British Labour movement & English Revolution

1945 Labour Party posterEver since the formation of the Labour Party in 1900, there has been controversy on the left over whether or not to participate in the party. To develop a correct understanding of this question, it is important to look at the experience of the past. Our task is to learn from history in order to avoid unnecessary mistakes. History, after all, is littered with the wreckage of small sectarian groups who attempted to mould the workers’ movement into its preconceived plans and failed.

Different “Marxist” groups have made one mistake after another on this key question. Towards the end of the 1960s, a number of left groups abandoned work in the Labour Party in disgust at the counter-reforms of the then Labour government. They wrote off the party and set about building their own independent revolutionary parties, ignoring everything that had been written on the importance of the mass organisations. The more isolated they were, the more ultra-left they became. Rather than connect with the real movement, they continually sought to tear the advanced workers away from the mass. They saw their prime task as to “expose” the leadership through shrill denunciation. This has been the hallmark of all these different sectarian groups. With such antics they end up playing into the hands and reinforcing the position of the right-wing leaders.

– From Britain: Marxism and the Labour Party – Some important lessons for today

(Separate sections on the British Labour movement and the English Revolution are available)

Title Created Date Author
From: Socialism and German Rearmament 23 September 1954 Ted Grant
Marxism Versus New Fabianism 14 November 1952 Ted Grant
[Ted Grant] Labour’s foreign policy 30 June 1952 Ted Grant
[Ted Grant] Bevan and the Crisis in the Labour Party 03 May 1952 Ted Grant
[Ted Grant] The Ruhr Statute 25 February 1949 Ted Grant
[Ted Grant] Tories in Conference—A bankrupt policy 19 October 1948 Ted Grant
[Ted Grant] Russian Workers in Britain barred from joining Trade Union by Russian Delegation 02 October 1947 Ted Grant
[Ted Grant] Stop Threatening the Miners—Capitalist Coal Board must be replaced by Workers’ Control 05 July 1947 Ted Grant
[Ted Grant] Opposition at C.P. Conference—Reformist policy criticised 22 March 1947 Ted Grant
[Ted Grant] U.S. loan and British workers—No solution to crisis of capitalism 06 January 1946 Ted Grant
[Ted Grant] Labour's policy 13 September 1945 Ted Grant
[Ted Grant] Labour Must Fulfil Its Promises—“No Excuses This Time” Say Workers 26 August 1945 Ted Grant
[Ted Grant] Communist Party Leaders Want Post-War Coalition With The Tories 12 April 1945 Ted Grant
[Ted Grant] The I.L.P. at the Crossroads 04 April 1945 Ted Grant
[Ted Grant] British Labour Betrayed Greek Workers 16 February 1945 Ted Grant
[Ted Grant] Labour Party Conference — Labour Lefts Sell Out 05 December 1944 Ted Grant
[Ted Grant] T.U.C. helps Goebbels—Labour and Stalinist Leaders Betray German Working Class 28 November 1944 Ted Grant
[Ted Grant] Communist Party Conference Prepares Post-war Sell-out 25 November 1944 Ted Grant
[Ted Grant] Tories riding high - Land Bill Satisfies Owners 09 July 1944 Ted Grant
[Ted Grant] I.L.P. Conference 06 April 1944 Ted Grant