Socialist Appeal (UK, 1992)

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Socialist Appeal
FoundedApril 1992
Split from Militant tendency
Succeeded byRevolutionary Communist Party (6 May 2024)
NewspaperSocialist Appeal
Youth wing Marxist Student Federation
Ideology
International affiliation
Website
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Socialist Appeal was the British section of the International Marxist Tendency (IMT), founded in 1992 alongside the IMT by supporters of Ted Grant and Alan Woods after they were expelled from the Militant tendency of the Labour Party. [1] The organisation relaunched itself in 2024 as the Revolutionary Communist Party.

Contents

The organisation described itself as a "Marxist organisation which stands for the socialist transformation of society." Its stated aim was to build a revolutionary leadership capable of leading the working class in a struggle against capitalism. [2] It described its politics as descending from Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky. [3]

Socialist Appeal published a fortnightly newspaper under the same name. On 21 January 2024, the paper was renamed to The Communist and merged with the Scottish IMT newspaper, Revolution. [4] The organisation also produced books, pamphlets, magazines and other Marxist educational material, sold through the Wellred Books Britain bookstore, which it operated. [5]

In 2013, Socialist Appeal officially launched its youth wing, the Marxist Student Federation (MSF), to provide a "national platform for Marxist ideas in the student movement." [6] As of 2022, the MSF claims a presence at over 50 campuses across Britain, [7] focused on political discussions at university Marxist societies, as well as campaigning within the labour movement. [8]

History

Socialist Appeal and Marxist Student Federation activists at a climate change march in 2021. Capitalism is killing the planet (51659742464).jpg
Socialist Appeal and Marxist Student Federation activists at a climate change march in 2021.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Socialist Appeal's predecessor, the Militant tendency, had been a significant force within the British Labour Party. [9] At the height of its influence in the mid-to-late 1980s, Militant had three Labour MPs, control of Liverpool City Council and later initiated the campaign that they claim forced the abandonment of the Poll tax. [10] [11] Grant had been one of the founders [12] and the theoretical leader of the Militant group, but he was expelled with other supporters after the 1991 debate on the Open Turn. [13]

A special conference decision to endorse the Open Turn by 93% to 7% entailed Militant supporters abandoning the entryist strategy of working within the Labour Party and leaving to form an independent organisation. The new party was initially known as Militant Labour, changing its name in 1997 to the Socialist Party in England and Wales while in Scotland Scottish Militant Labour instigated the formation of the Scottish Socialist Party. [14]

The split was caused by the Militant tendency's majority adoption of the Open Turn, Grant's continued support for the tactic of entryism within the Labour Party and what Grant and Woods claimed was the bureaucratic centralist degeneration of Militant's internal regime. [15] [16]

Socialist Appeal began publishing their own journal in 1992. In 2000, the group was estimated to have around 250 supporters. [17]

In 2013, the tendency in Britain made a turn towards the student movement by launching the Marxist Student Federation. [6]

Following the Scottish independence referendum in which Scots voted to retain the union with the rest of the United Kingdom, the International Marxist Tendency launched a separate Scottish periodical called Revolution, which analyses events in Scotland, and puts forward a Marxist position in relation to the Scottish independence movement. Revolution's masthead carries the slogan "For a Scottish workers' republic and world socialist revolution!". [18]

In July 2021, the Labour Party's National Executive Committee banned Socialist Appeal and ruled that its members could be automatically expelled from the Labour Party. [19] [20]

On 14 November 2023, Socialist Appeal announced that they and the IMT in Scotland were to be refounded as the Revolutionary Communist Party, and that the newspaper would be renamed The Communist, beginning on 21 January 2024, the 100th anniversary of the death of Vladimir Lenin. The founding congress of the party is scheduled to take place in May 2024. [21]

Publications

The front cover of issue 381 of Socialist Appeal, released in January 2023. Socialist Appeal issue 381 January 2023.jpg
The front cover of issue 381 of Socialist Appeal, released in January 2023.

Socialist Appeal refers to the fortnightly newspaper of the same name. In September 2009, the publication Socialist Appeal changed from a magazine journal format to a full colour tabloid. [22]

The group also produced and published a number of pamphlets and books through their Wellred Books publishing arm. [23]

Socialist Appeal was also the name of two British Trotskyist newspapers associated with Ted Grant in the 1940s: one was the newspaper of the Workers International League and immediately following that of the Revolutionary Communist Party. [24]

International Marxist Tendency

The international group to which Socialist Appeal is affiliated is known as the International Marxist Tendency. In Latin America, it supported President of Venezuela's Hugo Chávez’s Bolivarian Revolution and the IMT instigated the formation of the Hands Off Venezuela campaign group to support Chávez. [25] [26]

The IMT published a number of books by Trotsky, Grant and Woods [23] and runs the multilingual website In Defence of Marxism.

See also

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References

  1. ↑ Wade, Bob (27 July 2006). "Ted Grant: Trotskyite behind the Militant Tendency's infiltration of the Labour party". The Guardian . London. Archived from the original on 18 October 2023. Retrieved 13 July 2012.
  2. ↑ Appeal, Socialist (3 January 2003). "About us". Socialist Appeal. Archived from the original on 1 February 2023. Retrieved 1 February 2023.
  3. ↑ "About us". In Defence of Marxism. Archived from the original on 9 December 2023. Retrieved 13 July 2012.
  4. ↑ "Goodbye Revolution, The Communist is Here". Revolution. January 2024. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
  5. ↑ "About Us". Wellred Books. Archived from the original on 14 October 2023. Retrieved 1 February 2023.
  6. 1 2 Student, Marxist (4 October 2013). "Marxist Student Federation off to a flying start | Marxist Student Federation" . Retrieved 1 February 2023.
  7. ↑ "Find your Marxist Society | Marxist Student Federation". 9 September 2013. Archived from the original on 19 June 2023. Retrieved 1 February 2023.
  8. ↑ Federation, Marxist Student (8 December 2022). "Marxist Student Federation: The voice of the labour movement on campus". Socialist Appeal. Archived from the original on 1 February 2023. Retrieved 1 February 2023.
  9. ↑ Crick, Michael (1986). The March of Militant . London: Faber & Faber. ISBN   9780571146437.
  10. ↑ Taaffe, Peter (1995). The Rise of Militant. London: Militant Publications.
  11. ↑ Sewell, Rob (18 July 2005). "How the Militant was Built – and How it was Destroyed". In Defence of Marxism. Archived from the original (10 October 2004) on 17 August 2023. Retrieved 13 July 2012.
  12. ↑ Grant, Ted (1989). The Unbroken Thread. London: Fortress Books. pp. ix. Archived from the original on 12 November 2023.
  13. ↑ McSmith, Andy (9 August 2006). "Ted Grant: Founder of the Trotskyite group Militant Tendency who never abandoned his revolutionary ideals". The Independent . London. Archived from the original on 17 April 2023. Retrieved 13 July 2012.
  14. ↑ "Trotskyist Sources at the Modern Records Centre". University of Warwick . Archived from the original on 12 November 2023. Retrieved 1 January 2019. In 1991 the two remaining Militant MPs were expelled from the Labour Party, and the tendency finally abandoned its entrist tactics and moved towards the formation of an open party - Militant Labour. Disagreements over the abandonment of work inside the Labour Party resulted in a split in Militant Labour, with the minority or opposition faction, led by Ted Grant, leaving to form Socialist Appeal in 1992. In 1997 Militant Labour changed its name to the Socialist Party (except in Scotland, where it remained Scottish Militant Labour).
  15. ↑ "Against Bureaucratic Centralism". In Defence of Marxism. 18 July 2005. Archived from the original on 12 November 2023. Retrieved 13 July 2012.
  16. ↑ Taaffe, Peter (1995). The Rise of Militant. London: Militant Publications. p. 133.
  17. ↑ Peter Barberis et al., Encyclopedia of British and Irish Political Organizations, p.519
  18. ↑ "Subscribe to Revolution". REVOLUTION. 24 March 2017. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  19. ↑ Mason, Rowena (20 July 2021). "Labour votes to ban four far-left factions that supported Corbyn's leadership". The Guardian . Archived from the original on 22 July 2021. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  20. ↑ Shalev, Asaf (22 July 2021). "UK Labour bans far-left factions in effort to change reputation on antisemitism". Times of Israel . Archived from the original on 22 July 2021. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  21. ↑ Hinckley, Jonathan (14 November 2023). "Revolution Festival 2023: The communists are coming!". Socialist Appeal. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
  22. ↑ Editorial Board (September 2009). "Welcome to the new look Socialist Appeal!". Socialist Appeal (177): 2.
  23. 1 2 "Welcome to Wellred Online Bookshop!". Wellred Books. Retrieved 13 July 2012.
  24. ↑ Crick, Michael (1984). Militant . London: Faber & Faber. pp.  34, 38. ISBN   9780571132560.
  25. ↑ "Venezuela's economy: Towards state socialism". The Economist. 20 November 2010. Retrieved 13 July 2012.
  26. ↑ Yapp, Robin (5 December 2010). "Welsh Trotskyist in row over claims he is key adviser to Hugo Chavez". London: The Daily Telegraph . Retrieved 13 July 2012.
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