Socialist Appeal is the British section of the International Marxist Tendency. It describes itself as a "Marxist organisation which stands for the socialist transformation of society." Its stated aim is to build a revolutionary leadership capable of leading the working class in a struggle against capitalism.[1]
Socialist Appeal was a fortnightly newspaper published by the group; as of 24 January 2024, The Communist is the group's paper. Socialist Appeal also produces books, pamphlets, magazines and other Marxist educational material, sold through the Wellred Books Britain bookstore, which it operates.[6]
Socialist Appeal and Marxist Student Federation activists at a climate change march in 2021.
In 2013, Socialist Appeal officially launched its youth wing, the Marxist Student Federation (MSF), to provide a "national platform for Marxist ideas in the student movement."[8] As of 2022, the MSF claims a presence at over 50 campuses across Britain.[9] The youth wing of Socialist Appeal focuses on political discussions at university Marxist societies, as well as campaigning within the labour movement.[10]
In the 1970s and 1980s, Socialist Appeal's predecessor, the Militant tendency, had been a significant force within the British Labour Party.[11] At the height of its influence in the mid-to-late 1980s, Militant had three Labour MPs, control of Liverpool City Council and later initiated the campaign that they claim forced the abandonment of the Poll tax.[12][13] Grant had been one of the founders[14] and the theoretical leader of the Militant group, but he was expelled with other supporters after the 1991 debate on the Open Turn.[15]
A special conference decision to endorse the Open Turn by 93% to 7% entailed Militant supporters abandoning the entryist strategy of working within the Labour Party and leaving to form an independent organisation. The new party was initially known as Militant Labour, changing its name in 1997 to the Socialist Party in England and Wales while in Scotland Scottish Militant Labour instigated the formation of the Scottish Socialist Party.[16]
The split was caused by the Militant tendency's majority adoption of the Open Turn, Grant's continued support for the tactic of entryism within the Labour Party and what Grant and Woods claimed was the bureaucratic centralist degeneration of Militant's internal regime.[17][18]
Socialist Appeal began publishing their own journal in 1992. In 2000, the group was estimated to have around 250 supporters.[19]
In 2013, the tendency in Britain made a turn towards the student movement by launching the Marxist Student Federation.[8]
Following the Scottish independence referendum in which Scots voted to retain the union with the rest of the United Kingdom, the International Marxist Tendency launched a separate Scottish periodical called Revolution, which analyses events in Scotland, and puts forward a Marxist position in relation to the Scottish independence movement. Revolution's masthead carries the slogan "For a Scottish workers' republic and world socialist revolution!".[20]
In June 2017, Socialist Appeal editor Rob Sewell claimed that "the movement in the direction of revolution is being reflected on the political plane" in Britain and that "the events in Britain have a striking resemblance to the situation that existed in 1931, which Trotsky described as a pre-revolutionary situation".[21]
In July 2021, the Labour Party's National Executive Committee banned Socialist Appeal and ruled that its members could be automatically expelled from the Labour Party.[22][23]
In April 2023, Socialist Appeal launched the nationwide "Are you a Communist?" recruitment campaign, in an attempt to reach 1,000 members in Britain.[24][25]
In November 2023, at Socialist Appeal's annual Revolution Festival, it was announced that it had exceeded 1,100 members in Britain. It was also announced that in 2024, Socialist Appeal would be refounded as the Revolutionary Communist Party, and that the newspaper would be renamed The Communist.[26]
Economy
Leading theoretician of the International Marxist Tendency Alan Woods in a meeting with Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez
Socialist Appeal is in broad agreement with the classical Marxist view that capitalism inherently results in "boom and bust" cycles as a result of overproduction and thus attempts to prevent this through monetarism or Keynesianism are not possible.[27] Therefore, they believe the only solution to this is the introduction of democratic socialism, based on a planned and nationalised economy as well as on the socialisation of its "commanding heights" (i.e. the top 150–200 financial institutions and companies). They argue that a planned economy is able to replace production on the basis of profit with production on the basis of need.[28]
Publications
Socialist Appeal refers to the fortnightly newspaper of the same name. In September 2009, the publication Socialist Appeal changed from a magazine journal format to a full colour tabloid.[29]
The front cover of issue 381 of Socialist Appeal, released in January 2023.
The group also produce and publish a number of pamphlets and books through their Wellred Books publishing arm.[30]
The IMT has published a number of books by Trotsky, Grant and Woods[30] and runs the multilingual website In Defence of Marxism.
Supporters of Socialist Appeal value the importance of theory highly and dedicate a large amount of space in their paper and website to theoretical articles.[36]Socialist Appeal's editors argue that a thorough understanding of Marxism, history, economics and politics is necessary to understand the world today.[37] They also argue that the neglect of theory in the late 1980s led to the Militant tendency turning in an ultraleft direction.[38]
^"Trotskyist Sources at the Modern Records Centre". University of Warwick. Archived from the original on 12 November 2023. Retrieved 1 January 2019. In 1991 the two remaining Militant MPs were expelled from the Labour Party, and the tendency finally abandoned its entrist tactics and moved towards the formation of an open party - Militant Labour. Disagreements over the abandonment of work inside the Labour Party resulted in a split in Militant Labour, with the minority or opposition faction, led by Ted Grant, leaving to form Socialist Appeal in 1992. In 1997 Militant Labour changed its name to the Socialist Party (except in Scotland, where it remained Scottish Militant Labour).
^"What We Are Fighting For". Socialist Appeal. 8 January 2008. Retrieved 12 January 2019. We demand that the banks, finance houses and insurance companies are nationalised without compensation, allowing for rents and mortgages to be drastically reduced. The building industry must be nationalised in order to build the houses and amenities so desperately needed. All public utilities must be re-nationalised, ending profiteering in our essential services. The national debt must be abolished and full funding provided for public services.
^Editorial Board (September 2009). "Welcome to the new look Socialist Appeal!". Socialist Appeal (177): 2.
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