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Alliance for Green Socialism | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Leader | Mike Davies |
| Founded | 2003 |
| Headquarters | Leeds, West Yorkshire, England |
| Ideology | Eco-socialism Anti-capitalism Participatory democracy Republicanism Euroscepticism |
| Political position | Left-wing |
| National affiliation | No2EU (2009–2010) |
| Colours | Green and red |
| Website | |
| greensocialist | |
The Alliance for Green Socialism (AGS), also known as Green Socialists, is a socialist and environmentalist political grouping operating across Britain (although its most active membership is in West Yorkshire, particularly in the City of Leeds). Its first annual conference was in 2003 following the 2002 merger of the Leeds Left Alliance (formed by Mike Davies, Celia Foote, Garth Frankland and other former members of the Labour Party) and the Green Socialist Network (whose origins lay in the former Communist Party of Great Britain). The Leeds Left Alliance had previously been involved in the former Socialist Alliance and a small number of AGS members remained involved in it until it was dissolved by the SWP (who had effectively taken it over) in February 2005. The AGS has sponsored various attempts by one of its affiliate organisations (Rugby Red Green Alliance) and the Socialist Alliance Democracy Platform to re-form the Socialist Alliance from 2005 onwards but this has had little success and the AGS concluded in 2011 that such efforts were no longer politically productive (although the AGS still actively supports the idea of a broader Socialist/Environmentalist political alliance).
Contents
- History
- Green Socialist Network
- Post-merger
- Policies
- Membership
- Publications
- Finances
- Election results
- Parliament
- European Parliament
- See also
- References
- External links
The AGS describes itself as an alliance rather than as a party. This is seen as significant by some AGS members because the AGS contains people from a variety of trends, traditions and ideological backgrounds who have all agreed to work together in a single organisation whilst retaining the right to disagree on some issues. Many of the AGS members come from former political parties which had a democratic centralist tradition while others were formerly in the Labour Party or in no party at all. To argue out every issue on which differences existed to the point where a majority decision was reached which was then binding on all members might lead to many comrades leaving. The current arrangement recognises that the AGS is open to people from various leftist and environmentalist positions – as long as they agree on the basic principles on which the AGS was founded.
The AGS stood candidates in its own name in the Yorkshire and the Humber constituency in the 2004 European Election, [1] coming last with 0.9% of the votes cast. It later contested the 2005 UK general election under its own name and in association with other leftist parties in the Socialist Green Unity Coalition, standing candidates in Yorkshire, London and Brighton. The AGS also stood candidates under its own name in the 2010, 2015 and 2017 [2] General Elections.
In 2009, the AGS joined the No2EU – Yes to Democracy election campaign for the European elections and three AGS members stood as candidates in Yorkshire and the Humber. However, following the election, the failure of the RMT union to commit itself to a successor organisation to this campaign (whose name was disliked by most AGS members as it implied an anti-European stance which they do not hold) and its transformation into a new organisation (Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition) which is politically and organisationally dominated by the Socialist Party, has led the AGS to withdraw from this group.
