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In 2018, the Socialist Party created a faction in the Committee for a Workers' International (CWI) in opposition to the Irish and other sections. On 21 July 2019, a Special Congress of the Socialist Party passed a motion, by a vote of 173 to 35, which resolved to sponsor the international faction conference taking place from 22 to 25 July in London.<ref>{{cite book |title=In Defence of Trotskyism |publisher=Socialist Books |location=London |pages=248 |year=2019 |isbn=9781870958882}}</ref> As a result, 130 members of the SP left to form ]. In 2018, the Socialist Party created a faction in the Committee for a Workers' International (CWI) in opposition to the Irish and other sections. On 21 July 2019, a Special Congress of the Socialist Party passed a motion, by a vote of 173 to 35, which resolved to sponsor the international faction conference taking place from 22 to 25 July in London.<ref>{{cite book |title=In Defence of Trotskyism |publisher=Socialist Books |location=London |pages=248 |year=2019 |isbn=9781870958882}}</ref> As a result, 130 members of the SP left to form ].

== Political views ==
=== Minimum wage of £15 an hour ===
A £15 an hour minimum wage is the first bullet point demand in the party's What We Stand For manifesto. In March 2024, this read: "A £15 an hour minimum wage for all, without exemptions. For the minimum wage to automatically increase linked to average earnings or inflation, whichever is higher."<ref name="What the Socialist Party stands for">{{cite web|url=https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/documents-and-manifestos/what-we-stand-for/|title=What the Socialist Party stands for|work=socialistparty.org.uk|access-date=10 March 2024|archive-date=10 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240310115238/https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/documents-and-manifestos/what-we-stand-for/|url-status=live}}</ref>

The demand has been updated through the years. In 2014, the Socialist Party increased its minimum wage demand to £10. 17 (of 48) front-page headlines of ''The Socialist'' focused on wages that year.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issueindex/2014 |title=The Socialist back issues |work=socialistparty.org.uk |access-date=20 November 2015 |archive-date=21 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151121092456/http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issueindex/2014 |url-status=live }}</ref> The previous year, the back page What We Stand For printed in ''The Socialist'' called for £8 "as an immediate step" to £10 at a later stage.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/pdf/issue/749/749.pdf|title=What We Stand For, page 12|work=socialistparty.org.uk|access-date=10 March 2024|archive-date=25 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210925164119/https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/pdf/issue/749/749.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

On the front page of the 16 July 2014 issue, ''The Socialist'' highlighted the campaign of the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union, calling for "a minimum wage of £10 now", which was successfully passed at the Trades Union Congress' 2014 annual congress. Notably, the quote from Ronnie Draper, General Secretary of the Bakers' union, concludes with: "If politicians don't agree then we need to change them."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/819/18960 |title=Raise the minimum wage: £10 NOW |work=socialistparty.org.uk |date=16 July 2014 |access-date=20 November 2015 |archive-date=21 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151121102123/http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/819/18960 |url-status=live }}</ref> The call for a £10 an hour minimum wage, the front page explains, was inspired by the "historic victory of the $15 minimum wage in ]".

On 24 September 2014, the front page, carrying the slogan "We need £10 an hour now!", stated: "As a result of a Bakers' Union motion, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) adopted the £10 demand at its recent conference".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/826/19273 |title=We need £10 an hour now! |work=socialistparty.org.uk |date=24 September 2014 |access-date=20 November 2015 |archive-date=21 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151121091839/http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/826/19273 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 2021, a reference to a £15 an hour minimum wage was highlighted and subsequently began to appear in articles and on the front page of The Socialist newspaper.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/33253/03-11-2021/fight-for-a-15-an-hour-minimum-wage-and-an-end-to-youth-rates/|title= Fight for a £15-an-hour minimum wage and an end to youth rates|access-date= 8 March 2024|archive-date= 8 March 2024|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20240308185354/https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/33253/03-11-2021/fight-for-a-15-an-hour-minimum-wage-and-an-end-to-youth-rates/|url-status= live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/the-socialist-back-issues/the-socialist-back-issues-2022/the-socialist-issue-1185/|title=Unite to fight for the pay rises we need |access-date=8 March 2024}}</ref>

=== 32-hour working week with no loss of pay ===

On the 16 June 2022, the Socialist Party published an updated "What We Stand For" column in The Socialist (Issue 1184) which carried the demand:

{{Blockquote
|text=Share out the work. A maximum 32-hour working week with no loss of pay or worsening of conditions. The right to flexible working, under the control of workers not employers. An end to insecure working, for the right to full-time work for all who want it; ban zero-hour contracts.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Issue-1184.pdf |title=The Socialist, Issue 1184 |access-date=4 July 2024 |archive-date=19 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220619063846/https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Issue-1184.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref>}}

For many years previously,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/5923/04-09-2004/defending-the-35-hour-week-the-profit-system-s-the-problem-not-the-workers/|title=Defending the 35-hour week: The Profit System's The Problem, Not The Workers - Socialist Party|access-date=4 July 2024|archive-date=21 May 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220521161617/https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/5923/04-09-2004/defending-the-35-hour-week-the-profit-system-s-the-problem-not-the-workers/|url-status=live}}</ref> the Socialist newspaper had carried the demand for a 35 hour week.

=== Unemployment and youth ===

The Socialist Party has proposed that the introduction of a maximum 32 hour working week with no loss of pay or worsening of conditions, would "offer an opportunity to tackle unemployment and underemployed." It quotes the Autonomy think tank, which says up to half a million jobs would be created if the 32 hour week was introduced in the public sector alone.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/33056/22-09-2021/socialists-and-the-four-day-week/ |title=Socialists and the four-day week |date=22 September 2021 |work=socialistparty.org.uk |access-date=20 March 2024 |archive-date=20 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240320170843/https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/33056/22-09-2021/socialists-and-the-four-day-week/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://autonomy.work/portfolio/publicsectorpioneer/ |title=Public Sector as Pioneer: shorter working weeks as the new gold standard |date=30 August 2020 |work=autonomy.work/access-date=20 March 2024 |access-date=20 March 2024 |archive-date=20 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240320170845/https://autonomy.work/portfolio/publicsectorpioneer/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The 32 hour week demand is the second demand in the list on its What We Stand For page, after the £15 an hour minimum wage demand.<ref name="What the Socialist Party stands for"/>

The Socialist Party has asserted that minimum wage youth rates are "unfair" and asserts that young people should be on £15 an hour: "Surely wages should be enough to live on, whether you're 17 or 70."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/119146/13-12-2023/minimum-wage-youth-rates-unfair-fight-for-15-an-hour-for-all/ |title=Minimum wage youth rates unfair – fight for £15 an hour for all |date=13 December 2023 |work=socialistparty.org.uk |access-date=27 March 2024 |archive-date=27 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240327160852/https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/119146/13-12-2023/minimum-wage-youth-rates-unfair-fight-for-15-an-hour-for-all/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 2011, the Socialist Party gave prominent support to the Jarrow March for Jobs,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/keyword/UK_Towns_and_cities/Jarrow/13279/30-11-2011/jarrow-march-for-jobs-2011 |title=Jarrow March for Jobs 2011 |date=30 November 2011 |work=socialistparty.org.uk |access-date=17 December 2011 |archive-date=21 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151121101517/http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/keyword/UK_Towns_and_cities/Jarrow/13279/30-11-2011/jarrow-march-for-jobs-2011 |url-status=live }}</ref> a 330-mile march from Jarrow in South Tyneside to London to highlight youth unemployment,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-15135644 |title=Unemployment campaigners recreate 1936 Jarrow March |date=October 2011 |publisher=BBC News |access-date=20 November 2015 |archive-date=22 September 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140922161933/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-15135644 |url-status=live }}</ref> supported by several MPs,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2010-12/1614 |title=Early day motion 1614 |work=UK Parliament |access-date=20 November 2015 |archive-date=18 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151118123842/http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2010-12/1614 |url-status=live }}</ref> eight trade unions<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://jarrowmarch11.com/2011/09/28/marching-for-a-future/ |title=MARCHING FOR A FUTURE &#124; Jarrow March 2011 |date=3 October 2011 |website= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111003201553/http://jarrowmarch11.com/2011/09/28/marching-for-a-future/ |archive-date=3 October 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref> and the '']'' newspaper.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.mirror.co.uk/video/news/2011/11/05/campaigners-recreate-jarrow-march-115875-23540500/|title=Campaigners recreate Jarrow march |date=5 November 2011|newspaper=The Daily Mirror|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111106170412/http://www.mirror.co.uk/video/news/2011/11/05/campaigners-recreate-jarrow-march-115875-23540500/ |access-date=18 December 2011|archive-date=6 November 2011 }}</ref> ], associate editor of the ''Daily Mirror'', spoke at the Jarrow launch rally, following the Socialist Party's Coventry councillor Dave Nellist, as featured on a number of Socialist Party videos about the event.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/13097 |title=Jarrow marchers march into history – and vow that the struggle goes on |date=13 November 2011 |work=socialistparty.org.uk |access-date=5 November 2011 |archive-date=21 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151121083057/http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/13097 |url-status=live }}</ref> The Jarrow march featured prominently at the Socialist Party's 'Socialism 2011' weekend event in November 2011, which coincided with the marchers' arrival in London.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/13116 |title=Socialism 2011: Crucial preparation for the fightback |date=17 November 2011 |publisher=Socialist Party |access-date=5 November 2011 |archive-date=18 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111118035857/http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/13116 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==== Youth Fight for Jobs ====
The Socialist Party's first issue of 2010, headlined "Rage Against Unemployment" and written by ] national organiser Sean Figg, who took part in the Jarrow March for Jobs, argues that young people are likely to suffer "permanent psychological scars" from unemployment.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/606/8649 |title=Rage Against Unemployment |last=Figg |first=Sean |date=6 January 2010 |publisher=The Socialist (606) |access-date=16 May 2011 |archive-date=10 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110610205801/http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/606/8649 |url-status=live }}</ref> Figg calls for the right to a "decent job for all", with a "living wage" of at least £8 an hour, and an end to university fees. Figg demands that the government "bail out young people" as it had the banks, stating that "capitalist politicians" will claim the cost would be "too high".

==== Socialist Students ====

According to its website,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://socialiststudents.org.uk/2024/02/13/report-socialist-students-conference-2024/|title=REPORT: Socialist Students conference 2024: Organising the fight for a socialist world in schools, colleges and universities|date=13 February 2024|access-date=8 March 2024|archive-date=10 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240310133529/https://socialiststudents.org.uk/2024/02/13/report-socialist-students-conference-2024/|url-status=live}}</ref> the 2024 conference of Socialist Students voted to approach the ] (TUSC), an electoral pact in which the Socialist Party is the biggest constituent part, about affiliating nationally, to put forward a "working-class challenge to the pro-austerity and pro-capitalist parties at the next election".

Through its newspaper, the Socialist Party highlights the issue of high student rents and supports Socialist Student campaigns. In November 2023, the BBC covered the protest of "Northampton Socialist Students gathered at the Waterside Campus".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-67362219|title=Northampton students protest over rent and conditions|work=BBC News|date=9 November 2023|access-date=10 March 2024|archive-date=6 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231206231747/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-67362219|url-status=live}}</ref> As reported in local press, one issue was the deduction of an extra week's rent on St John's Halls residents "without prior notice and without any mention in their contracts" in respect of the legality of this payment. In response to the student demands, a spokesman for the University of Northampton said: "We have apologised to students for an additional accommodation charge, which was the result of an administrative error. These payments have been refunded and credited to students' accommodation accounts."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/news/people/angry-university-of-northampton-students-protest-against-prison-like-halls-of-residence-home-to-hundreds-in-town-4402992|title=Angry University of Northampton students protest against 'prison-like' 'halls of residence home to hundreds in town|access-date=8 March 2024|archive-date=4 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231204112313/https://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/news/people/angry-university-of-northampton-students-protest-against-prison-like-halls-of-residence-home-to-hundreds-in-town-4402992|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
|url= https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/117592/08-11-2023/northampton-students-housing-win-just-a-start/
|title= Northampton students' housing win just a start
|access-date= 8 March 2024
|archive-date= 1 December 2023
|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20231201140035/https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/117592/08-11-2023/northampton-students-housing-win-just-a-start/
|url-status= live
}}</ref>

The National Union of Students' NEC voted "to stand in complete solidarity with workers taking strike action" in the 2014 strike on 3 December in higher and further education as a result of an Emergency Motion passed by NUS NEC, which was moved by Socialist Party and ] NUS NEC member, Edmund Schluessel.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://socialiststudents.org.uk/wp/?p=985 |title=Socialist Students helps force NUS to back education strike |date=21 November 2014 |publisher=Socialist Students |access-date=6 April 2014 |archive-date=7 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407143543/http://socialiststudents.org.uk/wp/?p=985 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nus.org.uk/en/news/trade-union-industrial-action-in-he-and-fe/ |title=Trade Union Industrial Action in HE and FE |date=3 December 2014 |publisher=NUS |access-date=6 April 2014 |archive-date=16 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181116090529/https://www.nus.org.uk/en/news/trade-union-industrial-action-in-he-and-fe/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

=== Environment ===
The Socialist Party takes the view that "Capitalism means war and climate catastrophe".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/126284/19-06-2024/capitalism-means-war-and-climate-catastrophe/|title=Capitalism means war and climate catastrophe - Socialist Party|access-date=4 July 2024|archive-date=20 June 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240620014904/https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/126284/19-06-2024/capitalism-means-war-and-climate-catastrophe/|url-status=live}}</ref>

However, during the ] the Socialist Party took the view that the Green Party's signature environmental policy is an "illusion of radicalism"<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/126577/26-06-2024/the-greens-are-they-the-alternative-we-need/|title=The Greens – are they the alternative we need? - Socialist Party|access-date=4 July 2024|archive-date=26 June 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240626143602/https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/126577/26-06-2024/the-greens-are-they-the-alternative-we-need/|url-status=live}}</ref> that doesn't stand up to closer scrutiny of their policies and approach.

The Socialist Party links the struggle against global warming to the need for socialist control over the main levers of industry, with an editorial in December 2023 stating "Climate catastrophe: There's still time, struggle for socialism".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/119129/13-12-2023/climate-catastrophe-theres-still-time-struggle-for-socialism/|title=Climate catastrophe: There's still time, struggle for socialism - Socialist Party|access-date=4 July 2024|archive-date=4 August 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240804085245/https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/119129/13-12-2023/climate-catastrophe-theres-still-time-struggle-for-socialism/|url-status=live}}</ref> The editorial argues that the "gaggle" of capitalist leaders at the Dubai based ]: {{Blockquote
|text=each interested primarily in looking after the profits of their bosses at home, will not come up with an agreement which adequately deals with the scale of the crisis quickly enough.}}

The 13 December 2023 editorial states that "What is needed, and is increasingly being sought out, is a systemic alternative" positing the need for a "socialist plan of production organised under the democratic control and management of workers."

=== War and terrorism ===

The Socialist Party opposes the British government's military interventions around the world, such as the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and called for the withdrawal of troops.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/TheSocialistContents2.htm?issue=2007/475 |newspaper=The Socialist |issue=475 |date=22 February 2007 |title=''Bush & Blair: Get out of Iraq'' |page=1 |access-date=29 April 2007 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304095304/http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/TheSocialistContents2.htm?issue=2007/475 |url-status=dead }}</ref> It has long opposed the UK supplying military equipment to states which it claims are involved in the "methods of mass military terror".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/32568/26-05-2021/leicester-protest-against-arms-supplies-to-israel/|date=26 May 2021|title=Leicester protest against arms supplies to Israel|access-date=27 March 2024|archive-date=27 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240327163303/https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/32568/26-05-2021/leicester-protest-against-arms-supplies-to-israel/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/116365/09-10-2023/stop-the-israel-gaza-war-for-workers-unity-and-struggle-against-national-conflict-and-oppression/ |date=9 October 2023 |title=Stop the Israel-Gaza war! For workers' unity and struggle against national conflict and oppression |access-date=27 March 2024 |archive-date=27 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240327162206/https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/116365/09-10-2023/stop-the-israel-gaza-war-for-workers-unity-and-struggle-against-national-conflict-and-oppression/ |url-status=live }}</ref> It opposes both terrorism and also the ].<ref name="Taaffe"/> It joined the protests against the ] (G8) meetings as part of the Committee for a Workers' International.

In the aftermath of the ] on the twin towers of the ] in New York in September 2001, Peter Taaffe, then the Socialist Party's general secretary, writing in the Socialist Party's newspaper ''The Socialist'', stated: {{blockquote|''The Socialist'' has been forthright in its condemnation of those who attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. We described their methods as those of "small groups employing mass terrorism".

At the same time, we have not given any support to George Bush or Tony Blair, who call for a "war against terrorism", yet support state terror against defenceless and innocent people in the neo-colonial world.|Peter Taaffe, ''The False Methods of Terrorism''<ref name="Taaffe">{{cite web|url= http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/Trotsky/againstterrorframe.htm|author= Taaffe, Peter|title= ''The False Methods of Terrorism''|publisher= The Socialist|date= 5 October 2001|access-date= 1 July 2007|archive-date= 7 July 2007|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070707203518/http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/Trotsky/againstterrorframe.htm|url-status= live}}</ref>}}

The Socialist Party has consistently called for an end to the Israel-Gaza war. Since the outset of the war, to the end of 2023, eight out of ten front page banner headlines displayed slogans such as "Stop the Israel-Gaza war", "End Gaza Slaughter" and "End Murderous siege on Gaza".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/the-socialist-back-issues/the-socialist-back-issues-2023/|title=The Socialist back issues 2023|access-date=27 March 2024|archive-date=27 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240327165533/https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/the-socialist-back-issues/the-socialist-back-issues-2023/|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Nationalisation ===

In the 'What we stand for' column of ''The Socialist'', its weekly paper, and on its website, the Socialist Party defines its "socialist" nationalisation to include at least three distinct features: no compensation except on the basis of proven need; democratic workers' control and management; and that the nationalised industries should be part of a "plan of production":<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/documents-and-manifestos/what-we-stand-for/|title=What We Stand For|work=socialistparty.org.uk|access-date=4 July 2024|archive-date=4 August 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240804085357/https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/documents-and-manifestos/what-we-stand-for/|url-status=live}}</ref>

{{Blockquote
|text=Take the wealth off the super-rich! For a socialist government to take into public ownership the top 150 companies and the banking system that dominate the British economy, and run them under democratic working-class control and management. Compensation to be paid only on the basis of proven need, not to the fat cats.}}

{{Blockquote
|text=A democratic socialist plan of production based on the interests of the overwhelming majority of people, and in a way that safeguards the environment}}

==== Banking collapse of 2007-2008 ====
After the 2007--2008 ], the most severe worldwide economic crisis since the Great Depression, an article under the name of the Socialist Party general secretary, Hannah Sell, (at that time the deputy general secretary) indicated the Socialist Party's response to the wave of massive bail-outs of banks and financial institutions that took place in the aftermath.<ref name="socialistparty.org.uk">{{cite web|title=Stop the slaughter of jobs and services|first=Hannah|last=Sell|url=https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/8631/|date=1 January 2010|website=Socialist Party}}</ref>

Sell argued that the trade unions should demand "nationalisation of all the major financial institutions", with compensation paid only to small shareholders and depositors on the basis of proven need. However Sell added that this should be just a first step to the "unification of all the banks into one democratically controlled financial system" and called for the introduction of a state monopoly of foreign trade.

On workers' control and management, Sell argues that a nationalised finance sector could be "run by and for the mass of the population". She suggests that this could be done through "majority representation" at all levels. Representatives are to be drawn from workers in the banking unions, "and the wider working class and labour movement", and some also the government.<ref name="socialistparty.org.uk"/>

General Secretary Peter Taaffe attacked the Labour Party, which was in power when the banks collapsed, in a major article in October 2009. He made reference to a Guardian article<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/sep/29/labour-conference-gordon-brown-speech|title=The age of New Labour is over. The only question is what will survive|first=Jonathan|last=Freedland|date=29 September 2009|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=4 July 2024|archive-date=4 August 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240804085245/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/sep/29/labour-conference-gordon-brown-speech|url-status=live}}</ref> which quoted a Labour Minister in the aftermath of the banking collapse: '"We gloried in a neoliberal economic policy when it gave us the boom," says one Brown aide. "We celebrated the freedom of people in the City to make grotesque sums of money when we believed it would pay for what we wanted to do. We now believe you have to intervene."' {{cite web|title=The age of New Labour is over. The only question is what will survive|first=Jonathan|last=Freedland|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/sep/29/labour-conference-gordon-brown-speech|date=29 September 2009|website=theguardian.com}}

Taaffe comments: "'Intervene' against whom and what for, is the question working-class people will ask. Bankers' bonuses will not be abolished, at best merely trimmed for a short time" and concludes that the crisis "is an organic crisis of capitalism which can be solved at the expense of the capitalist class or of the working class. We need a new party in Britain that will choose the first option and mobilise the working class for socialist change."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/596/8202|title=Needed – a party for workers, not bosses|last=Peter Taaffe|first=(Socialist Party general secretary)|date=7 October 2009|publisher=The Socialist (596)|access-date=4 July 2024|archive-date=21 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181121012848/https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/596/8202|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Internationalism ===

The Socialist Party believes that socialism can only be realised on an international basis: {{blockquote|Socialism has to be international. It's impossible to create socialism in one country, surrounded by a world capitalist market. Nonetheless there is an enormous amount that could be achieved by a socialist government after it came to power as part of a transition from capitalism to socialism.|'''', p. 41}}

In accordance with a perceived need for internationalism, the Socialist Party is a member of the ], an organisation of Trotskyist political parties from across the globe. The 'refounded' organisation was a minority split from the Committee for a Workers' International, now named International Socialist Alternative.

=== Critique of the Soviet Union ===
The Socialist Party argues that the ] was not socialist: "the regimes in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe were not genuinely socialist, but a grotesque caricature".<ref>'' {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070608192702/http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/socialism21/ |date=8 June 2007 }}'' p. 45</ref> Its analysis follows that of ], who, with ] and others, led the October 1917 Russian revolution.

The Socialist Party argues that neither Lenin nor Trotsky wished to establish an isolated socialist state. They argue that Lenin, Trotsky and the Bolsheviks defended and advanced the gains of the revolution of February 1917 by carrying through the October revolution. They emphasise Lenin and Trotsky's call on workers in the advanced capitalist countries to carry through the socialist transformation of society. This, they say, would have been a step towards the goal of a world socialist federation and would have seen those countries come to the aid of the economically and industrially underdeveloped Russia. However, this was not successful and the advanced capitalist countries invaded, blockaded and imposed trade sanctions on the young workers' state. The Socialist Party agrees with Trotsky that the isolated Russian revolution inevitably "degenerated" under Stalin into a bureaucratic dictatorship. In this and many other ways, the Socialist Party's policies may therefore be termed orthodox Trotskyism.<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/russia/r2frame.htm?october.html|publisher = socialistparty.org.uk|title = October|access-date = 29 April 2007|archive-date = 21 June 2007|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070621023552/http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/russia/r2frame.htm?october.html|url-status = live}}</ref>


==Allegations of violence against women and sexual assault== ==Allegations of violence against women and sexual assault==

Revision as of 22:29, 14 August 2024

Not to be confused with Socialist Party of Great Britain.

Political party in The United Kingdom England & Wales
Socialist Party Template:Lang-cy
[REDACTED]
LeaderHannah Sell
Founded1997; 28 years ago (1997)
Preceded by
HeadquartersEnfield, London, England
NewspaperThe Socialist
Student wingSocialist Students
Youth wingYoung Socialists
IdeologyTrotskyism

Marxism Socialism Revolutionary socialism Unionism

Activism
Political positionLeft-wing politics
National affiliationSocialist Green Unity Coalition (2005–2010)
European affiliationEuropean Anti-Capitalist Left
International affiliationCommittee for a Workers' International
Electoral allianceTUSC
Colours  Red
Website
socialistparty.org.uk
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The Socialist Party (Template:Lang-cy) is a Trotskyist political party in England and Wales. Founded in 1997, it had formerly been Militant, an entryist group in the Labour Party from 1964 to 1991, which became Militant Labour from 1991 until 1997. It is a member of the Committee for a Workers' International (2019), and the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition.

History

Main article: Militant tendency

The Socialist Party (SP) was formerly the Militant group which practised entryism in the Labour Party around the Militant newspaper. Founded in 1964, the Militant newspaper described itself as the "Marxist voice of Labour and Youth". In the 1980s, Militant supporters Dave Nellist, Pat Wall and Terry Fields were elected to the House of Commons as Labour MPs. In 1982, Liverpool District Labour Party adopted Militant's policies for Liverpool City Council in its battle against cuts in the rate support grant from government, and came into conflict with the Conservative government.

In 1989–1990, Militant led the All-Britain Anti-Poll Tax Federation, which organised a non-payment campaign against the poll tax. Terry Fields was jailed for refusing to pay the poll tax and expelled from the Labour Party for defying the law. The Labour Party had earlier found Militant guilty of operating as an entryist group, contrary to the party's constitution.

In 1991, there was a debate within Militant as to whether to continue working within the Labour Party, centred around whether they could still effectively operate in the party following the expulsions. The poll tax campaign also suggested that there was more to be gained as an open organisation than inside the Labour Party. At a special conference, 93% of delegates voted for the Open Turn. A minority around Ted Grant broke away to form Socialist Appeal in the Labour Party.

Operating as an "open party" was first undertaken in Scotland with Scottish Militant Labour, standing Tommy Sheridan for election from his jail cell. The group became Militant Labour in 1991, after leaving the Labour Party. The journal Militant International Review, founded in 1969, became a monthly publication and was renamed Socialism Today in 1995. In 1997, Militant Labour changed its name to the Socialist Party, and the Militant newspaper was renamed The Socialist.

In March 2009, the Socialist Party was invited to participate in No to EU – Yes to Democracy (No2EU), a left-wing alter-globalisation coalition by the RMT union leader Bob Crow, for the 2009 European Parliament elections. This alliance later developed into the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC), of which the party is a member.

In 2018, the Socialist Party created a faction in the Committee for a Workers' International (CWI) in opposition to the Irish and other sections. On 21 July 2019, a Special Congress of the Socialist Party passed a motion, by a vote of 173 to 35, which resolved to sponsor the international faction conference taking place from 22 to 25 July in London. As a result, 130 members of the SP left to form Socialist Alternative.

Allegations of violence against women and sexual assault

In March 2013, Socialist Party member and National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers Assistant General Secretary Steve Hedley was accused of domestic violence by a former partner, Caroline Leneghan. Hedley, who had joined the Socialist Party a year after the alleged event took place, resigned immediately from the Socialist Party when the allegations were made.

A former Socialist Party member alleged in 2013 that the Socialist Party's Executive Committee unfairly dealt with her complaint against a fellow member who put his hand on her knee. The Socialist Party did not publicly comment on her case, but Hannah Sell, who was Deputy General Secretary at the time, published a statement on behalf of the Executive Committee: "Combating violence against women: A socialist perspective on fighting women's oppression".

See also

Notes and references

  1. Keith Edkins (30 November 2009). "Local Council Political Compositions". Archived from the original on 7 January 2019. Retrieved 2 December 2009.
  2. Nicholas Whyte (10 May 2005). "The 2005 Local Government Elections in Northern Ireland". Northern Ireland Social and Political Archive. Archived from the original on 9 August 2007. Retrieved 2 December 2009.
  3. "Labour win but come under fire from axed Nellist".
  4. Mgadzah, Ray (28 March 1995). "Legacy of Mersey's Militants". The Independent. Archived from the original on 15 November 2016. Retrieved 12 September 2017.
  5. This initiative would eventually lead to the foundation of the Scottish Socialist Alliance. The majority of Scottish members, after forming the Scottish Socialist Party, left the Committee for a Workers' International (CWI – the international socialist organisation which the Socialist Party is affiliated to) in early 2001 as the Scottish majority moved away from traditional Trotskyist politics. The CWI in Scotland now works as part of Solidarity – Scotland's Socialist Movement.
  6. Fighting for socialism: One hundred issues Archived 17 August 2019 at the Wayback Machine, by the editor, Lynn Walsh. Retrieved 2007-07-29
  7. "Election campaigns". socialistparty.org.uk. Archived from the original on 11 June 2011. Retrieved 3 April 2009.
  8. "About". TUSC. 5 January 2021. Retrieved 14 August 2024.
  9. In Defence of Trotskyism. London: Socialist Books. 2019. p. 248. ISBN 9781870958882.
  10. "RMT accused of dismissing attack claim by activist". The Independent. 8 March 2013. Archived from the original on 5 April 2022. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  11. "RMT investigation concludes: Steve Hedley has no case to answer". www.socialistparty.org.uk. 2 April 2013. Archived from the original on 18 May 2021. Retrieved 26 December 2019.
  12. "Workers' movement: Bureaucratic 'justice' and dealing with sex assault cases". Archived from the original on 28 May 2022. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
  13. "Combating violence against women: A socialist perspective on fighting women's oppression". Socialist Party. 11 March 2013. Archived from the original on 20 January 2022. Retrieved 2 June 2020.

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