The Spartacist League of Britain (Spartacist League/Britain) is a

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 ...

political organisation in

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 ...

. It is the British section of the

International Communist League (Fourth Internationalist) The International Communist League (Fourth Internationalist), earlier known as the International Spartacist tendency is a Trotskyist international. Its largest constituent party is the Spartacist League (US). There are smaller sections of the ICL ...

History

Origins

The origins of the group derive from a 1964 group of activists within the American Socialist Workers Party who were expelled for refusing to support the leadership of the

Cuban Revolution The Cuban Revolution ( es, Revolución Cubana) was carried out after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état which placed Fulgencio Batista as head of state and the failed mass strike in opposition that followed. After failing to contest Batista in co ...

. The American group sent some of its members to the UK in 1975, to form the London Spartacist Group."Thirty years of the Spartacist League/Britain"
, ''Workers Hammer'', No. 203, Summer 2008. Retrieved 19 March 2012. In 1977 the group was joined by New Zealanders Bill Logan and Adaire Hannah, who had led the Spartacist League of Australia and New Zealand from 1972 to 1977, and who were "transferred to London at the behest of the Spartacist international leadership" with a view to strengthening the tendency's organisation there. "The Spartacist League/Britain was founded in 1978 as a fusion between the London Spartacist Group and the Trotskyist Faction (TF), which split from

Alan Thornett Alan Thornett (born 15 June 1937) is a British Trotskyist. Alan Thornett began his career as a car worker in Plant Oxford, Cowley, Oxford in 1959. He joined the Communist Party of Great Britain there in 1960 before being recruited with other ...

Workers Socialist League The Workers Socialist League (WSL) was a Trotskyist group in Britain. The group was formed by Alan Thornett and other members of the Workers Revolutionary Party (WRP) after their expulsion from that group in 1974. Origins Thornett and his c ...

...". The Trotskyist Faction, with about two dozen members, left the Workers Socialist League on 19 February 1978 and merged with the London Spartacist Group at a conference held seven weeks later over the weekend of 4–5 April. The new party claimed to have about fifty members in London and the Midlands.

Relationship to Labour Party

The Spartacist League "seeks to combat illusions in

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

ite reformism in order to win the most conscious workers, minorities and youth to build a multiethnic workers party", on the model of the

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

s, "devoted to rooting out the system of capitalist exploitation.". The Spartacist League has for this reason adopted the tactic of 'critical support' in elections for Labour and non Labour candidates. The group called for critical support for Labour in February and October as part of the 1974 United Kingdom general elections. In the 1979 United Kingdom general election however the Spartacist League called for 'no vote for Labour', attributing Margaret Thatcher's election victory to Labour Party's betrayals. The Spartacist League did however give critical support to

Workers Revolutionary Party (UK) 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 ...

candidates. The Spartacist League did not endorse Labour candidates in the 1983 United Kingdom general election or the 1992 United Kingdom general election. In 1997 the Spartacist League gave critical support to

Socialist Labour Party (UK) The Socialist Labour Party (SLP) is a socialist political party in the United Kingdom. The party was established in 1996 and is led by Arthur Scargill, a former Labour Party member and the former leader of the National Union of Mineworkers. T ...

candidates.

Recent Activity

In the summer of 2017, the ICL questioned its past, believing that it had been, in the person of "a number of American cadres" penetrated by "the chauvinist Hydra" since 1974

Publications

The group published a monthly periodical called ''Spartacist Britain'' from 1978, which changed its title to ''Workers Hammer'' in 1984. It ran as a monthly publication and became a quarterly in Autumn 1999. In the Spring of 2020 it was announced that Workers Hammer would reduce in frequency to two issues a year.

References

External links

Archive of recent issues of ''Workers Hammer''Catalogue of the Spartacist League archives
held at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick {{Authority control

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 ...

Political parties established in 1978 Trotskyist organisations in the United Kingdom 1978 establishments in the United Kingdom