Socialist Resistance (SR) 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 rev ...

organisation in Britain. In 2009, the

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

(ISG) merged into it, making it the British 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 ...

Origins

It was launched in 2002 by two organisations, the

Socialist Solidarity Network The Socialist Solidarity Network was a grouping of socialists in the United Kingdom most of whom were former members of the Socialist Party. They supported the Socialist Alliance in England and support the Scottish Socialist Party in Scotland. ...

(SSN) and

(ISG), and 33 individuals.

Organisation

Founded as a network it developed the norms of an organisation, included elected bodies, local groups and formal membership. By 2007 135 activists had subscribed to its internal listserver, of whom around at least 65 could be assumed to have been members of the ISG; and at least 20 of whom were supporters of the SSN. Its members also include former supporters in Britain of the

Democratic Socialist Perspective The Democratic Socialist Perspective (DSP) was an Australian Marxist political group, which operated as the largest component of a broad-left socialist formation, the Socialist Alliance. In 2010, the DSP voted to merge into the Socialist Al ...

. In 2009, Socialist Resistance adopted a constitution and a more extensive political basis. The organisation is controlled by an occasional conference to which one delegate is elected for every three members. It elects a National Committee and an Appeals Committee (a

control commission {{Unreferenced, date=November 2019 A control commission is an independent regulatory body. Control commissions are most often found in regulated industries and political organisations. They typically have full authority to operate within the regu ...

). The National Committee appoints sub-committees, including an executive and an editorial board.

Activities

It organises monthly public meetings in London, Oxford and Birmingham, as well as national open forums each year. For example, it organised a June 2006 dayschool on the

Bolivarian revolution The Bolivarian Revolution is a political process in Venezuela that was led by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, the founder of the Fifth Republic Movement and later the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV). The Bolivarian Revolution i ...

addressed by

Michael Löwy Michael Löwy (born 6 May 1938) is a French-Brazilian Marxist sociologist and philosopher. He is emeritus research director in social sciences at the CNRS (French National Center of Scientific Research) and lectures at the ''École des ha ...

and

Celia Hart Celia Hart (January 4, 1962 – September 7, 2008) was a Cuban physicist and writer. Until May 2006, she was a member of the Cuban Communist Party. She was the daughter of two historic leaders of the Cuban Revolution, Haydee Santamaría and ...

, a September 2006 annual general meeting, December 2006 and May 2007 forums on "

ecosocialism Eco-socialism (also known as green socialism or socialist ecology) is an ideology merging aspects of socialism with that of green politics, ecology and alter-globalization or anti-globalization. Eco-socialists generally believe that the expansi ...

" and a March 2007 forum on the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

. In September 2009 Socialist Resistance, together with

Green Left The term green left refers primarily to a political affiliation that combines elements of green politics and left-wing politics in countries where the term is used. It is primarily a social justice and human rights oriented ideology, with an expa ...

, organised a seminar on Climate and Capitalism, with Ian Angus as the main speaker. Socialist Resistance also publishes irregular broadsheets and pamphlets. Three leading activists in Socialist Resistance are on the editorial board of ''

International Viewpoint ''International Viewpoint'' is the English-language online magazine of the Trotskyist reunified Fourth International. It focuses on publishing articles on the political and social situation throughout the world, notably by translating articles in ...

''. Socialist Resistance also cooperates with

and the Red-Green Study Group in the Ecosocialist International Network. After resigning from Respect, Socialist Resistance became part of the

Trade Union and Socialist Coalition Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) is a socialist electoral alliance launched in Britain for the 2010 general election. TUSC's co-founder was the RMT union general secretary Bob Crow. Members of the PCS, NUT, FBU and POA uni ...

from which it withdrew in mid-2014. The organisation welcomed the launch of Left Unity, in which its members played an active part. However, following the election of

Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. On the political left of the Labour Party, Corbyn describes himself as a socialist ...

as leader of the Labour Party in September 2015 most SR members, together with others, left Left Unity to join the Labour Party. In January 2014 Socialist Resistance unsuccessfully entered unity talks with Workers' Power and the

International Socialist Network The International Socialist Network (ISN or IS Network for short) was a short-lived revolutionary socialist organisation in Britain. It was formed as a split from the Socialist Workers Party in 2013 following the alleged rape scandal concerning ...

with a view to "dissolve itself into a new organisation and its only condition would be that its members could remain in the Fourth International." Student members of Socialist Resistance are active in the

National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts The National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts (NCAFC) or Student Left Network is a membership-based organisation of activist students and education workers campaigning against tuition fees, education cuts and privatisation in the United Kingdom. ...

, a broad student organisation that campaigns for the abolition of tuition fees. Socialist Resistance endorsed the Labour Party in the

2019 United Kingdom general election The 2019 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 12 December 2019. It resulted in the Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party receiving a Landslide victory, landslide majority of 80 seats. The Conservatives made a net gain of 4 ...

Publications

Resistance Books is the publishing arm of Socialist Resistance. Resistance Books also publishes books jointly with Merlin Press (London) and the

International Institute for Research and Education The International Institute for Research and Education (IIRE) is a research and educational centre based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. It conducts training and publishes research for and by progressive activists around the world. The institute was ...

(Amsterdam).

Periodical

Also known as ''Socialist Resistance'', the rationale for the new publication was "to express and build support for a distinct political position which, despite differences among us on secondary issues, we share. We want to deepen the fight for a broad socialist party in England on the model of, for example, the SSP in Scotland and the Party of Communist Refoundation in Italy." Between September 2002 and November 2007 it produced 49 issues of a 28-page tabloid which was produced monthly, with summer and winter issues spanning two months each. In November 2007, the resources used for the newspaper were dedicated to the Respect Renewal movement, allowing it to plan the launch of a newspaper in December 2007. According to a statement by the group's Steering Committee, the change was unanimously agreed at a meeting of the group's members. In January 2008, the group's aggregate agreed to relaunch ''Socialist Resistance'' as a colour quarterly magazine in April 2008.Liam Mac Uaid
"Socialist Resistance: what next?"
November 27, 2007 It ceased publication in 2014, but continues in an online version.

References

External links

Socialist ResistanceInternational Socialist GroupResistance books blog
{{UK far left 2002 establishments in the United Kingdom Eco-socialism Feminist parties in the United Kingdom

Socialist magazines Political magazines published in the United Kingdom Trotskyist organisations in the United Kingdom Magazines established in 2002 Socialist feminist organizations Quarterly magazines published in the United Kingdom Feminist magazines