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92-937: Clause Four was a group in British student politics in the 1970s and 1980s, set up to oppose Militant in the National Organisation of Labour Students (NOLS). It backed the Tribune group of Labour MPs, working in the mainstream of the Labour Party, and had a range of views on the democratic socialist left of the Labour Party. It supported the Alternative Economic Strategy , the liberation movements in Southern Africa and Palestine , and deepening equality in society on grounds of sex, race and sexual orientation. Clause Four won

184-613: A "public face" often reject the term "entryism" but are sometimes still considered to be entryists by the larger organization. In Australia , the practice was widespread during the 1950s, when the Communist Party of Australia battled against right-wing Industrial Groups for control of Australian trade unions . The 'Groupers' subsequently formed the Democratic Labor Party . Today, the practice in Australia

276-465: A "tactic" to buy time. A covering letter to council employees dated 19 September 1985, signed by council leader John Hamilton and his deputy Derek Hatton , explained that "this course of action provides the only way of providing wages and salaries until 18th December, 1985. ...[giving] the Government three months to negotiate with Labour representatives a just settlement to our financial crisis. If

368-697: A Militant member to the position of National Youth Organiser in 1976 after Militant had won control of the party's youth section, the Labour Party Young Socialists . After the Liverpool Labour Party adopted Militant's strategy to set an illegal deficit budget in 1982, a Labour Party commission found Militant in contravention of clause II, section 3 of the party's constitution which made political groups with their own "Programme, Principles and Policy for Separate and Distinctive Propaganda" ineligible for affiliation. Militant

460-573: A clear majority on its National Committee. In 1973, the Labour Party Young Socialists conference attracted one thousand delegates and visitors. Taaffe claims that Militant had 397 "organised supporters" in March 1973, but by July of the same year this "had grown to 464". In 1965, Militant had claimed 100 members, and in 1979 1,621. In 1973, the Labour Party abolished the 'proscribed list' of organisations which could affiliate to

552-454: A current in the Labour Party. "It is significant that all these attacks, particularly that of The Observer , do not deal with the ideas of Militant , openly expressed, which have a great tradition in the labour movement and are the continuation of the ideas of the pioneers of the labour movement and of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Trotsky," it commented in response at the beginning of September 1975. The report of National Agent Reg Underhill into

644-606: A degree of power within a constituency". but according to journalist Andy McSmith it was "manifestly untrue" that Prentice's problems were caused by Militant, who had only a small presence in his constituency party. Prentice ultimately defected to the Conservative party in 1977. Meanwhile, in December 1975, Militant suffered a setback when they lost control of the National Organisation of Labour Students to

736-600: A legal budget with Liverpool passing an illegal deficit budget on 14 June 1985, although the proposal for a general strike was never carried through. After being advised by the District Auditor that the council would be unable to pay wages after November, the Labour group on the council decided in September 1985 to issue ninety-day notices to the 30,000 strong workforce. Militant said the redundancy notices were

828-458: A legitimate place within the Labour Party. The charges being levelled against Militant that it is 'a party within a party' is one that can be levelled with equal justification against any other groups within the Labour Party on both the left and right... The very existence of the Militant and other groups within the Labour Party is a source of strength rather than a weakness. By working for

920-401: A long democratic tradition, and there is no possibility of a socialist society being attained here without the working class, and the middle class, being convinced of the necessity of the change." I left Mr Taaffe thinking that Militant and Andy Bevan between them have got Transport House over a barrel. The Militant newspaper argued that the Labour Party lost the 1979 election due to anger at

1012-535: A minority Labour Council should have set an illegal "deficit budget" in 1980, demanding money from the central government to balance the books. In May 1983, despite negative press coverage, the Militant-led Labour Party gained the council from a coalition Conservative-Liberal administration on a swing of 12 seats in the local elections running on an ambitious regeneration strategy with a refusal to make above-inflation rent and rate increases. In

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1104-763: A part in his removal, In December, the Labour Party National Executive Committee decided by a 15:12 majority to uphold the appointment, but with Callaghan's open disapproval. Forty members of the Parliamentary Labour Party condemned Bevan's appointment. The Daily Express commented: "Just five men have Labour on the Trot... Express dossier of the unknowns behind the Red challenge to Jim." The Times carried three articles in early December 1976 and an editorial about

1196-476: A policy to restrict workers' incomes: "For a generation now British Capitalism has been in decline... The capitalists are responsible for this mess. But they want the burdens to be borne by the working class, while their fabulous profits continue to rise. They wanted the Labour government to impose an incomes policy." In 1965, highly critical of the policies agreed at the Eighth World Congress of

1288-469: A result of the so-called 'inviolability of frontiers' or 'aggression', but because of the damage this action caused to the consciousness of the workers of other countries." The Soviet government was "being totally hypocritical" and acting to defend its own interests. But in Militant itself, Ted Grant and Alan Woods argued that nevertheless, now the Russian troops were there they could not leave and allow

1380-422: A slow, gradual, almost imperceptible progress towards nationalisation." The Observer ran the first article on Militant, "Trot conspirators inside Labour Party", at the end of August 1975. Its author, Nora Beloff , wrote that Militant was a "party within a party". Militant asserted the consonance of its policies with the decisions of the Labour Party conference, which, it said, demonstrated its legitimacy as

1472-514: A special type") variant did contain the difference that, where their own political identity could not be maintained, the group would maintain an independent presence, which would primarily aid the task of entry. In Europe, that was the approach used, for example, by The Club and later Socialist Action in the Labour Party, and by Fourth Internationalists inside the Communist Parties. In France , Trotskyist organizations, most notably

1564-639: A strategy of steering New Zealand's foreign policy away from its traditional ally, the United States . New Zealand's Christian Right also attempted to obtain electoral influence. During the 1987 general election , several conservative Christian groups, including the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC), Women for Life and the Coalition of Concerned Citizens , tried to infiltrate

1656-499: A tactic of long-term entry into the "mass-parties of the working class", primarily because the meagre prospects of building independent parties in the post-war circumstances. This would primarily prevent the tiny propaganda-circles of the Trotskyist movement becoming sectarian circles, isolated from the working class. The organizations were understood to retain their political identity and their own press. The sui generis ("of

1748-849: Is noted for its "realignment" strategy efforts within the Democratic Party in the 1970s, while its modern-day successor Democratic Socialists of America is primarily focused on running its members on the Democratic Party platform (e.g. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib ), or endorsing other democratic socialists at doing so (e.g. Bernie Sanders ). Many Libertarian Party or right-libertarian -leaning politicians have run for office as Republicans , and several (such as Ron Paul , his son Rand Paul , Mark Sanford , Justin Amash , Thomas Massie , and Gary Johnson ) have been successful, although some of them have subsequently left

1840-684: Is often known as a type of branch stacking . In 1985, the Nuclear Disarmament Party was split after accusations that it had been infiltrated by the Socialist Workers Party (SWP), a Trotskyist group. In recent times, RSPCA Australia has been described as being the victims of the practice. The National Farmers' Federation and Animals Australia have each been accused of infiltrating branches of RSPCA Australia in an attempt to promote opposing policies concerning battery hens , intensive pig farming , and

1932-653: The Parti des Travailleurs and its predecessors, have successfully entered trade unions and mainstream left-wing parties. Some political parties, such as the Workers' Party in Brazil or the Scottish Socialist Party , allow political tendencies to organise within them openly. In those cases, the term "entryism" is not usually used. Political groups that work within a larger organisation but also maintain

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2024-473: The 1983 general election elections, Militant supporter Terry Fields won Liverpool Broadgreen . In 1984, Liverpool City Council launched its Urban Regeneration Strategy to build 5,000 houses and other public works, cancelling 1,200 planned redundancies, creating 1,000 new jobs as well as abolishing office of Lord mayor . In 1985, the council joined other left wing councils in the rate-capping rebellion , although only Liverpool and Lambeth refused to set

2116-513: The Committee for a Workers' International (CWI). In 1970, Militant bought premises belonging to the old Independent Labour Party . In September 1971, the Militant newspaper became fortnightly, although still just four pages, and in January 1972 it became weekly. By the end of 1972 it became an 8-page weekly. By 1972, Militant supporters in the Labour Party Young Socialists (LPYS) had won

2208-550: The Conservative Party , along with previously independent Leave supporters. The movement was especially pronounced in the constituencies of Conservative MPs who had supported Remain. The group Leave.EU ran campaigns that urged its supporters to join the Conservatives to deselect MPs who did not support a hard Brexit . Those who joined the party during that period were credited with helping Boris Johnson win

2300-692: The Fourth International , the Militant tendency abandoned attempts to remain a section of this grouping. According to an internal document by Grant, the International considered Militant to have "a poorly functioning organization" and aligned itself instead with the International Marxist Group (IMG). By 1969, Militant had ceased to use the name Revolutionary Socialist League internally. In 1974, Militant founded

2392-824: The Industrial Workers of the World – and another faction of the Socialist Labor Party, close to the Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance , which would remain in the party – supported a dual unionist strategy of competing against the AFL within a workplace. In opposition, Daniel De Leon of the Socialist Labor Party criticized "boring from within only" and supported "boring from within and without". SLP members were encouraged to join

2484-605: The Labour Co-ordinating Committee . Clause Four was wound up at a special meeting in London in 1991 and its remaining funds donated to Tribune and the Labour Party. This article related to the politics of the United Kingdom , or its predecessor or constituent states, is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Militant tendency The Militant tendency , or Militant ,

2576-588: The Militant's Editorial board consisted of five people, with an additional sixty-four full-time staff. The Hayward-Hughes inquiry, which reported in June 1982, found that Militant was guilty of breaking Clause II, section 3 of the Labour Party constitution. It took only one of the four parts of this passage to render an organisation incompatible with the Labour Party: "Programme, Principles and Policy for separate and distinctive propaganda, possessing branches in

2668-551: The National Organisation of Labour Students from Militant in December 1975, turned NOLS towards the mainstream in the student movement, and had a presence in the Labour Party Young Socialists . People who were involved in Clause Four include Labour MPs Fraser Kemp , Mike Gapes , Alan Whitehead , John Mann , John Denham , Mark Lazarowicz and Margaret Curran , and MSPs Johann Lamont and Sarah Boyack . Many of those involved in Clause Four subsequently became active in

2760-542: The National Party by running conservative Christian individuals as candidates. The groups also attacked the Labour government's policies towards peace education , sex education , abortion , Māori biculturalism, and the ANZUS alliance. Several CCC supporters contested the 1987 election as National candidates, including Rob Wheeler ( Mount Albert ), Andrew Stanley ( Onehunga ), and Howard Martin ( Papatoetoe ). However,

2852-667: The Netherlands , Belgium , Switzerland , and Poland . Entryism was used to connect with and recruit leftward-moving political currents inside radical parties. Since it was used in France , Marxists have used the tactic even if they had different preconceptions of how long the period of entry would last: After the end of World War 2, Michel Pablo - then in the Leadership of the Fourth International - proposed

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2944-594: The Socialist Action League (SAL), have tried to influence the Labour Party , the trade unions, and various popular issues, like the anti-Springbok tour protests , Māori biculturalism , and the anti-nuclear movement . During the ANZUS diplomatic crisis 1984 to 1985, which resulted from New Zealand 's nuclear ship ban, the pro- Moscow SUP tried to infiltrate anti-nuclear organisations, as part of

3036-476: The Socialist Party (England and Wales) . The Guardian columnist George Monbiot claims that a group, influenced by the defunct Marxist Living Marxism magazine, has pursued entryist tactics in British scientific and media organisations since the late 1990s. The 2015 Labour Party leadership election was the target of a campaign by The Daily Telegraph for Conservative sympathisers to join

3128-669: The Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance and later the Workers' International Industrial Union . In 1929, the Communist Party of America abandoned "boring from within" the AFL and embraced dual unionism against the AFL. As a result, its labor organization, the Trade Union Educational League (TUEL) became the Trade Union Unity League (TUUL). The " French Turn " refers to the classic form of entryism advocated by Leon Trotsky in his essays on "The French Turn". In June 1934, he proposed for

3220-763: The Workers International League in the 1930s and the post-war Revolutionary Communist Party . The Revolutionary Socialist League was organised in 1957 around the newspaper Socialist Fight . About 40 strong, they were Labour Party members, mainly based in Liverpool, with small forces in London and in South Wales. The Militant newspaper was founded in 1964 after the National Secretary Jimmy Deane , together with Grant, Keith Dickenson, Ellis Hillman and others on

3312-712: The live export of sheep. Since the 2000s, the religious right has practiced entryism into a number of state branches of the Liberal Party of Australia , notably in New South Wales, Western Australia, Queensland and Victoria. During the 2022 Victorian State Election one upper house candidate, Renee Heath, was accused of being a part of an entryist plot begun by the Pentecostal church begun by her father, by Catherine Burnett-Wake , who Heath had defeated for pre-selection. Heath would later have her position in

3404-547: The poll tax . In 1991, Militant decided by a large majority to abandon entryism in the Labour Party. Ted Grant , formerly the group's highest political authority, opposed this decision. Along with his supporters, he founded Socialist Appeal , which in 2024 developed into the Revolutionary Communist Party . The remaining majority changed its name to Militant Labour and then in 1997 to the Socialist Party . Militant's Trotskyist roots stretched back to

3496-494: The "Walton Young Socialists" indicated the significance with which Taaffe and Militant viewed the young socialists, and began the practice of Militant members identifying themselves with their local Labour Party or trade union. With Taaffe in Liverpool, Roger Protz , Keith Dickinson, Ted Grant and others did most of the work on the first few issues. In the editorial of the first issue of the Militant in October 1964, Taaffe made

3588-491: The "first directly political strikes" in what threatened to be an "irreparable breach between the Labour leaders and their base in the Labour Movement". Militant argued that the struggle between the Labour Party leadership and the trade unions arose from the poor economic performance of Britain compared to its competitors. For them, the "capitalist class" wished to make the working class pay for this "crisis" through

3680-419: The 1964 general election, which the Labour Party won with a majority of four seats, Militant called for "No retreat by Labour" from its promises, urging the carrying out of its promised nationalisation of steel and urban land and calling on it to "take action against the big monopolies, combines and trusts which dominate the economy". Under the headline, "Another election 'pledge' broken", Militant denounced

3772-583: The 400 Monopolies". In the meantime, Roger Protz had severed his connection with the group. A letter from Protz, written around this time, was leaked to The Observer newspaper a decade later. It recalls his experiences at an early Militant editorial board meeting: We told Grant that he was hopelessly factional and sectarian, [and] that his attitude would strangle Militant [...] He began screaming and shouting, threatening that I had no rights at all as I wasn't active in RSL, hadn't proven myself, etc. In 1969,

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3864-715: The French Trotskyists to dissolve their Communist League and to join the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO) and for the Communist League to dissolve its youth section to join more easily with revolutionary elements. The tactic was adopted in August 1934, despite some opposition, and successfully raised the group's membership to 300 activists. Proponents of the tactic advocated that

3956-724: The Government recognises its responsibility then all notices will be withdrawn." Later, the Deputy Council leader Derek Hatton and Militant's national general secretary Taaffe saw the letter as a great error, although the Council set a legal budget in November 1985 after borrowing £30 million. Entryism In the "boring from within" strategy, radical workers would join established (and often conservative) trade unions and attempt to join their leadership to shift their stances leftward. These workers were called "borers". Boring

4048-492: The Labour Party NEC in December after an 18–9 vote. On 22 February 1983, after a 19 to 9 vote, Labour's National Executive Committee, decided to expel from the party the five members of Militant's Editorial Board, Taaffe, Grant, Keith Dickinson, Lynn Walsh and Clare Doyle. They appealed at the Labour Party national conference in October of that year. Two-thirds of constituency delegates voted against expulsions but

4140-516: The Labour Party central office files on left-wingers. In 1975 Eric Heffer , a member of the NEC, remarked "There have been Trotskyists in the Labour Party for thirty years". Tony Benn , frequently nicknamed 'Kerensky' by the leadership of Militant ( Alexander Kerensky 's provisional government was 'replaced' by the Bolsheviks), defended the group. In a television interview, Benn drew a parallel with

4232-450: The Labour Party. At the 1972 Labour Party Conference , a resolution moved and seconded by Militant supporters Pat Wall and Ray Apps was passed by 3,501,000 votes to 2,497,000. It demanded that the Labour government commit itself to enacting "an enabling bill to secure the public ownership of the major monopolies". Pat Wall , later an MP, asserted: "No power on earth can stop the organised labour movement!" and "called for Labour to win

4324-446: The Labour Party. Hayward, according to Tam Dalyell , was thought to be unduly forgiving of Militant by some in the party, and while Hayward and Hughes agreed with Michael Foot 's opposition to expulsions in his New Year message for 1982, they said that Militant would be ineligible for their proposed register. The group was given three months to conform to the party rules. Labour Weekly , the Labour Party's own newspaper, cast doubts on

4416-574: The Labour government came into conflict with the trade unions over its In Place of Strife white paper which was later withdrawn. Militant's national secretary Taaffe outlined how "the trade union and Labour Movement scored a tremendous victory in forcing the Labour government to climb down over its proposed anti-trade union legislation" in the first issue of the Militant International Review (Autumn 1969), Militant's quarterly theoretical journal. Several strikes had taken place,

4508-415: The Labour party (at a fee of £3) in order to vote for the left-wing candidate Jeremy Corbyn , with the view that he would render the party unelectable. That strategy was labelled 'entryism' by observers, though it is unclear that it qualifies under the commonly-understood definition, unlike the broader term 'subversion'. Likewise, the left-wing Momentum group has been accused of entryism and engaging in

4600-594: The Liberal party ended by Matthew Guy , although the move came too late for her to be disendorsed from her near certain victory as the first ranked candidate in her upper house zone. In 2018, it was revealed that the NSW National party and its youth wing, the Young Nationals had been infiltrated by the far right with more than 30 members being investigated for alleged links. Leader McCormack denounced

4692-447: The Militant-style tactics, with movements made by prominent Labour MPs (current and suspended) to deselect MPs who did not support Corbyn. In the wake of the Brexit vote in 2016, some supporters of Leave feared that the government would negotiate a deal that would keep far too many ties between with the European Union and so members of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), which had struggled politically since Brexit, joined

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4784-486: The Nationalist Party and shaping its policies. Eventually, the situation degraded, the Nationalists expelled the Communists from their party , and the Chinese Civil War began. The war was paused for a time (1936–1945) to allow for a Second United Front during the Chinese resistance to Japanese imperial rule . However, the civil war resumed again and remained active until 1950, after the Communists had won. In 1967 West German student movement leader Rudi Dutschke coined

4876-540: The Republican Party. Some jurisdictions have passed laws to discourage entryism. In New York State elections , changes in party affiliation by voters already registered are not formally processed until a week after that year's general election to prevent entryism in a primary election since they are open only to voters who are already enrolled in the party holding the primary. The state's Wilson Pakula law, passed after American Labor Party candidates were entering and winning Democratic and Republican Party primaries in

4968-408: The Tories" was the headline of the first issue of Militant , published just before the general election of 1964 with an article written by the business editor, S. Mani. Below the Militant logo were the words "For Youth and Labour". Inside, above the editorial, was printed: "Militant. Editor: Peter Taaffe (Walton Young Socialists). All correspondence to the business manager: S. Mani". The addition of

5060-545: The Trotskyists should enter the social democratic parties to connect with revolutionary socialist currents within them and then to steer those currents toward Leninism . However, entryism lasted briefly since the leadership of the SFIO started to expel the Trotskyists. The Trotskyists of the Workers Party of the United States also successfully used their entry into the Socialist Party of America to recruit their youth group and other members. Similar tactics were also used by Trotskyist organisations in other countries, including

5152-419: The Witch-Hunt Campaign", based at Corbyn's then address. In September 1982, Militant held a special conference against the 'witch-hunt' at the Wembley Conference Centre at which Ken Livingstone spoke. An attendance was claimed of 1,622 delegates from Constituency Labour Parties and 412 trade union delegates plus visitors, At such mass rallies in this period, Militant displayed two huge banners at each side of

5244-447: The activities of Militant was completed in November 1975, and was soon leaked. By a majority of 16 to 12, the Labour Party's National Executive Committee decided to take no action. Many on the NEC, then with a left-wing majority, were "determined not to allow a return to what they saw as the 'McCarthyism' of the past". The proscribed list had fallen into disuse and Ron Hayward , Labour Party General Secretary from 1972, claimed he burned

5336-420: The adoption of alternative policies and candidates, they assist the democratic functioning of the party. At the 1982 Labour Party Conference which followed, the Hayward-Hughes report was endorsed and Militant was declared ineligible for affiliation to the Labour Party. While most Labour Party constituencies were against the register, the motion was endorsed at the conference. Militant was finally proscribed by

5428-425: The aim of winning in the first instance, the most conscious, combative, fighting, i.e. militant, sections of the working class." Some Trotskyists referred to the new group, still known internally as the Revolutionary Socialist League, as the Grantites after their leading theoretician Ted Grant. The founders of Militant had roots in labour and trade union organisations, especially in the Merseyside area. Jimmy Deane ,

5520-519: The appeal of each member was lost when the unions cast their block votes in a card vote, 5,160,000 to 1,616,000 in each case except for that of Grant who got 175,000 extra votes in his favour. Lynn Walsh, in his failed appeal asserted: "Militant is not an organisation, it is not subsidiary or ancillary to any organisation outside the party ... Militant was proscribed as a result of an entirely one-sided inquiry which acted on McCarthyite reports and poison-pen letters from self-appointed snoopers." Following

5612-416: The centrist to centre-left Democratic Renewal Party in 1990s it was taken over by far-right elements which transformed the party into the National Renovator Party soon after. A long-lasting entry tactic was used by the Trotskyist group Militant tendency , whose initially small numbers of supporters worked within the mainstream Labour Party from the 1960s. By the early 1980s they still numbered only in

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5704-547: The constituencies; promoting their own candidates for public office; and, finally, owing allegiance to any political organisation situated abroad." In the words of the authors: "It is clear that the Militant Tendency is a well organised caucus[,] centrally controlled[,] operation within the Labour Party and it is equally clear that supporters of the Tendency are in control of the Labour Party Young Socialists at National and Regional level." Crick though, pointed out that numerous other groups within Labour left and right, had also broken

5796-542: The danger of the Militant tendency, which it exposed as wanting to "establish a group of MPs". Ted Grant , writing in Militant , was optimistic at the time: "This witch hunt will fail, among other reasons, because of the justified hatred and distrust of the Labour Party for the capitalist press and their day to day poisonous propaganda against the labour movement." Andy Bevan faced a demonstration from his Labour colleagues outside Transport House when he finally began his job in January 1977. Militant general secretary Taaffe

5888-506: The efforts met little electoral success, and the Lange government was re-elected for a second term. During the 1990s, another conservative tendency emerged within the National Party by the establishment of the informal Christian Voice in 1998. However, the group had faded by the mid-2000s, when several minor Christian political parties including former National MP Graeme Lee 's Christian Democrat Party , Peter Dunne 's United Future , and Brian Tamaki 's Destiny New Zealand emerged to court

5980-602: The election defeat in 1983 the NEC agreed to ban sales of Militant at party meetings and the Militant tendency was prohibited from using party facilities. By 1986, 40 expulsions had taken place of Militant supporters in the ranks of the Labour Party. In 1982, Liverpool District Labour Party had adopted Militant policies and the slogan "Better to break the law than break the poor" from the Poplar Rates Rebellion , claiming that cuts to Liverpool's Rate Support Grant meant that £30 million had been "stolen" from Liverpool by Margaret Thatcher's government. Militant supporters argued that

6072-410: The end of the 1970s, the Militant tendency was calling for the nationalisation of the top 250 monopolies, later 200, rather than 350 monopolies, because mergers were concentrating ownership further. Between 1975 and 1980, the Labour Party's National Executive Committee voted against expulsion. Conscious of his own past, and those of others on the Labour left, Michael Foot , Labour's leader from 1980,

6164-442: The evangelical Christian vote. As a result of the attempts at taking over the party, National quietly centralised its candidate selection procedures. Despite the tensions with moral conservatives, National Party leader Don Brash still accepted covert assistance from the Exclusive Brethren during the 2005 general elections . The assistance included organizing a separate electoral canvassing and advertising campaign that attacked

6256-477: The executive of the RSL, decided to wind up Socialist Fight and start another newspaper, initially as a four-page monthly. Peter Taaffe was appointed the first editor, and in 1965 became national secretary. The name of the paper was the same as the American SWP publication The Militant , and as a result "most of the pioneers of Militant were not enthralled by the choice of the name" writes Taaffe. But " Militant did stand for what its proponents intended:

6348-590: The first national secretary of Militant, was an electrician and shop convenor at Cammell Laird in Birkenhead who joined the Labour Party in 1937 and was one of the pioneers of Trotskyism in Merseyside. Taaffe joined the Labour Party in 1960, and "In the Labour Party I discovered radical, socialist, Marxist ideas and in the course of discussion and debate I accepted those ideas." Taaffe, together with Ted Mooney and other founding Militant supporters, participated in an apprentices' strike, leading apprentices in English Electric on Merseyside's East Lancashire Road. "Drive Out

6440-433: The forged Zinoviev letter , and claimed the documents published by Underhill had come from the "intelligence service or wherever". At the same time in late 1975, cabinet minister Reg Prentice , later a Conservative minister, was deselected by his Constituency Labour Party in Newham North-East . Labour Party Prime Minister Harold Wilson declared that "small and certainly not necessarily representative groups" had "secured

6532-431: The general election. Later, Taaffe asserted: [T]he Labour leadership, attempting to manage capitalism in a period of crisis, embarked on attacks on workers' living standards, in particular through a series of pay policies...Through their policies during 1974–9, the Labour leaders paved the way for Thatcher. Militant opposed the Russian invasion of Afghanistan of December 1979, "not for abstract reasons, as [for example]

6624-461: The increased spending on nuclear weapons and their retention by the Labour Party, contrary to its commitment to nuclear disarmament. The paper supported the trade union struggle against the Labour government's incomes policy . Militant argued that the only long-term solution to the problems facing working-class people was to end capitalism through a socialist transformation of society, nationally and internationally. In 1965, it demanded: "Nationalise

6716-471: The incumbent Labour and Green coalition government . The strategy backfired and contributed to Prime Minister Helen Clark 's second re-election. The controversy arising from the Exclusive Brethren's canvassing on behalf of National, Brash's successor, Prime Minister John Key , explicitly rejected any assistance from the Exclusive Brethren during the 2008 election . After the downfall of

6808-799: The infiltration, and several suspected far rightists were expelled from the party and its youth wing. During the Northern Expedition in China, the Chinese Communist Party joined the party of the Nationalist Party of China (Kuomintang) for a time (1923–1927), creating the First United Front , but one of the Communists' ideas behind doing so was the possibility of eventually gaining a majority in

6900-680: The leadership election (and thus become Prime Minister) after Prime Minister Theresa May 's resignation. Supporters of Fred Newman and the New Alliance Party joined the Reform Party en masse and gained some level of control over the New York State affiliate of the Reform Party. Another United States politician, Lyndon LaRouche , had attempted an entryist strategy in the Democratic Party since 1980, but with little success. Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee

6992-409: The low thousands but had managed to gain a controlling influence of the Labour Party Young Socialists and Liverpool City Council , however shortly thereafter Militant activists began to be expelled after an internal Labour ruling that their organisation breached the party's constitution. A remnant of the group now operates within the Labour Party as Socialist Appeal but the majority then left to form

7084-485: The mainstream left Clause Four Group . After James Callaghan had taken over as Labour Party's Prime Minister in September 1976, two trade unionists on the right of the party, and Ron Hayward, the General Secretary, on Hayward's casting vote, decided to appoint Militant supporter Andy Bevan as the Labour Party's Young Socialist Youth Officer. Bevan had been a member of Reg Prentice's constituency and played

7176-535: The rate support grant. Forty-seven councillors were banned and surcharged . The conduct of the Liverpool council led Neil Kinnock , Labour's leader, to denounce Militant at the 1985 Party Conference. Eventually, Militant's two remaining Labour MPs were prevented from being Labour candidates at the 1992 general election . Between 1989 and 1991, Militant led the All Britain Anti-Poll Tax Federation 's non-payment campaign against

7268-659: The slogan " long march through the institutions " as a way to bring about fundamental change in West German society. As a conservative, government-supporting kind of entryism, the GDR branch of the Communist Party of Germany/Marxists–Leninists was infiltrated by the Stasi . In some of the cells there were more IMs than real members. The country's four small communist parties, the Communist Party of New Zealand (CPNZ), Socialist Unity Party (SUP), Workers Communist League (WCL), and

7360-578: The stage, one showing Marx and Engels, and the other showing Lenin and Trotsky. An editorial in the September–October 1982 issue of New Socialist , the Labour Party's internal magazine, objected to the accusations against Militant: The expulsion of leading Militant supporters [is] wrong. The Labour Party always has been a broad collection that includes Marxists amongst its ranks. The Militant tendency, drawing as it does upon Trotsky's critique of Stalinism, belongs to this Marxist tradition, and has

7452-422: The strategy of entryism clear: The job is to carry the message of Marxism to the ranks of the labour movement and to its young people. There is room for all tendencies in the labour movement, including the revolutionary Left. Above all the task is to gather together the most conscious elements in the labour movement to patiently explain the need for these policies on the basis of experience and events. Following

7544-464: The strictly worded constitution, such as Labour Solidarity, the Labour Co-ordinating Committee and the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy , but that "dislike of Militant" had developed "because it has breached the constitution so blatantly and, perhaps more importantly, so effectively". The inquiry proposed the setting up of a register of non-affiliated groups who would be allowed to operate within

7636-475: The viability of such a register, which it said would only work in an "atmosphere of co-operation" but that "There is no evidence that such an atmosphere exists." In the July 1982 edition of London Labour Briefing , Jeremy Corbyn opposed expulsions of the organisation, saying that "If expulsions are in order for Militant, they should apply to us too." In the same year, he was the "provisional convener" of "Defeat

7728-504: The victory of the US-backed Mujahideen . "These tribesmen [are] 'dark masses', stuck in the gloom of barbarism." They further contended that, "The Russian bureaucracy and their Afghan supporters are, in effect, carrying through the tasks of the bourgeois democratic revolution in that country." By the late 1970s, the Militant newspaper was a 16-page weekly, outlining its organisations policies, activities and campaigns. By

7820-406: The workers to a programme of taking power by taking over the 350 monopolies which controlled 85 per cent of the economy". The conference agreed to call on the Labour Party executive: [F]ormulate a socialist plan of production based on public ownership, with minimum compensation, of the commanding heights of the economy. The Militant newspaper commented "This is an answer to those who argue for

7912-504: The £8 billion cuts carried out by the Labour government, following the crisis caused by international speculation on the pound and the subsequent visit by the International Monetary Fund . It also blamed the Labour government's fiscal restraint of 1978–9, which, it claimed, gave rise to the " Winter of Discontent " – a period of union struggle against the government's wage restraint in the winter of 1978–1979, prior to

8004-495: Was a Trotskyist group in the British Labour Party , organised around the Militant newspaper, which launched in 1964. In 1975, there was widespread press coverage of a Labour Party report on the infiltration tactics of Militant. Between 1975 and 1980, attempts by Reg Underhill and others in the leadership of the Labour Party to expel Militant were rejected by its National Executive Committee , which appointed

8096-412: Was a deep cancer within the party, the parliamentary party was on the verge of deeply splitting and was going to come apart." In December 1981, a Labour Party National Executive Committee inquiry team was set up, led by Ron Hayward and David Hughes, then the party's national agent. The inquiry sent a series of questions to the Militant tendency. The Militant general secretary, Taaffe, told the inquiry that

8188-463: Was initially against taking any action against Militant. The situation in the Labour Party at the time eventually forced his hand. According to Dianne Hayter , quoting from her interview with (then) MP Ken Woolmer , the 'Group of Ten' Labour members met Foot in the Leader's Room before Prime Minister's Questions . According to Woolmer, they said that "unless he denounced Militant, and recognised that it

8280-455: Was interviewed by Michael Davie , a journalist for The Observer , for an article published on 19 December 1976: "No country constitutes a genuinely democratic workers' state," Mr Taaffe said. He spoke of the "monstrous police apparatus" in Russia, and the dictatorships of China and Cuba. Why would not the same thing happen here, if everything was taken over by the state? "Because Britain has

8372-499: Was opposed by radical workers who supported dual unionism , where radical unions would attempt to win over workers and firm-level union locals from the established trade unions. Starting in the 1890s, a faction of the Socialist Labor Party – which would split to become the Socialist Party of America – began "boring from within" in an attempt to make the American Federation of Labor (AFL) more radical. In contrast,

8464-455: Was proscribed by the Labour Party's National Executive Committee in December 1982 and the following year five members of the editorial board of the Militant newspaper were expelled from the Labour Party. At this point, the group claimed to have 4,300 members. Further expulsions of Militant activists followed. Militant policies dominated Liverpool City Council between 1983 and 1987 and the council organised mass opposition to government cuts to

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