Independent Labour Publications is a

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

pressure group Advocacy groups, also known as interest groups, special interest groups, lobbying groups or pressure groups use various forms of advocacy in order to influence public opinion and ultimately policy. They play an important role in the develop ...

inside the British Labour Party. It is the successor to the

Independent Labour Party The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse working-class candidates ...

and is mostly known simply as "The ILP" in order to maintain that link with its predecessor organisation.

Brief history

Since its re-establishment in 1975, the ILP has been a campaigning organisation rather than an electoral group (its constitution prevents full members from standing for elective office). Before entering parliament, former Labour

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

Harry Barnes was a member of the ILP. As an MP, he was obliged to resign and join a supporters group, Friends of the ILP. It has been involved with opposition to various

workfare Workfare is a governmental plan under which welfare recipients are required to accept public-service jobs or to participate in job training. Many countries around the world have adopted workfare (sometimes implemented as "work-first" policies) to ...

schemes imposed by the British

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

government of the 1980s, and has argued for open democratic structures within the Labour Party, and an emphasis on

co-operative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...

systems of organising economic activity. With a headquarters in

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

, the ILP meets in Scarborough annually to discuss political issues, and its internal administration is overseen by a National Administrative Council (NAC).

Positions

In common with much contemporary left-wing thinking, the ILP's approach rejects both contemporary

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for Profit (economics), profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, pric ...

and the command economy. But unlike much of the left, it accepts the idea of a

market economy A market economy is an economic system in which the decisions regarding investment, production and distribution to the consumers are guided by the price signals created by the forces of supply and demand, where all suppliers and consumers ...

as part of democratic socialist thinking. The ILP has been out of line with many traditional

leftist Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

positions, for instance in its rejection of a simple " troops out" approach to the conflict in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

, and was critical of what it saw as knee-jerk anti-Americanism on the left following the US's reaction to the

September 11, 2001 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...

Publications

The organisation publishes occasional pamphlets on contemporary issues. The paper ''

Labour Leader The ''Labour Leader'' was a British socialist newspaper published for almost one hundred years. It was later renamed ''New Leader'' and ''Socialist Leader'', before finally taking the name ''Labour Leader'' again. 19th century The origins of the ...

'' (published 1975–86) and the ''ILP Magazine: for socialist renewal'' (published 1987–92) were successors to the Independent Labour Party's ''New Leader'' (1922–46) and ''Socialist leader'' (1946–75). A newsletter called ''Democratic Socialist'' was the belated successor to the ''ILP Magazine''.

References

External links

Independent Labour Publications''Democratic Socialist'' newsletter
{{Authority control Labour Party (UK) publications Labour Party (UK) factions Democratic socialism Independent Labour Party