refers to a controversial document published by the British press in 1924, allegedly sent from the Communist International in Moscow to the Communist Party of Great Britain...
, which was used as evidence of Labour's links with the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. It was later shown to be a hoax.
In 1926, Welsh miners went on strike over their appalling working conditions. The situation soon escalated into the General Strike, but the Trade Union Congress, ostensibly worried about reports of starvation in the pit village
Pit village
A pit village is a term used in the UK for the village serving a deep coal mine.Many of the workers lived in houses that were provided by the colliery. Many villages have experienced depopulation after colliery closures forced people to move to other towns and cities where there are jobs for them...
s, called the strike off. The miners tried to continue alone, but without TUC support had eventually to give in.
Labour won a minority government in 1929
United Kingdom general election, 1929
-Seats summary:-References:*F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987*-External links:***...
again under MacDonald, but following the Stock Market Crash of 1929, the Great Depression
Great Depression in the United Kingdom
The Great Depression in the United Kingdom, also known as the Great Slump, was a period of national economic downturn in the 1930s, which had its origins in the global Great Depression...
engulfed the country. The government split over its response to the crisis. MacDonald and a few supporters agreed to form a National Government
UK National Government
In the United Kingdom the term National Government is an abstract concept referring to a coalition of some or all major political parties. In a historical sense it usually refers primarily to the governments of Ramsay MacDonald, Stanley Baldwin and Neville Chamberlain which held office from 1931...
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
Jarrow March
The Jarrow March , was an October 1936 protest march against unemployment and extreme poverty suffered in North East England. The 207 marchers travelled from the town of Jarrow to the Palace of Westminster in London, a distance of almost , to lobby Parliament...
of unemployed workers from the North East to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
to demand jobs defined the period.
The Spanish Civil War and World War II
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 Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
was viewed by many socialists as a contest against the rise of fascism
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
which it was vital to win. Many CPGB and Independent Labour Party members went to fight for the Republic and with the Stalinist led International Brigades and the Workers' Party of Marxist Unification (POUM
Poum
Poum is a commune in the North Province of New Caledonia, an overseas territory of France in the Pacific Ocean. The town of Poum is located in the far northwest, located on the southern part of Banare Bay, with Mouac Island just offshore....
) anti-fascist forces, including George Orwell
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...
who wrote about his experiences in Homage to Catalonia
Homage to Catalonia
Homage to Catalonia is political journalist and novelist George Orwell's personal account of his experiences and observations in the Spanish Civil War. The first edition was published in 1938. The book was not published in the United States until February 1952. The American edition had a preface...
.
The Labour Party leadership always supported World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, and they joined a national government with the Conservative Party and the Liberals, and agreed a non-contest pact in elections. The CPGB at first supported the war, but after Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
signed a treaty with Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
, opposed it. After the fascist
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
invasion of the Soviet Union
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
, they again supported the war, joined the non-contest pact, and did all in their power to prevent strikes. But strikes did occur, and they were supported by the anti-war Independent Labour Party and the newly-formed Trotskyist Revolutionary Communist Party.
The 1945 Labour victory
To widespread surprise, the Labour Party under Clement AttleeClement Attlee
Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, KG, OM, CH, PC, FRS was a British Labour politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951, and as the Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955...
won a landslide victory over popular war leader Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
in the 1945 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1945
The United Kingdom general election of 1945 was a general election held on 5 July 1945, with polls in some constituencies delayed until 12 July and in Nelson and Colne until 19 July, due to local wakes weeks. The results were counted and declared on 26 July, due in part to the time it took to...
, and implemented their social democratic programme. They established the National Health Service
National Health Service
The National Health Service is the shared name of three of the four publicly funded healthcare systems in the United Kingdom. They provide a comprehensive range of health services, the vast majority of which are free at the point of use to residents of the United Kingdom...
, nationalised some industries (for instance, coal mining
Coal mining
The goal of coal mining is to obtain coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content, and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United States,...
), and created a welfare state
Welfare state
A welfare state is a "concept of government in which the state plays a key role in the protection and promotion of the economic and social well-being of its citizens. It is based on the principles of equality of opportunity, equitable distribution of wealth, and public responsibility for those...
.
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
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and one in Fife
Fife
Fife is a council area and former county of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries to Perth and Kinross and Clackmannanshire...
). The Trotskyite Revolutionary Communist Party collapsed.
Labour lost office in 1951
United Kingdom general election, 1951
The 1951 United Kingdom general election was held eighteen months after the 1950 general election, which the Labour Party had won with a slim majority of just five seats...
(despite polling 200,000 more votes than the Conservatives), and after Clement Attlee retired as leader in 1955, he was succeeded by the figurehead of the "right-establishment" Hugh Gaitskell
Hugh Gaitskell
Hugh Todd Naylor Gaitskell CBE was a British Labour politician, who held Cabinet office in Clement Attlee's governments, and was the Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition from 1955, until his death in 1963.-Early life:He was born in Kensington, London, the third and youngest...
, against Aneurin Bevan
Aneurin Bevan
Aneurin "Nye" Bevan was a British Labour Party politician who was the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party from 1959 until his death in 1960. The son of a coal miner, Bevan was a lifelong champion of social justice and the rights of working people...
.
Although there were some disputes between the Bevanites and the Gaitskellites, these disputes were more about personality than ideology, and the rift was healed when Harold Wilson
Harold Wilson
James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, FRS, FSS, PC was a British Labour Member of Parliament, Leader of the Labour Party. He was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the 1960s and 1970s, winning four general elections, including a minority government after the...
, a Bevanite, was elected leader after Gaitskell's death.
The 1960s and 1970s
The Vietnam WarVietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, given lukewarm support by Harold Wilson
Harold Wilson
James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, FRS, FSS, PC was a British Labour Member of Parliament, Leader of the Labour Party. He was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the 1960s and 1970s, winning four general elections, including a minority government after the...
, radicalised a new generation. Massive anti-war protests were organised. 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 Trotskyist groups like the International Marxist Group
International Marxist Group
The International Marxist Group was a Trotskyist group in Britain between 1968 and 1982. It was the British Section of the Fourth International. It and its youth organisation had had around 1,000 members and supporters in the late 1970s...
and the International Socialists
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...
came to prominence, particularly due to high-profile members like the IMG's Tariq Ali
Tariq Ali
Tariq Ali , , is a British Pakistani military historian, novelist, journalist, filmmaker, public intellectual, political campaigner, activist, and commentator...
.
The CPGB became increasingly divided between Stalinists and Eurocommunists when they voted to disapprove of the Soviet Union's invasion of Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
in 1968. The party suffered a series of splits. Various Maoist inclined elements left, the most significant forming the Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist)
Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist)
The Communist Party of Britain is a British communist political party. The small party was formed in 1968 by Reg Birch as a split from the Communist Party of Great Britain, siding with the Communist Party of China...
. Later in 1977 other traditionalist pro-Russian elements left to form the New Communist Party.
Throughout most of the rest of the twentieth century, Labour alternated in office with the Conservatives, most notably in the Wilson-Heath
Edward Heath
Sir Edward Richard George "Ted" Heath, KG, MBE, PC was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and as Leader of the Conservative Party ....
years (1964–1976). During this period, Labour introduced In Place of Strife
In Place of Strife
In Place of Strife was a UK Government white paper written in 1969. It was a proposed act to alter the functionality of trade unions in the United Kingdom, but was never passed into law....
, a plan designed to circumvent strikes
Strike action
Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...
by imposing compulsory arbitration. Opposed by many socialists and trade unionists, it had little success as union militants, many close to the CPGB, led the successful 1974 UK miners' strike, the well-supported but ultimately unsuccessful Grunwick dispute
Grunwick dispute
The Grunwick dispute was an industrial dispute involving trade union recognition at the Grunwick Film Processing Laboratories in Willesden, North London which led to a two-year strike between 1976–1978...
, and the 1978-79 Winter of Discontent
Winter of Discontent
The "Winter of Discontent" is an expression, popularised by the British media, referring to the winter of 1978–79 in the United Kingdom, during which there were widespread strikes by local authority trade unions demanding larger pay rises for their members, because the Labour government of...
.
The Labour leadership's inability to work with trade unions, coupled with a world recession, resulted in the election in 1979
United Kingdom general election, 1979
The United Kingdom general election of 1979 was held on 3 May 1979 to elect 635 members to the British House of Commons. The Conservative Party, led by Margaret Thatcher ousted the incumbent Labour government of James Callaghan with a parliamentary majority of 43 seats...
of a right-wing Conservative government headed by Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
.
The 1980s
After the 1979 Labour defeat, Jim CallaghanJames Callaghan
Leonard James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff, KG, PC , was a British Labour politician, who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1976 to 1980...
tried in vain to keep the left of the party (in which Tony Benn
Tony Benn
Anthony Neil Wedgwood "Tony" Benn, PC is a British Labour Party politician and a former MP and Cabinet Minister.His successful campaign to renounce his hereditary peerage was instrumental in the creation of the Peerage Act 1963...
was prominent) and the right (in which Roy Jenkins
Roy Jenkins
Roy Harris Jenkins, Baron Jenkins of Hillhead OM, PC was a British politician.The son of a Welsh coal miner who later became a union official and Labour MP, Roy Jenkins served with distinction in World War II. Elected to Parliament as a Labour member in 1948, he served in several major posts in...
was prominent) together. In 1980, the party conference was dominated by factional disputes and what Callaghan regarded as Bennite motions. Callaghan resigned as party leader, and was replaced by Michael Foot
Michael Foot
Michael Mackintosh Foot, FRSL, PC was a British Labour Party politician, journalist and author, who was a Member of Parliament from 1945 to 1955 and from 1960 until 1992...
, a left-winger who distanced himself from Benn but failed to transmit this to the media or the voters. Benn only lost the deputy leadership narrowly to Denis Healey
Denis Healey
Denis Winston Healey, Baron Healey CH, MBE, PC is a British Labour politician, who served as Secretary of State for Defence from 1964 to 1970 and Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1974 to 1979.-Early life:...
.
In 1981 the right-wing split from the Labour Party to found the Social Democratic Party
Social Democratic Party (UK)
The Social Democratic Party was a political party in the United Kingdom that was created on 26 March 1981 and existed until 1988. It was founded by four senior Labour Party 'moderates', dubbed the 'Gang of Four': Roy Jenkins, David Owen, Bill Rodgers and Shirley Williams...
. In the 1983 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1983
The 1983 United Kingdom general election was held on 9 June 1983. It gave the Conservative Party under Margaret Thatcher the most decisive election victory since that of Labour in 1945...
, Thatcher rode a wave of nationalism
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
brought about by the Falklands War
Falklands War
The Falklands War , also called the Falklands Conflict or Falklands Crisis, was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the disputed Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands...
and compounded by the Labour leadership's failure to campaign on their manifesto, their most left-wing for many years (famously described by the right-wing Labour MP Gerald Kaufman
Gerald Kaufman
Sir Gerald Bernard Kaufman is a British Labour Party politician, who has been a Member of Parliament since 1970, first for Manchester Ardwick, and then subsequently for Manchester Gorton...
as "the longest suicide note in history"). Labour suffered their worst election defeat since 1918 with eight and a half million votes, over three million votes down on the previous general election. Many former Labour voters voted for the SDP-Liberal Alliance
SDP-Liberal Alliance
The SDP–Liberal Alliance was an electoral pact formed by the Social Democratic Party and the Liberal Party in the United Kingdom which was in existence from 1981 to 1988, when the bulk of the two parties merged to form the Social and Liberal Democrats, later referred to as simply the Liberal...
instead. During this period, the Labour Party was split between the right, including Healey and Roy Hattersley
Roy Hattersley
Roy Sydney George Hattersley, Baron Hattersley is a British Labour politician, author and journalist from Sheffield. He served as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party from 1983 to 1992.-Early life:...
, a "soft left
Soft left
The soft left was the name given to the more moderate left wing forces in the British Labour Party in the 1980s. They were first seen as a distinct movement when many previous left wingers such as Neil Kinnock refused to support Tony Benn in the election for the deputy leadership of the Labour...
" associated with the Tribune
Tribune (magazine)
Tribune is a democratic socialist weekly, founded in 1937 published in London. It is independent but supports the Labour Party from the left...
group, and a "hard left
Hard left
Hard left is a name often given to an internal tendency within the British Labour Party. Similar terminology is used also in the context of the Australian Labor Party....
" associated with Benn and the Campaign Group.
The Trotskyist Militant tendency
Militant Tendency
The Militant tendency was an entrist group within the British Labour Party based around the Militant newspaper that was first published in 1964...
, working in the Labour Party, had gradually increased their support. By 1982, they controlled Liverpool City Council
Liverpool City Council
Liverpool City Council is the governing body for the city of Liverpool in Merseyside, England. It consists of 90 councillors, three for each of the city's 30 wards. The council is currently controlled by the Labour Party and is led by Joe Anderson.-Domain:...
, and took the lead in opposing Conservative budget cuts. However, after a fight, many of their councillors were surcharged and thrown out of office. The Labour leadership followed this by expelling Militant members from the party. Thatcher's other chief opponent in local government, Ken Livingstone
Ken Livingstone
Kenneth Robert "Ken" Livingstone is an English politician who is currently a member of the centrist to centre-left Labour Party...
of the Greater London Council
Greater London Council
The Greater London Council was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council which had covered a much smaller area...
, was left powerless when she abolished the metropolitan county councils and GLC in 1986. The term municipal socialism
Municipal socialism
Municipal socialism refers to various historical movements to use local government to further socialist aims. The term has been used to describe public ownership of streetcar lines, waterworks, and other local utilities, as was favored by "Progressives" in the United States in the late 1890s/early...
is used to describe the control of some urban local authorities by the Labour left in this period.
The defining event of the 1980s for British socialists was the 1984-5 miners' strike. Miners in the National Union of Mineworkers, led by Arthur Scargill
Arthur Scargill
Arthur Scargill is a British politician who was President of the National Union of Mineworkers from 1982 to 2002, leading the union through the 1984–85 miners' strike, a key event in British labour and political history...
, struck against the closure of collieries. Despite widespread support, including alliances forged with students and the prominent role of many miners' wives in Women Against Pit Closures
Women Against Pit Closures
Women Against Pit Closures was a political movement supporting miners and their families in the UK miners' strike of 1984–85. The movement is credited with bringing feminist ideas into practice in an industrial dispute and empowering women to take a public role in a community with a male-dominated...
, the strike was eventually lost. This increased the Tories' confidence, and they undertook massive privatisations and other neo-liberal legislation.
After the 1983 election, the right-winger Neil Kinnock
Neil Kinnock
Neil Gordon Kinnock, Baron Kinnock is a Welsh politician belonging to the Labour Party. He served as a Member of Parliament from 1970 until 1995 and as Labour Leader and Leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition from 1983 until 1992 - his leadership of the party during nearly nine years making him...
, who had moved from the left of the party, was chosen as the new leader of Labour. He attempted to reform the party by expelling revolutionaries and dropping many socialist policies. In the process the party beat off the challenge from the SDP. However, Labour lost the 1987 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1987
The United Kingdom general election of 1987 was held on 11 June 1987, to elect 650 members to the British House of Commons. The election was the third consecutive election victory for the Conservative Party under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher, who became the first Prime Minister since the 2nd...
by a wide margin.
Socialism and nationalism
ScottishScottish independence
Scottish independence is a political ambition of political parties, advocacy groups and individuals for Scotland to secede from the United Kingdom and become an independent sovereign state, separate from England, Wales and Northern Ireland....
and Welsh nationalism
Welsh nationalism
Welsh nationalism emphasises the distinctiveness of Welsh language, culture, and history, and calls for more self-determination for Wales, which may include more Devolved powers for the Welsh Assembly or full independence from the United Kingdom.-Conquest:...
have been the concern of many socialists. Having been raised in the nineteenth century by Liberals also calling for Irish Home Rule, Scottish Home Rule became the official policy of the ILP, and of the Labour Party until 1958. John Maclean campaigned for a separate Communist Party in Scotland in the 1920s, and when the CPGB refused to support Scottish independence, he formed the Scottish Workers Republican Party
Scottish Workers Republican Party
The Scottish Workers Republican Party was formed by the Scottish Marxist activist John Maclean in the 1910s. It advocated the political doctrine of communism, whilst also supporting Scottish independence...
. The poet Hugh MacDiarmid
Hugh MacDiarmid
Hugh MacDiarmid is the pen name of Christopher Murray Grieve , a significant Scottish poet of the 20th century. He was instrumental in creating a Scottish version of modernism and was a leading light in the Scottish Renaissance of the 20th century...
, a Communist, was also an early member of the National Party of Scotland
National Party of Scotland
The National Party of Scotland was a political party in Scotland and a forerunner of the current Scottish National Party.The NPS was formed in 1928 after John MacCormick of the Glasgow University Scottish Nationalist Association called a meeting of all those favouring the establishment of a party...
. 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
Plaid Cymru
' is a political party in Wales. It advocates the establishment of an independent Welsh state within the European Union. was formed in 1925 and won its first seat in 1966...
declared itself to be a socialist party.
Following the establishment of the Scottish Parliament
Scottish Parliament
The Scottish Parliament is the devolved national, unicameral legislature of Scotland, located in the Holyrood area of the capital, Edinburgh. The Parliament, informally referred to as "Holyrood", is a democratically elected body comprising 129 members known as Members of the Scottish Parliament...
and Welsh Assembly, both the Scottish National Party
Scottish National Party
The Scottish National Party is a social-democratic political party in Scotland which campaigns for Scottish independence from the United Kingdom....
and Plaid have been challenged by socialists in recent years. 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....
, who include an independent Scotland in their programme, has had successes including the election of six MSPs
Member of the Scottish Parliament
Member of the Scottish Parliament is the title given to any one of the 129 individuals elected to serve in the Scottish Parliament.-Methods of Election:MSPs are elected in one of two ways:...
. Forward Wales, with a less militant programme, are aiming to replicate this success.
Irish republicanism
Irish Republicanism
Irish republicanism is an ideology based on the belief that all of Ireland should be an independent republic.In 1801, under the Act of Union, the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland merged to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...
came to be supported by socialists in Britain. Labour's election manifesto's for 1983, 1987 and 1992 included a commitment to Irish unification
United Ireland
A united Ireland is the term used to refer to the idea of a sovereign state which covers all of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland. The island of Ireland includes the territory of two independent sovereign states: the Republic of Ireland, which covers 26 counties of the island, and the...
by consent.
The 1990s
In 1989 and 1990, the Conservatives introduced the deeply unpopular poll taxPoll tax
A poll tax is a tax of a portioned, fixed amount per individual in accordance with the census . When a corvée is commuted for cash payment, in effect it becomes a poll tax...
. For the first time in the decade, socialists were able to organise effective opposition, culminating in the "Poll tax riot". Margaret Thatcher's own party compelled her to step down, and she was replaced by John Major
John Major
Sir John Major, is a British Conservative politician, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990–1997...
, who abolished the charge.
The CPGB finally disintegrated in 1991, although their former newspaper, The Morning Star
The Morning Star
The Morning Star is a left wing British daily tabloid newspaper with a focus on social and trade union issues. Articles and comment columns are contributed by writers from socialist, social democratic, green and religious perspectives....
, continues to be published by 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...
. The Eurocommunists, who had controlled the party's magazine Marxism Today
Marxism Today
Marxism Today was the theoretical journal of the Communist Party of Great Britain and was disestablished in 1991. It was particularly important during the 1980s under the editorship of Martin Jacques...
formed the Democratic Left
Democratic Left (United Kingdom)
Democratic Left was a post-communist political organisation in the United Kingdom during the 1990s, growing out of the Eurocommunist strand within the Communist Party of Great Britain and its magazine Marxism Today...
In the run-up to the 1992 general election, polling showed that there might be a hung parliament
Hung parliament
In a two-party parliamentary system of government, a hung parliament occurs when neither major political party has an absolute majority of seats in the parliament . It is also less commonly known as a balanced parliament or a legislature under no overall control...
, but possibly a small Labour majority. In the event, Major got in again with a majority of 21. This has been attributed to both triumphalism of the Labour Party (in particular the infamous Sheffield Rally
Sheffield Rally
The Sheffield Rally was a political meeting held by the Labour Party on Wednesday 1 April 1992, a week ahead of the 1992 UK general election.The event was held at the Sheffield Arena, an indoor sports venue in Sheffield, England. It was attended by 10,000 Labour Party members, including the entire...
) and the Tories' "Tax Bombshell" advertising campaign.
After the brief stewardship of John Smith
John Smith (UK politician)
John Smith was a British Labour Party politician who served as Leader of the Labour Party from July 1992 until his sudden death from a heart attack in May 1994...
, 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...
was elected leader. He immediately decided to re-write Clause IV, dropping Labour's commitment to workers' control. 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".
Several party members, such as Arthur Scargill
Arthur Scargill
Arthur Scargill is a British politician who was President of the National Union of Mineworkers from 1982 to 2002, leading the union through the 1984–85 miners' strike, a key event in British labour and political history...
regarded this as a betrayal of Labour's ideology and left Labour in disgust. Scargill formed the Socialist Labour Party
Socialist Labour Party (UK)
The Socialist Labour Party is a far left socialist political party in the United Kingdom. The party is led by former trade union leader Arthur Scargill, who established it in 1996 as a breakaway from the Labour Party...
(SLP) which initially attracted some support, much of which transferred to 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:...
on its formation, but the SA has since been wound up and the SLP has become marginalised. The Scottish Socialist Party have proven much more successful, while Ken Livingstone became the Mayor of London
Mayor of London
The Mayor of London is an elected politician who, along with the London Assembly of 25 members, is accountable for the strategic government of Greater London. Conservative Boris Johnson has held the position since 4 May 2008...
, standing against an official Labour Party candidate. Livingtone was re-admitted into the Labour party in time for his re-election in 2004.
Under Blair, Labour launched a massive PR campaign to rebrand as New Labour, 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
United Kingdom general election, 1997
The United Kingdom general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, more than five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992, to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party ended its 18 years in opposition under the leadership of Tony Blair, and won the general...
with a large majority, and were in power until 2010. However, they have not reversed many Tory policies, and have disappointed many socialists.
The 21st century
The international anti-globalisation movement, while difficult to define, has become a focus for other socialists in the 21st century, and many see a reflection of it in the opposition of large sections of the population to the 2003 Iraq War.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...
after his expulsion from 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 October 2003 (following controversial statements about the war in Iraq) joined with some far-left groups, mainly the Socialist Workers Party
Socialist Workers Party (Britain)
The Socialist Workers Party is a far left party in Britain founded by Tony Cliff. The SWP's student section has groups at a number of universities...
, then the largest left-of-Labour grouping, and independents, including leading figures from the Muslim Association of Britain
Muslim Association of Britain
The Muslim Association of Britain is an Islamic organisation in the United Kingdom established in 1997.-Anti-war activities:Along with Stop the War Coalition and Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, it has co-sponsored various demonstrations against the 2003 invasion and occupation of Iraq...
, to form RESPECT The Unity Coalition
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:...
. Galloway succeeded in being elected as a Respect MP for Bethnal Green and Bow in the 2005 general election
United Kingdom general election, 2005
The United Kingdom general election of 2005 was held on Thursday, 5 May 2005 to elect 646 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party under Tony Blair won its third consecutive victory, but with a majority of 66, reduced from 160....
. Respect had hoped to take over the left-wing space they saw as deserted by New Labour and start to attract disaffected labour grass-roots members, but suffered a series of splits.
Other socialists place their hopes in a trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
revival, perhaps around the "Awkward Squad
Awkward Squad (trade unions)
The Awkward Squad is an informal grouping of socialist trade unionists in the United Kingdom. The term was given in 2002-3 to those that opposed what they regarded as the economically liberal policies of the ruling New Labour faction of the Labour Party...
" of the more leftist trade union leaders, many of whom have joined the Labour Representation Committee
Labour Representation Committee (2004)
The Labour Representation Committee is a British socialist pressure group within the Labour Party and wider labour movement. It is often seen as representing the most left wing members of the Labour Party.-Overview:...
. Others have turned to more community-based politics. Yet others believe they can reclaim the Labour Party.
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...
(TUSC) was formed in January 2010 to fight the 2010 general election. Founding supporters include Bob Crow
Bob Crow
Robert Crow , who is better known as Bob Crow, is a British trade union leader, the General Secretary of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers and a member of the General Council of the TUC...
, 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, RESPECT 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 its branches the right to stand and fund local candidates as part of the coalition.
Ed Miliband
Ed Miliband
Edward Samuel Miliband is a British Labour Party politician, currently the Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition...
's election as leader of the Labour Party, on the back of Trade Union member votes, has been seen by some as a return to the left following New Labour and Miliband has been nicknamed 'Red Ed' by right-wing media. Since assuming office as Leader of the Opposition, Miliband has softened some of the more left-wing ideas he had adopted during the leadership election but remains committed to causes such as a Living Wage
Living wage
In public policy, a living wage is the minimum hourly income necessary for a worker to meet basic needs . These needs include shelter and other incidentals such as clothing and nutrition...
and the 50% tax rate.
See also
- British leftBritish leftThe biggest organisation on the British left is the Labour Party with over 100,000 members.The Communist Party of Great Britain had a peak membership of 56,000 in 1945...
- Liberalism in the United KingdomLiberalism in the United KingdomThis article gives an overview of liberalism in the United Kingdom. It is limited to liberal parties with substantial support, mainly proved by having had a representation in parliament. The sign ⇒ denotes another party in that scheme...
- Politics of the United KingdomPolitics of the United KingdomThe politics of the United Kingdom takes place within the framework of a constitutional monarchy, in which the Monarch is the head of state and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government...
- History of SocialismHistory of socialismThe history of socialism has its origins in the French Revolution of 1789 and the changes brought about by the Industrial Revolution, although it has precedents in earlier movements and ideas. The Communist Manifesto was written by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels in 1848 just before the Revolutions...
External links
- "Alternative Pleasures", Mark Bevir, Berfrois, 25 October 2011
- "History of British Socialism", Max Beer, 1920
- "British Socialist, Tony Benn, Quotations"