The Socialist Equality Party (german: Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei, SGP) is a minor

Trotskyist Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International. Trotsky self-identified as an orthodox Marxist, a rev ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

History

It was founded in 1971 as the Federation of Socialist Workers () by West German supporters of

Gerry Healy Thomas Gerard Healy (3 December 1913 – 14 December 1989) was a political activist, a co-founder of the International Committee of the Fourth International and the leader of the Socialist Labour League and later the Workers Revolutionary Part ...

Socialist Labour League The Workers Revolutionary Party is a Trotskyist group in Britain once led by Gerry Healy. In the mid-1980s, it split into several smaller groups, one of which retains possession of the name. The Club The WRP grew out of the faction Gerry Healy ...

and was renamed the Party for Social Equality, Section of the Fourth International (, PSG) in 1997. On 18–19 February 2017, the party adopted its present name.

Ideology

The party sees itself as the German section of the

Fourth International The Fourth International (FI) is a revolutionary socialist international organization consisting of followers of Leon Trotsky, also known as Trotskyists, whose declared goal is the overthrowing of global capitalism and the establishment of wor ...

in the tradition of

Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian ...

.PSG
''Fragen an die Partei für Soziale Gleichheit''
The international umbrella group of the party is the

International Committee of the Fourth International The International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) is the name of two Trotskyist internationals; one with sections named Socialist Equality Party which publishes the World Socialist Web Site, and another linked to the Workers Revo ...

(ICFI).World Socialist Web Site
''Wer ist das IKVI?''
It has contacts to other member parties of the ICFI in England, the US, Sri Lanka, France, Canada and Australia. The SGP is critical of trade unions (which it views as merely a tool of the

labour aristocracy Labor aristocracy or labour aristocracy (also aristocracy of labor) has at least four meanings: (1) as a term with Marxist theoretical underpinnings; (2) as a specific type of trade unionism; (3) as a shorthand description by revolutionary industr ...

), social democrats, and

Stalinist Stalinism is the means of governing and Marxist-Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union from 1927 to 1953 by Joseph Stalin. It included the creation of a one-party totalitarian police state, rapid industrialization, the theory o ...

organisations.PSG
''Wahlerklärungen 2005-2008''
The party takes an anti-nationalist and anti-capitalist stance. It supports the introduction of

universal basic income Universal basic income (UBI) is a social welfare proposal in which all citizens of a given population regularly receive an unconditional transfer payment, that is, without a means test or need to work. It would be received independently of a ...

. The SGP is classified as a left-wing extremist organization by the

Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (german: Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz or BfV, often ''Bundesverfassungsschutz'') is Germany's federal domestic intelligence agency. Together with the Landesämter für Verfassungss ...

(BfV) and is as such under observation.

Election results

Bundestag

Notes

References

External links

Official website of the partyOnline publication of the party: world socialist website - wsws.org
{{Authority control 1997 establishments in Germany Communist parties in Germany International Committee of the Fourth International Political parties established in 1997 Trotskyist organisations in Germany Universal basic income in Germany