The Revolutionary Democratic Group (RDG) was a

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

organisation in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. It was founded in the early 1980s in a split from

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and Scottish branches of the Socialist Workers Party, of which, for many years, it considered itself an "external faction". The ideological centre of the RDG was a commitment to

republicanism Republicanism is a political ideology centered on citizenship in a state organized as a republic. Historically, it emphasises the idea of self-rule and ranges from the rule of a representative minority or oligarchy to popular sovereignty. It ...

. The RDG believed that the far left concentrates excessively on economic struggles without a clear focus on the need for

democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which people, the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation ("direct democracy"), or to choo ...

. The organisation developed the concept of the ''social monarchy'' to explain the nature of the British state, and sought to demonstrate links between the existence of the monarchy and the continuation of capitalism. The RDG consistently sought alliances with other socialist groups with the aim of forming a larger democratic socialist party. For example, it began working with the Socialist Federation in 1984. For the 1987 general election the RDG joined the Red Front, an electoral alliance spearheaded by the Revolutionary Communist Party. In 1988 the RDG sought fusion talks with Red Action. In the late 1990s it joined

Arthur Scargill Arthur Scargill (born 11 January 1938) is a British trade unionist who was President of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) from 1982 to 2002. He is best known for leading the UK miners' strike (1984–85), a major event in the history of ...

's Socialist Labour Party, officially dissolving and becoming the ''Republican Group''. It left, however, regained the RDG name and soon afterwards joined the Socialist Alliance. The RDG had patchy relations with the

Communist Party of Great Britain (PCC) The Communist Party of Great Britain is a political group which publishes the ''Weekly Worker'' newspaper. The CPGB (PCC) claims to have "an internationalist duty to uphold the principle, 'One state, one party'. To the extent that the European U ...

and occasionally had articles in that group's paper, the ''

Weekly Worker The ''Weekly Worker'' is a newspaper published by the Communist Party of Great Britain (Provisional Central Committee) (CPGB-PCC). The paper is known on the left for its polemical articles, and for its close attention to Marxist theory and the po ...

''. The RDG was also active within the United Socialist Party, a political initiative started by former Liverpool dockers to build a new workers' party. The RDG briefly sold the

Alliance for Workers' Liberty The Alliance for Workers' Liberty (AWL), also known as Workers' Liberty, is a Trotskyist group in Britain and Australia, which has been identified with the theorist Sean Matgamna throughout its history. It publishes the newspaper ''Solidarity''. ...

's newspaper '' Solidarity'' and occasionally produced one-off editions of its own paper, ''Republican Worker'', targeted at particular events such as conferences or demonstrations. With no website, publication or official activity, the RDG appears to be moribund. Its former leader Steve Freeman has since been involved with the

Republican Communist Network The Republican Communist Network is a communist political organisation in Scotland. It was a founding member of the Scottish Socialist Party in 1998, though formally disaffiliated from the party in 2012. It is an active participant in the Radical ...

, Left Unity and the Republican Socialist Alliance. Freeman stood for Parliament in Bermondsey and Old Southwark in 2010 as an Independent and in 2015 as the candidate of the Republican Socialist Party.

References

External links

1996 article on RDG in Weekly Worker
Defunct socialist parties in the United Kingdom 1980s establishments in the United Kingdom Socialist Workers Party (UK) {{Europe-socialist-party-stub