The Foundation Congress of the Communist Party of Great Britain was held at Cannon Street Hotel, and the International Socialist Club, in London on the 31 July – 1 August, 1920. It occurred after the

Workers Socialist Federation The Workers' Socialist Federation was a socialist political party in the United Kingdom, led by Sylvia Pankhurst. Under many different names, it gradually broadened its politics from a focus on women's suffrage to eventually become a left comm ...

had set up the

Communist Party (British Section of the Third International) The Communist Party (British Section of the Third International) was a Left Communist organisation established at an emergency conference held on 19–20 June 1920 at the International Socialist Club in London. It comprised about 600 people. Hi ...

(CP(BSTI)) at a conference held on 19–20 June 1920 also at the International Socialist Club. The CP(BTSI) had been established by

left Communists Left communism, or the communist left, is a position held by the left wing of communism, which criticises the political ideas and practices espoused by Marxist–Leninists and social democrats. Left communists assert positions which they rega ...

who were unhappy with the

parliamentarianism Parliamentary sovereignty, also called parliamentary supremacy or legislative supremacy, is a concept in the constitutional law of some parliamentary democracies. It holds that the legislative body has absolute sovereignty and is supreme over al ...

and close relationship with the Labour Party proposed by

Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 19 ...

. In a resolution proposed by

Alf Purcell Albert Arthur "Alf" Purcell (3 November 1872, Hoxton – 24 December 1935) was a British trade unionist and Labour Party politician. He was a founding member of the Communist Party of Great Britain and later President of the International Fed ...

the Congress declared: :“The Communists in conference assembled declare for the Soviet (or Workers’ Council) system as a means whereby the working class shall achieve power and take control of the forces of production; declare for the dictatorship of the proletariat as a necessary means for combating the counter-revolution during the transition period between capitalism and communism; and stand for the adoption of these means as steps towards the establishment of a system of complete communism wherein all the means of production shall be communally owned and controlled. This conference therefore establishes itself the Communist Party on the foregoing basis and declares its adherence to the Third International.”

References

{{reflist Communist Party of Great Britain Congresses