The Socialist Alliance was 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 ...

electoral alliance in England between 1999 and 2005.

Origins

The Socialist Alliance grew out of local alliances formed by the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of t ...

, Independent Labour Network and independent socialists from 1992 onward. They gradually coalesced into a national Network of Socialist Alliances. The

Welsh Socialist Alliance {{Use dmy dates, date=April 2022 The Welsh Socialist Alliance (WSA) was a socialist political organisation in Wales. It was closely related to, but separate from the Socialist Alliance. It was founded by the Socialist Party and Cymru Goch Cymru G ...

was closely allied, but had separate origins. The Socialist Alliance was named and expanded in 1999 when other

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 ...

groups including 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''. ...

, Socialist Workers Party,

International Socialist Group The International Socialist Group (ISG) was a Trotskyist organisation in Britain. It was the British section of the Fourth International (FI) until 2009 when it dissolved into Socialist Resistance. Origin The ISG was the result of the 19 ...

and Workers Power joined, as did the formerly separate London Socialist Alliance. In the 2002 local elections, the alliance gained one councillor in

Preston, Lancashire Preston () is a city on the north bank of the River Ribble in Lancashire, England. The city is the administrative centre of the county of Lancashire and the wider City of Preston local government district. Preston and its surrounding distri ...

. The Socialist Alliance had fraternal relations with the

Scottish Socialist Party The Scottish Socialist Party (SSP; gd, Pàrtaidh Sòisealach na h-Alba; sco, Scots Socialist Pairtie) is a left-wing political party campaigning for the establishment of an independent socialist Scotland. The party was founded in 1998. It c ...

Contraction and dissolution

In late 2001, the Network of Socialist Alliances was transformed into a one-member-one-vote political party called the Socialist Alliance (a title already registered for electoral purposes). The Socialist Alliance was riven by political disagreements. The Socialist Party left the Alliance in 2001 (after the conference that adopted one member one vote) while Workers Power left in 2003. In 2003, the SWP, supported by the ISG, led the SA into an alliance with George Galloway and other figures involved in the

Stop the War Coalition The Stop the War Coalition (StWC), informally known simply as Stop the War, is a British group established on 21 September 2001, shortly after the September 11 attacks, to campaign against what it believes are unjust wars. The Coalition has c ...

, to form the

Respect Coalition The Respect Party was a left-wing to far-left, socialist political party active in the United Kingdom between 2004 and 2016. At the height of its success in 2007, the party had one Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons and nineteen ...

. A minority of the SA objected to the way this decision was carried out and argued that the SWP were using their block vote to push their line. Many of these dissidents objected to Respect on principle and all objected to the way the decision to join it was carried out, many forming the Socialist Alliance Democracy Platform. In late 2004, some Socialist Alliance member organisations, which had remained outside Respect, joined with the Socialist Party and the Alliance for Green Socialism to establish the

Socialist Green Unity Coalition The Socialist Green Unity Coalition was an electoral alliance formed by leftist parties and political organisations in Great Britain prior to 2005 parliamentary election

. As the SWP switched its priorities to working within Respect, the Socialist Alliance became virtually moribund and was formally wound up in February 2005. In March 2005, a few groups and former members of the SA who did not join Respect met as the Socialist Alliance (Provisional). On 12 November 2005, most of the provisional grouping (independent members, and members of the

, Alliance for Green Socialism, the

Communist Party of Great Britain (Provisional Central Committee) 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 ...

, the Democratic Socialist Alliance, Democratic Socialist Alliance
/ref> the Republican Communist Network (Scotland), the Revolutionary Democratic Group, the

Socialist Unity Network The Socialist Unity Network was a small network of the far-left in the United Kingdom which was not affiliated with any single political party. It grew out of the Socialist Alliance (SA) in England, and was initiated by several non-aligned members ...

, the United Socialist Party, and the Democratic Labour Party met again and claimed the name of the Socialist Alliance for a re-founded political organisation, registered with the

Electoral Commission An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...

. In 2007, this small group entered into a mutual affiliation with its largest supporting organisation, the Alliance for Green Socialism.

List of supporting organisations

* Democratic Labour Party * Independent Labour Network (disbanded before 2003) *

* International Socialist League * Lewisham Independent Socialists * Red Action (left 2001) * Revolutionary Democratic Group *

(left 2001) * Socialist Perspectives * Socialist Resistance * Socialist Solidarity Network * Socialist Workers Party * Workers International * Workers Power (left 2003)

References

External links

Socialist Alliance (current site)

Socialist Alliance (2005)
*

Democratic Socialist Alliance (formerly the Socialist Alliance Democracy Platform)

People Before Profit
SA 2001 Election Platform ''1.6MB PDF''
2001 Official UK Electoral Commission Report on the 2001 General Election

Socialist Unity Network

hosted by the Socialist Party of England and Wales. {{Authority control Political parties established in 1999 Political parties disestablished in 2005 Socialist parties in England Defunct political party alliances in the United Kingdom 1999 establishments in England 2005 disestablishments in England