Socialist Workers Party (UK)

The Socialist Workers Party (SWP) is a far-left, Trotskyist political party in Britain. They publish a weekly newspaper called Socialist Worker, a monthly magazine, Socialist Review, and a quarterly theoretical journal, International Socialism. In addition they publish an international bulletin and an internal bulletin Party Notes, various pamphlets and books often through their publishing house Bookmarks and a number of rank and file news papers for specific industries such as Post Worker.

Leadership

Leading members include Chris Bambery, Weyman Bennett, Alex Callinicos, Lindsey German, Chris Harman, Dave Hayes, Chris Nineham, John Rees, John Rose, and Martin Smith.

Theory

The SWP's theoreticians have developed three major theories, which distinguish them from other Trotskyist movements:

1. A state capitalist analysis of Russia and the Eastern bloc, developed by Tony Cliff and extended by Chris Harman. This led the group (then known as the International Socialists) to adopt the slogan "Neither Washington nor Moscow, but International Socialism" and led them to oppose both sides' in the Cold War.
2. The theory of the permanent arms economy, developed by Mike Kidron having originated in an article by T. N. Vance who was associated with the American group the Independent Socialist League, led by Max Shachtman. The theory argued that high arms spending fuelled the long post-war boom. This helped the group avoid perpetual forecasts that the collapse of capitalism was just around the corner, when living standards in the UK were clearly rising.
3. The theory of deflected permanent revolution, developed by Tony Cliff, in part prompted by the work of RCP leader Jock Haston and RCP theoretician Ted Grant, that the Soviet Union was state capitalist. Haston and Grant's work caused unease within the leadership of the Fourth International and Tony Cliff was asked by them to bring Haston and Grant into line. As the debate developed Haston became demoralised, for entirely unrelated reasons, and Grant rejected the conception of state capitalism, while Cliff came to embrace it. The theory attempts to build on Trotsky's theory of Permanent Revolution, and to explain why workers had not taken power in various Third World revolutions.

Origins

The SWP's origins lie in the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP), which Tony Cliff joined. He developed the view that the Soviet Union was state capitalist. The theory of state capitalism represented a major breach with the views of the Fourth International's leadership and brought Cliff into conflict with them. When the FI leadership became sympathetic to Tito's Yugoslavia the RCP was hostile to their views, but the RCP leadership collapsed in the course of the ensuing debate with many of its central cadre leaving politics.

When the RCP dissolved itself into Gerry Healy's Labour Party entrist group The Club, many of Cliff's supporters joined, but were soon expelled. Technically this was for breach of discipline in a Birmingham Trades Council vote on the issue of the Korean War, rifts had been caused by the dispute over Yugoslavia and the class nature of the Soviet Union. Cliff himself was an exile in Dublin at the time and therefore not subject to the discipline of Healy's group.

Cliff's supporters reorganised themselves around the Socialist Review journal, which lasted until 1962, but grew only very slowly and remained small.

International Socialists

In 1962 the Socialist Review Group became the International Socialists (IS) after the name of their new journal, first published in 1960. They also began publishing a paper called Industrial Worker which was later renamed Labour Worker. This was the forerunner of Socialist Worker which was launched in 1968 with Roger Protz as editor.

The IS gained control of the Labour Party Young Socialists, but soon after, left the Labour Party, and became leading critics of involvement in it during the 1980s when many other Trotskyist groups joined.

In 1969, the IS put out an appeal for unity, hoping to begin merger talks with the International Marxist Group, but the only group to respond was Workers' Fight, which joined the party as the Trotskyist Tendency. The Trotskyist Tendency left again in 1971, claiming they had been expelled, the IS leadership claiming the much smaller TT had been democratically "defused". This was later followed by several expulsions, including that of the Left Faction, which became Workers Power, and of the Right Opposition, part of which became the Revolutionary Communist Group.

During the 1960s the rise of unofficial strike action led the International Socialists to place emphasis on the building of a rank and file movement within the trade unions in order to combat the bureaucratic leaders of those organisations. This led to the development of a series of rank and file papers including The Collier (Mining), Redder Tape (Civil Service), Rank and File Teacher, etc. These were briefly brought together in a National Rank and File Organising Committee in 1974, the peak of IS influence in the workers movement.

In the mid-1970s Cliff argued that the older workers leaders, including shop stewards, were corrupted by reformism and therefore IS had to turn to untried young workers - the more cynically minded claimed Cliff wanted the party to turn to them as being more gullible to Cliff's more idiosyncratic flights of fancy. This was part of the reason for the attempt made at this time to popularise Socialist Worker. This turn was unanimously rejected months later, but by then Jim Higgins was removed as National Secretary and Roger Protz from his position as editor of Socialist Worker for opposing these changes. Prompted by Duncan Hallas, they formed an International Socialist Opposition. Ultimately, a large section of the leadership, in particular Jim Higgins, Roger Protz and John Palmer, were expelled or left in solidarity with those expelled in 1975 and formed the Workers League. In 1977 the IS launched the SWP.

Socialist Workers Party

Soon after becoming the SWP it launched the Anti Nazi League (ANL) in response to the perceived danger of the National Front. The ANL followed on from the relative success of the Right to Work Campaign which had been launched as the dying effort of the National Rank and File Organising Committee, and had organised a series of marches against unemployment. These marches were annual events between 1976 and 1981. The ANL was far larger than the Right to Work Campaign and was able to call upon support far outside the ranks of the SWP, which retained organisational control.

In its own terms the ANL was relatively successful holding a series of large demonstrations against the National Front and was to some considerable degree responsible for the marginalisation of that grouping, if for no other reason than it meant taking part in any public NF activities meant running the very real risk of assault - the same risk many non-whites faced in areas where NF public activities were being held.

However, the ANL collapsed in chaos in March 1979 amid claims of financial 'irregularities' (ie. funds being diverted to the SWP), and the violence between ANL and NF members compromising support from celebrity members in the ANL - Nottingham Forest manager Brian Clough being the first of many celebrities to renounce his support, whilst despite the success of the Rock Against Racism concerts (an ANL affiliated campaign), many of the punk rock bands that had been outspoken against the NF from the start - such as the Sex Pistols/PiL, Bob Geldof's Boomtown Rats and The Stranglers - refused outright to have anything to do with an organisation they perceived as little more than an SWP front (The Clash did headline the 1978 Carnival however). Tony Cliff told a Guardian reporter during the March 1979 crisis, "The leadership of the ANL is the SWP & we don't give a damn".

In 1981 the ANL was formally wound up (in reality it was moribund since March 1979) as it was felt to be no longer needed and was then dissolved. Some individuals who had been involved in the ANL disagreed with this, & also wanted to show solidarity with the more militant side of the republican movement in Northern Ireland grouping around Provisional Sinn Fein. Expelled, they were to form Red Action.

Since then, the SWP has built its international, the International Socialist Tendency, and has created a wide range of fronts, including a new Anti Nazi League (since dissolved into Unite Against Fascism), and Globalise Resistance. They have also participated in the Socialist Alliance, the RESPECT Unity Coalition, and the Stop the War Coalition.

In Scotland SWP members joined the Scottish Socialist Party as an officially recognised faction in 2001. They are therefore known as the Socialist Worker Platform and distribute the publications of the state-wide SWP only within the ranks of the SSP being prohibited from doing so publicly. There have been some tensions between the SWP members and the rest of the SSP.

The SWP is widely reckoned to have a membership of around 3,500, although it claims 10,000. A proportion of its members are part of the Socialist Workers Student Societies.