How can we build a rank and file movement?

Under pressure from rank and file activity most of the revolutionary socialist groups turned left, workers power argues now is the time to unite all who want to develop a rank and file strategy.

The 2022-2023 strike wave, despite its impressive size, failed to achieve what was possible for workers. George Banks argues the rank and file needs organisation and unity.

By KD Tait The Socialist Workers Party (SWP) has published an appeal for the left to discuss the formation of a united electoral challenge at the 2015 General Election.[1] Our answer is yes – we should present a clear socialist alternative to capitalist austerity in as many constituencies as possible. The entire left, especially Left […]

To say that 2013 was a bad year for the far left in Britain would surely win the prize for understatement. Two splits from the Socialist Workers Party, each of several hundred people, and the drift of many out of organised politics altogether have weakened the forces of the revolutionary socialist left to levels not […]

  The SWP’s hastily convened “special conference” had one purpose – to crush internal opposition. The CC’s calling one with only one month’s discussion period and one IB was plainly aimed not only at stampeding the membership into endorsement of its positions on the rape allegation but also at reaffirming the closing down of factional […]

This article was published shortly before the announcement of resignations after conference. Nevertheless the article addresses issues relevant for all comrades committed to building a genuine revolutionary party – whether they are in or out of the SWP.  The crisis in the SWP will not be resolved by the Special Conference called for 10 March […]

To choose the present moment to propose that the revolutionary left in Britain should unite its forces to build a new revolutionary socialist party will seem positively quixotic to most people. The Socialist Workers Party (SWP), by far the largest far left group, is in disarray, if not in meltdown. The Socialist Party (SP) continues […]

The Socialist Party of Ireland has announced its withdrawal from the United Left Alliance (ULA). The Workers and Unemployed Action Group (WUAG) departed last year and only the People before Profit Alliance/Socialist Workers Party, along with non aligned activists, remain in the depleted ranks of the ULA. The General Election 2011 had seen the recently […]

Here we republish an article from 1998 which sets out our own understanding of the role of democracy, leadership and accountability in revolutionary organisations. “The party is not an arena for the assertion of free individuality, but an instrument of the proletarian revolution”. Trotsky’s words from 1939 form the background against which Lenin himself approached […]

Jeremy Dewar, Unison shop steward and elected member of Unite the Resistance steering committee, asks what effect the internal crisis of the Socialist Workers Party is having on its trade union work

We have covered the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) Central Committee’s mishandling of the dispute concerning a rape allegation. But what is it about the SWP’s culture and politics that has allowed this issue spark a wider internal rebellion? It clearly lacks any self-righting mechanism that could have corrected mistakes before they threatened to tear it […]

The following is a shortened version of an online statement (see) The Socialist Workers Party (SWP) is presently undergoing its most serious crisis since the 1970s. This is entirely the direct result of the disloyal actions of its own leadership, the 12-person Central Committee (CC), before, during and after the annual conference held on 5 […]

The Socialist Workers Party, the largest revolutionary socialist organisation in Britain, and one of the largest in the world, is presently convulsed by the most serious crisis in its history. This crisis is entirely the result of the scandalously disloyal actions of its own leadership, the 12-person Central Committee, before, during and after the annual […]

Read the PDF version of our bulletin From Rebecca Allen and Jeremy Drinkall, candidates for the new steering committee to be elected on 17 November, on behalf of Workers Power Dear Brothers, Sisters and Comrades, We welcome the Unite the Resistance conference on 17 November as a chance to bring together the different struggles and […]

Rebecca Anderson picks apart the bizarre logic of Britain’s competing anti-cuts campaigns If we are to stop the cuts, beat privatisation and banish austerity we need to be united and organised. We need a mass movement that can call huge demonstrations, put pressure on the union leaders and bring solidarity to every struggle. As it stands, most of the […]

After a heavily contested first round, the Egyptian presidential election came down to a run-off between two candidates, representing two wings of the same ruling class. As we go to press the results are not known. The candidate of the undisguised counter-revolution is Ahmed Shafiq, puppet of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), […]

THE 28 MARCH strike by London schools and colleges showed just how impressive a nation-wide strike could have been. Around 1,500 schools were shut down or severely disrupted, while almost all colleges and most ‘new’ universities faced chaos or closure. Ten thousand marched in central London, bringing traffic to a halt and cheers from passers-by. […]

Tuesday saw the first real organising meeting in Manchester for the Unite the Resistance campaign, which recently held a several-hundred strong meeting in London to oppose the pensions sell-out. Around thirty activists from unions such as Unite, Unison, UCU and FBU gathered in the Friends Meeting House to discuss how to further the fight against […]

By Mark Booth AFTER A TURBULENT week of union executive meetings, 300 militants packed into Friends Meeting House for an emergency conference to fight the pensions sell out. It soon became clear to everyone at Unite the Resistance’s gathering that the PCS and NUT leaders would not be calling more strikes in the next few […]

Tomorrow will see the second referendum in British history and the first ever on electoral reform.