Communist Pairty o Breetain (Scots) Pàrtaidh Co-Mhaoineach na Breatainn (Scottish Gaelic) Plaid Gomiwnyddol Prydain (Welsh) Parti Gemynwer Breten
(Cornish)
The Communist Party of Britain was (re-)established in April 1988[7] by a disaffected section of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB). This section sought to preserve the Communist Party, saving it from its forthcoming dissolution under a revisionist, Eurocommunist leadership.
Origins
In the period leading up to 1988, the Communist Party of Great Britain was in turmoil as the leadership fought the Marxist-Leninist tendencies inside the party. The rupture was made publicly visible in August/September 1982 after the CPGB's theoretical journal Marxism Today published a feature article by Tony Lane which was critical of the labour movement. The CPGB-affiliated Morning Star newspaper responded with a front page article by the party's Industrial Organiser Mick Costello criticising the Marxism Today article. The CPGB's Executive Committee was flooded with communication from party branches over the affair.[9] The party did not withdraw support for Marxism Today, but the editorial board did introduce a disclaimer that 'the views expressed by authors are personal and not necessarily those of the editor or editorial board', marking the journal's deviation from the party line.
Both publications came to characterise separate visions for the future of the party; the internal opposition rallied around the Morning Star and the reformist leadership around Marxism Today.[10] These early signs of trouble attracted international attention, notably from the East German SED which was concerned about the Eurocommunist tendency in the CPGB.[11]
At the CPGB's 38th congress in November 1983, Tony Chater the editor of the Morning Star, as well as the assistant editor David Whitfield, were both removed from their positions on the party's executive. However, they were able to keep their positions at the paper, as it is owned and managed separately by the People's Press Printing Society co-operative. The following year at the PPPS Annual General Meeting in June 1984, a majority of delegates re-elected Chater and Whitfield to the management committee of the newspaper, against the wishes of the CPGB leadership. In November 1984, the North-West District Congress elected an opposition majority to its District Committee, to which the leadership responded by declaring the district election illegitimate.[12] A similar movement was brewing in London, where the CPGB General Secretary Gordon McLennan pre-emptively dissolved the London District Congress and 11 members of the District Committee were suspended. In Scotland, 20 branches were brought under disciplinary sanctions.[13] The CPGB Executive Committee then brought the dispute to a special congress on 18–20 May 1985, with a draft resolution condemning the Morning Star and the group around it. Over 650 amendments were submitted to the resolution, which was eventually passed after a long debate, and followed up by the expulsion of eighteen members.[14]
In June 1985, dissident and expelled members of the CPGB formed the Communist Campaign Group. This group declared itself loyal to the party programme, and stated its aim was to prevent the liquidation of the party.[15] The Campaign Group was provided an office within the premises of the Morning Star.[16] The first post-congress meeting of the new CPGB Executive Committee in July 1985 dropped the commitment for party members to support the Morning Star; it concluded with the dissolution of more branches and further disciplinary measures, such as the expulsion of Ken Gill.[17]
For two years, the Campaign Group organised within the CPGB to defend the party's Marxist-Leninist principles. However, at the 1987 party congress the Campaign Group failed to shift the leadership, and the direction of the CPGB diverted towards transformation into a social-democratic party. Kevin Halpin was invited to Moscow to discuss the possibility that the CPGB would break apart, he was advised by the CPSU that the Campaign Group should continue working within the existing party structures.[18] On 8 January 1988 the Campaign Group called a press conference to announce the formation of the Communist Party.[19] The re-establishment congress took place over the weekend of 23–24 April 1988, where one of the prominent leaders of the Campaign Group, Mike Hicks, was elected to the position of General Secretary.[20] Chater emphasised the continuity with the CPGB at the congress, explaining at the time:
"We are not creating a new Party. We are re-establishing the Party on the basis of its' [sic] rules and programme."[21]
The first party card was issued to Andrew Rothstein, who had also been one of the founding members of the CPGB.[21] The following year the leaders of the CPGB formally declared that they had abandoned its programme, The British Road to Socialism. Many members perceived this as the party turning its back on socialism. The CPGB dissolved itself in 1991 and reformed as the Democratic Left.[22] Many members of the Straight Left faction who had stayed in the CPGB formed a group called "Communist Liaison" which later opted to join the CPB. Others remained in the Democratic Left or joined the Labour Party.
In 1998, Hicks was ousted as such in a 17–13 vote moved by John Haylett (who was also editor of the Morning Star) at a meeting of the party's executive committee. Hicks' supporters on the Management Committee of the Morning Star responded by suspending and then sacking Haylett, which led to a prolonged strike at the Morning Star, ending in victory for Haylett and his reinstatement.[27] Some of Hicks' supporters were expelled and others resigned in protest. They formed a discussion group called Marxist Forum, which is now[when?] defunct.
In 2009, the party was one of the founder organisations of the No2EU electoral alliance alongside the RMT and a number of other left parties. The alliance stood in the 2009 and 2014European Parliament elections on a platform of opposition to the European Union, which it considers undemocratic and neo-liberal. Later the party went on to lead a Left Leave Campaign (which was chaired by the party's General Secretary Robert Griffiths) along with the Socialist Workers Party, advocating the progressive case for a leave vote in the 2016 referendum on EU membership.[31]
The party was a founding member of the People's Assembly Against Austerity in 2013, along with a number of other political and campaign groups, to create a broad organisation in opposition to austerity policies of the major political parties of Britain and of the European Union. The People's Charter, which the Communist Party had helped create several years earlier, was subsequently voted to be incorporated into the People's Assembly.
At the 2017 general election, the party fielded no candidates and gave its support to the Labour Party under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn. The CPB said it was the first election at which neither it nor the CPGB had fielded any candidates.[32][33] In March 2018, Susan Michie, a leading member of the CPB, said that the party would no longer stand against Labour in general elections. CPB members should be "working full tilt" for the election of Corbyn as prime minister, she said.[34][35] In the 2019 general election, the party again fielded no candidates and gave its support to the Labour Party.[36]
However following the resignation of Corbyn as leader of the Labour Party and the election of Keir Starmer as his successor, the CPB again decided to field candidates in elections. In February 2021 the party's executive committee decided to mount one of the biggest electoral campaigns since the early 1980s.
The party briefly had a Councillor on Barrow Borough Council, after he left the Labour Party in February 2023,[38] until the council was abolished in April the same year.[39]
The party takes the traditional Marxist approach to capitalism, saying that it is at fault for wars, climate change, and corruption. It claims that 'capitalism must be overthrown in the interests of the working class and humanity.'
As monopolisation and the over-accumulation of capital began to depress profitability, the finance capitalists increasingly turned to potential sources of super-profits abroad.
Thus, capitalism expanded into its imperialist stage in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. As competition intensified between rival monopolies backed by their respective states, so the scene was set for the inter-imperialist 'Great War' of 1914–18.
New and existing international agencies and mechanisms such as the World Trade Organisation (WTO), GATT, the IMF, the World Bank and bilateral so called free trade and investment agreements are utilised to enforce neoliberal policies. The European Union (EU) has played a leading role in this process, confirming its character as an alliance led by the most powerful state-monopoly capitalist powers. It strives to overcome internal contradictions and transform itself into an imperialist 'United States of Europe', complete with its own foreign and military policies aligned with NATO.
— The development of capitalism and imperialism
Capitalism and inequality
The party claims that inequality in the UK can be traced back to capitalism, with workers providing the country with goods and not being properly paid for it, with workers' pay coming under pressure in the recent decades.
As exploitation intensified, so the gap between working people and the superrich has widened enormously. In Britain today, the richest 10 per cent of the population own around half of all declared personal wealth, while the poorer 50 per cent of the population own less than one-tenth of it.
Moreover, capitalism has always utilised differences of sex, ethnicity, education, skill, employment status and mental and physical disability to divide the labour force and drive down wage levels.
— Social inequality and oppression
Attitudes towards socialist states
Soviet Union
The party's attitude towards the Soviet Union is positive, with criticism of Nikolai Yezhov's actions during the late 1930s as 'violations of socialist democracy'. Both the party and the Morning Star approved of perestroika and processes of reform in the late 1980s, believing that these would pave the way to a more humane socialism.[40] The final assessment of the Soviet Union is summed up in Britain's Road to Socialism:
Russia and the other countries of the Soviet Union were transformed from semi-feudal, semi-capitalist monarchist dictatorships into modern societies with near-full employment, universally free education and healthcare, affordable housing for all, extensive and cheap public transport, impressive scientific and cultural facilities, rights for women and degrees of self-government for formerly oppressed nationalities. This was achieved through a world historic break with capitalist ownership and social relations, on the basis of social ownership of industry and centralised economic planning.
The party says it supports transgender rights, stating that "The Communist Party supports the right of trans people to live free from discrimination and prejudice", and that "Communists are clear that efforts must continue to improve the resourcing of the current system for transgender people to access services and to transition legally, not just in Scotland but across Britain. Together with the defence and improvement of women's sex-based services and facilities, this is part of the broader struggle for democratic rights, social justice and socialism."[44]
"The Communist Party is the only political party with a coherent political analysis of sex and gender. Gender as an ideological construct should not be confused or conflated with the material reality of biological sex. Gender is the vehicle through which misogyny is enacted and normalised. Gender identity ideology is well-suited to the needs of the capitalist class, focusing as it does on individual as opposed to collective rights, enabling and supporting the super-exploitation of women."[44]
Organisation
The Communist Party describes itself as a "disciplined and democratic organisation" and operates on a model of democratic centralism.
The basic party body is the branch. These are normally localities (towns or counties, for example), although workplace branches also exist. In England, branches are grouped into coherent geographical areas and send delegates to a biennial District Congress which elects a District Committee for its area. Similarly, the Welsh and Scottish branches send delegates to their own national congresses where each elects an executive committee. These congresses also decide the broad perspectives for party activity within their districts and nations.
The all-Britain national congress is also held biennially. Delegates from districts, nations and branches themselves decide the party's policy as a whole and elect an executive committee (EC) that carries out a presidium-like function, including decision-making and policy-formation whilst congress is not in session.[45]
The EC also elects a Political Committee (PC) to provide leadership when the EC is not meeting. Advisory Committees also exist to provide in-depth information on an array of subjects, including committees dedicated to women, industrial workers, pensions, public services, education workers, economics, housing, rails, science technology and the environment, transport, Marxist-Leninist education, LGBT rights, anti-racism, anti-fascism, civil service and international affairs.
The YCL is the autonomous youth group of the Communist Party, with its own internal organisation. It carries out work alongside the party, while maintaining its own branches, activities, and events such as an annual summer camp. Young members of the party are automatically enrolled into the youth wing, however membership of both organisations is not synonymous, as it is possible to independently join the YCL without joining the party. The league, like its party, operates on a model of democratic centralism.
Coordinating Committee of Communist Parties in Britain
The CCPiB is a bureau within the Communist Party which meets with overseas communist parties that have significant memberships in Britain.
The Committee meets regularly to exchange political assessments, to organise joint theoretical discussions and to plan events of international commemoration.
In 2015 the party fielded 9 candidates, whose combined vote came to 1,229.[74] Laura-Jane Rossington stood for the party in Plymouth Sutton and Devonport; at just over 18, she was the youngest candidate to stand in the general election in England.[75]
In local elections in 2008 the party gained one councillor, Clive Griffiths, a former Labour councillor who joined the party and was re-elected unopposed to Hirwaun and PenderynCommunity Council as a communist.[85]
Under the Registration of Political Parties Act 1998, which regulated the use of symbols on ballot slips and electoral material, the Communist Party is the only British political party entitled to use a stand-alone hammer and sickle in such cases. The party tends to use the hammer and dove[88] (adopted when the party was re-established in 1988) in conjunction with the hammer and sickle in publications and on other material, with the hammer and dove normally taking primacy.
From 2006 to 2014 the party held a membership of over 900 members. In 2015 this figure dropped significantly to below 800 members, although it has since recovered with significant growth in the Young Communist League. At the 56th party congress it was reported that the party had grown to over 1.200 members.[89] As of 2022, the party maintains branches in most major cities. General Secretary Robert Griffiths says that CPB is organised in 'just about every part of Britain'.[90]
In 2018 there was 915 Members of the CPB and YCL Combined, and by 2019 it had Increased to 1011 Members,[91] In 2020 it had increased from 1011 Members to 1214[92] by 2023 it had reached Over 1,300 Members
In July 2023, the party claimed via Twitter that it had a membership number not seen since the 1980s.[93]
Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.
Membership numbers over time.
See or edit source data.
The statement of accounts submitted to the Electoral Commission following the 55th congress in 2018 reported a total annual income of £151,045.[2]
Application
In order to join the party, applicants must pay a registration fee of £6. After this they will be contacted by the membership officer of their local branch to arrange an interview. Applicants must be 16 or over.
Publications
The party publishes a wide variety of literature and material.
Communist Review
A theoretical and discussion journal published on a quarterly basis.[94] It takes its name from the old journal published by the CPGB[95] and is edited by Martin Levy. The content of the journal covers book reviews, feature articles, letters and sometimes poetry.
The magazine of the Young Communist League. It mainly covers news, feature articles and political reports. Each issue typically features 'Back 2 Basics', a series which explains the basic foundations of Marxism-Leninism in an accessible way. Occasionally it publishes music, film or video game reviews alongside other light content such as comic strips. It is aimed at young people and so is intended to be easier to read than Communist Review.
Communist Women
The bulletin of the Women's Commission, edited by the Women's Officer of the party. It features some content from SISTERS – the quarterly journal of the National Assembly of Women.
Communist News & Views
An irregular email bulletin which summarises the party's recent statements, resolutions, reports and policies. It also brings attention to campaigns and events being promoted by the party. The name is a reference to World News & Views – the internal newsletter of the CPGB.
Country Standard
A newspaper for rural communities, produced since March 1936.[96] It is run by an editorial collective of Communist and Labour members, environmentalists and trade unionists. The paper supports the Countryside Charter. It is published annually, often to coincide with distribution at the Tolpuddle Martyrs' Festival. Otherwise it appears as an insert in the Morning Star.
Manifesto Press
The party publishes books under the Manifesto Press imprint.[97][98] As of June 2019,[update] it has a total catalogue of 25 titles and also sells 2 titles which are published separately by Hetherington Press. The books cover historical, political and social topics and are edited by Nick Wright.[99] The party maintains another book publisher in Scotland called Praxis Press, which operates out of the Unity Books office in Glasgow.
Unity! and Solidarity
Unity! is a short booklet focused around labour issues and often distributed for free at trade union events. Solidarity is a bulletin published by the international department of the party, it covers the party's foreign policy and the activities of the Co-ordinating Committee of Communist Parties in Britain.[100] The editor is Anita Halpin.[1]
In addition to this the party publishes many pamphlets under its own name.[101] The Classics of Communism series are reprints of classic works such as The Communist Manifesto or "Left-Wing" Communism: An Infantile Disorder. The Our History series aims to re-tell 'history from below' and covers historical events from a working class perspective. This series is a continuation of the work of the Communist Party Historians Group The party also publishes congress reports, the party programme, briefing notes and other documents.
Headquarters
At the beginning of November 2004, the party and its youth organisation, the YCL, moved out of its temporary headquarters in Camden, North London after receiving notice to quit because of redevelopment. The building was owned by AKEL, the Cypriot communist party. Ruskin House in Croydon was chosen as the new party headquarters, with its long history in the progressive movement as centre of the Anti-Apartheid Movement and also local Labour Party and co-operative groups. The party rents the top floor of four offices at Ruskin House which also allows it plenty of room to hold its congresses and other important meetings, including an annual industrial cadre school and the Communist University of Britain. In Scotland, the party also makes use of an office in Glasgow.
The party holds a biennial congress with delegates from districts, nations and branches. The last congress as the Communist Party of Great Britain was the 43rd congress and was held in 1991. The 44th congress, as the Communist Party of Britain, was held in 1997. Since 2000 the congress has been held every two years apart from a special congress held in February 2004. The 29 member governing Executive Committee (EC) of the party is elected at congress.
Events
In November 2004 the party organised Communist University events in Wales and England, these were further developed to form a national three-day event which ran annually from 2005 to 2010. This was accompanied by regional weekend universities in Wales,[102] Scotland and the Midlands. Among the speakers at the Communist University at Ruskin House in November 2006 were Labour MP John McDonnell, RMT general secretary Bob Crow, CND chair Kate Hudson, Communist Party USA vice-president Jarvis Tyner, French Communist Party economist Paul Boccara and Palestine Liberation Organization ambassador Dr Noha Khalef.
21st Century Marxism
In 2011, the national Communist University event was renamed to "21st Century Marxism" and the format was changed slightly from a festival to a conference. The style of the event has changed widely over the years as the organisers experiment with different venues and speakers.
^"Communist Party of Great Britain – History Section". marxists.org. Marxist Internet Archive. Retrieved 5 March 2021. A period of intense factional struggle saw the Party's membership drop astronomically over the period from 1984. A phase of mass expulsions of many hundreds of Morning Star supporters saw many of them 're-establish' the Communist Party in 1988, taking the name Communist Party of Britain (CPB).
^"Solidarity". Communist Party Scottish Congress 2004. Scotland: Communist Party. 2004. Archived from the original on 1 February 2013. Retrieved 19 March 2013. The Communist Party remains the only political party affiliated to the Scottish Cuba Solidarity Campaign
^Pimlott, H. F. (16 December 2022). "Marxism Today's Story". Wars of position? Marxism today, cultural politics and the remaking of the left press, 1979-90. Historical Materialism Book Series. Vol. 248. Brill. pp. 75–76. ISBN978-90-04-50343-4.
^Hudson, Kate (December 1994). "Communist and former communist organizations in Britain". Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics. 10 (4): 98. doi:10.1080/13523279408415274. ISSN2159-9165.
^Berger, Stefan; LaPorte, Norman (May 2010). Friendly Enemies. Berghahn Books. p. 238. ISBN978-1-84545-827-0.
^Callaghan, John (September 1985). "The Long Drift of the Communist Party of Great Britain". Journal of Communist Studies. 1 (3–4): 171–172. doi:10.1080/13523278508414788. ISSN2159-9165.
^Thompson, Willie (21 June 2013). "Scottish Communism 1962–91: from re-growth to extinction – a view from the inside". Twentieth Century Communism. 5 (5): 217–219. doi:10.3898/175864313807052811. ISSN1758-6437.
^Dorfman, Gerald (1986). Gann, Lewis H; Drachkovitch, Milorad M (eds.). Yearbook on International Communist Affairs. Vol. 20. Stanford: Hoover Institution. pp. 504–505. ISBN978-0-8179-8321-5.
^Berger, Stefan; LaPorte, Norman (2019). "A Dialogue of the Deaf: The CPGB and the SED during the Gorbachev Era (1985-1990)". In Di Palma, Francesco (ed.). Perestroika and the Party: national and transnational perspectives on European communist parties in the era of Soviet reform. New York: Berghahn Books. p. 224. ISBN978-1-78920-021-8.
^Halpin, Kevin (2012). Memoirs of a Militant. Glasgow: Praxis Press. pp. 178–179. ISBN978-1-899155-05-7.
^Parker, Lawrence (2017). "Understanding the formation of the Communist Party of Britain". In Smith, Evan; Worley, Matthew (eds.). Waiting for the revolution: the British far left from 1956. Manchester University Press. p. 262. ISBN978-1-5261-1365-8.
^Ken Keable (2012). London Recruits: the secret war against apartheid (video). Communist Party of Scotland. Event occurs at 1:37. Retrieved 23 February 2013. the main body of the London recruits were members of the British Young Communist League... a few of them in the Communist Party as well
^Smith, Evan (2012). "Did 1989 Matter? British Marxists and the Collapse of the Eastern Bloc". In Polonska-Kimunguyi, Eva; Patrick, Kimunguyi (eds.). Transitions revisited: Central and Eastern Europe twenty years after the Soviet Union. Warsaw: Scholar Publishing House. pp. 159–163. ISBN978-83-7383-544-3.
^Katz, Phil (18 August 2009). "a Disciplined & Democratic Organisation". What We Stand For(PDF). Communist Party. pp. 10–11. Archived from the original(PDF) on 22 June 2012. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
^Spierings, Tessa (July 2021). The power of symbols in visual propaganda (Thesis). Matosinhos: Escola Superior de Artes e Design. pp. 103–104. hdl:10400.26/37056.
*Co-operative Party candidates stand jointly with the Labour Party. †Sinn Féin have elected members and offices at Westminster, but as abstentionists do not take their seats.
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