World Socialist Party of India | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Leader | None |
| Founded | 1995 |
| Split from | Communist Party of India (Marxist) |
| Ideology | Impossibilism Classical Marxism Socialism |
| International affiliation | World Socialist Movement (1995–2003; 2014–present) |
| Colours | Red |
| Website | |
| worldsocialistpartyindia | |
The World Socialist Party of India (WSPI) is an Indian political party founded in 1995.
Founded in March 1995 in Calcutta by members of the Marxist International Correspondence Circle (May 1990) in collaboration with the Bengali language journal Lal Pataka group (January 1983), having broken away from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in 1982, the WSPI inaugurated on 1–3 March 1995 in the Students Hall, College Squire, Calcutta.
Adopting the Object and the Declaration of Principles as laid down in 1904 by the Socialist Party of Great Britain (SPGB) as the basis, the party appreciated the SPGB for its opposition to the world wars on grounds of class and description of Russia in 1918 as "state capitalist". Like the SPGB, it has no leadership.
The party was founded with the help of the SPGB and formally established themselves as a companion party of the World Socialist Movement (WSM) in 1995. In common with other parties of the WSM, it was formed as a revolutionary party opposed to Leninism and seeking to win control of the state by parliamentary means in order to abolish it and establish socialism on a worldwide scale.
The party was the only WSM party in Asia until the 9th Annual Congress in February 2003 when it requested to affiliate to Socialist Studies which lasted for five years. [1] This resulted in a split called the World Socialist Group who remained with the WSM. However, the party applied to rejoin the WSM and was ratified by Executive Committee of the SPGB on 5 May 2014. [2]
The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a far-left faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the Second Party Congress in 1903. The Bolshevik party, formally established in 1912, seized power in Russia in the October Revolution of 1917, and was later renamed the Russian Communist Party, All-Union Communist Party, and Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The party's ideology, based on Leninist and later Marxist–Leninist principles, is known as Bolshevism.
Marxism–Leninism is a communist ideology that became the largest faction of the communist movement in the world in the years following the October Revolution. It was the predominant ideology of most communist governments throughout the 20th century. It was developed in Russia by Joseph Stalin and drew on elements of Bolshevism, Leninism, Marxism, and the works of Karl Kautsky. It was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, Soviet satellite states in the Eastern Bloc, and various countries in the Non-Aligned Movement and Third World during the Cold War, as well as the Communist International after Bolshevization.
Amadeo Bordiga was an Italian Marxist theorist. A revolutionary socialist, Bordiga was the founder of the Communist Party of Italy (PCdI), member of the Communist International (Comintern), and later a leading figure of the Internationalist Communist Party (PCInt). He was originally associated with the PCdI but was expelled in 1930 after being accused of Trotskyism. Bordiga is viewed as one of the most notable representatives of left communism in Europe.
The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was an international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism, and which was led and controlled by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress in 1920 to "struggle by all available means, including armed force, for the overthrow of the international bourgeoisie and the creation of an international soviet republic as a transition stage to the complete abolition of the state". The Comintern was preceded by the dissolution of the Second International in 1916. Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky, and Joseph Stalin were all honorary presidents of the Communist International.
The World Socialist Party of New Zealand (WSPNZ) is a revolutionary socialist and anti-Leninist political party in New Zealand founded in 1930 as the Socialist Party of New Zealand (SPNZ).
Socialist Studies is the name of a quarterly socialist periodical and of the group which publishes it. The group was founded in 1991 by sixteen expelled members of the Socialist Party of Great Britain (SPGB) who claim that their expulsions were the result of an anti-socialist conspiracy. Though small, the group has remained an active and vocal critic of the SPGB since its inception.
Jack Fitzgerald was a founding member of the Socialist Party of Great Britain.
Jack Kent was a British politician and an important figure in the early history of the Socialist Party of Great Britain.
Adam Lewis Buick is a prominent London-based socialist.
Edgar Richard "Hardy" Hardcastle was a theoretician of Marxist economics.
The Socialist Party of Canada (SPC) is a socialist political party in Canada, affiliated with the World Socialist Movement.
Democratic socialism is a left-wing set of political philosophies that supports political democracy and some form of a socially owned economy, with a particular emphasis on economic democracy, workplace democracy, and workers' self-management within a market socialist, decentralised planned, or democratic centrally planned socialist economy. Democratic socialists argue that capitalism is inherently incompatible with the values of freedom, equality, and solidarity and that these ideals can only be achieved through the realisation of a socialist society. Although most democratic socialists seek a gradual transition to socialism, democratic socialism can support revolutionary or reformist politics to establish socialism. Democratic socialism was popularised by socialists who opposed the backsliding towards a one-party state in the Soviet Union and other nations during the 20th century.
Impossibilism is a Marxist theory that stresses the limited value of political, economic, and social reforms under capitalism. As a doctrine, impossibilism views the pursuit of such reforms as counterproductive to the goal of achieving socialism as they stabilize, and therefore strengthen, support for capitalism. Impossibilism holds that reforms to capitalism are irrelevant or outright counter-productive to the goal of achieving socialism and should not be a major focus of socialist politics.
The Socialist Party of Great Britain (SPGB) is a socialist political party in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1904 as a split from the Social Democratic Federation (SDF), it advocates using the ballot box for revolutionary purposes and opposes both Leninism and reformism. It holds that countries which claimed to have established socialism had only established "state capitalism" and was one of the first to describe the Soviet Union as state capitalist. The party's political position has been described as a form of impossibilism.
The World Socialist Movement (WSM) is an international organisation of socialist parties created in 1904 with the founding of the Socialist Party of Great Britain (SPGB).
A socialist state, socialist republic, or socialist country, sometimes referred to as a workers' state or workers' republic, is a sovereign state constitutionally dedicated to the establishment of socialism. The term communist state is often used synonymously in the West, specifically when referring to one-party socialist states governed by Marxist–Leninist communist parties, despite these countries being officially socialist states in the process of building socialism and progressing toward a communist society. These countries never describe themselves as communist nor as having implemented a communist society. Additionally, a number of countries that are multi-party capitalist states make references to socialism in their constitutions, in most cases alluding to the building of a socialist society, naming socialism, claiming to be a socialist state, or including the term people's republic or socialist republic in their country's full name, although this does not necessarily reflect the structure and development paths of these countries' political and economic systems. Currently, these countries include Algeria, Bangladesh, Guyana, India, Nepal, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka and Tanzania.
The World Socialist Party (Ireland), founded as the Socialist Party of Ireland in 1949 before changing its name a decade later, was a Marxist political party in the impossibilist tradition. It was a companion party of the World Socialist Movement (WSM) and was closely connected to the Socialist Party of Great Britain (SPGB). The party's offices were in Belfast and it was most active in Northern Ireland, although it was also active in the Republic of Ireland. The party participated in elections in Northern Ireland, but without success. Socialist View was the party's newspaper. The party disbanded in the 1990s.
Charu Mihir Sarkar was an Indian politician who was a member of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly from 1967 to 1971 and served as Minister in the 1967 and 1969 United Front state cabinets.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Marxism:
James D'Arcy was a British socialist born in Glasgow. His father was a founding member of Glasgow branch. Jim joined the Socialist Party of Great Britain in 1943 and later his wife Olive and two sons joined. He became a speaker for the party and represented the party in many Socialist Party of Great Britain debates. In the 1950s, he provided much of the material and labour to make necessary renovations to head office. He travelled on the tour of North America on behalf of the party. He was central organiser, executive committee member and also branch secretary. He was party candidate in the 1977 Greater London Council election and wrote many articles for Socialist Standard before helping found Socialist Studies in 1989/1991. No obituary was ever carried in the Socialist Standard.