The Revolutionary Socialist Party, initially known as the International Socialist Labour Party, was a

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 ideological or p ...

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

. Its origins were in the British Section of the International Socialist Labour Party, a De Leonist group, formed in 1912 following disputes within the Socialist Labour Party of Great Britain (SLP).Mark Shipwa
Obituary: William Campbell Tait (1910/11–1994)
''Revolutionary History'' vol5/no4 It met under the name British Section of the International Socialist Labour Party between 1912 and 1937, standing municipal election candidates between 1919 and 1934 and general election candidates in 1918 and 1929, and Revolutionary Socialist Party between 1936 and 1941.List of contents of Tait & Watson Archive
University of Stirling The party was mainly based in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, where it had its office and most of the party members lived. Members were also present in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), a ...

and

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

.Martin Upha
VIII: UNITY (1936-1938)
in ''The History of British Trotskyism to 1949'' September 1980, hosted at ''Revolutionary History'' The party published ''The Proletariat'' and later ''The British Revolutionary Socialist''. Principal members included

William Campbell Tait William is a male given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norm ...

(the National Organiser from 1927)''The British Revolutionary Socialist'', no.11, Aug 1934
/ref> and

Frank Maitland Frank or Franks may refer to: People * Frank (given name) * Frank (surname) * Franks (surname) * Franks, a medieval Germanic people * Frank, a term in the Muslim world for all western Europeans, particularly during the Crusades - see Farang Curr ...

. RSP took part in conferences of the

London Bureau The International Revolutionary Marxist Centre was an international association of left-socialist parties. The member-parties rejected both mainstream social democracy and the Third International. Organizational history The International was for ...

as an observer. The party approached 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 ...

about a merger in 1937, but the ILP rejected it on the grounds that the RSP was under

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 ...

influence. The RSP then began orienting itself towards 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 ...

and met with

James P. Cannon James Patrick Cannon (February 11, 1890 – August 21, 1974) was an American Trotskyist and a leader of the Socialist Workers Party. Born on February 11, 1890, in Rosedale, Kansas, the son of Irish immigrants with strong socialist convicti ...

of the Movement for the Fourth International. The RSP was invited to and took part in the 'National Conference of Bolshevik-Leninists', held on 30 July – 31 July 1938. Through this conference, the RSP merged into the Revolutionary Socialist League. In September 1938 Tait travelled to Paris to participate in the founding conference of the

. Before long, however, the group parted with the International. In March 1939 it began to publish a paper called the ''Workers Weekly''. Most of its members joined the

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

References

{{UK far left 1912 establishments in the United Kingdom 1938 disestablishments in the United Kingdom De Leonist organizations Defunct Trotskyist organisations in the United Kingdom Far-left political parties Far-left politics in Scotland International Revolutionary Marxist Centre Organisations based in Edinburgh Political parties disestablished in 1938 Political parties established in 1912