scholarly journals The “Impossibilist Revolt” in Britain

1956 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 377-397 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chushichi Tsuzuki
Keyword(s):  
Great Britain ◽  
Labour Party ◽  
Socialist Party ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Political Tradition ◽  
The Social ◽  
Revolutionary Party ◽  
History Of ◽  
Revolutionary Movements

The Socialist Labour Party and the Socialist Party of Great Britain came into existence as the result of the “impossibilist revolt” of 1900–1904. The “revolt” was a movement of a few hundred socialists within the Social Democratic Federation, itself a social revolutionary party with a membership of only a few thousands. The absence of widespread support for any of these revolutionary movements in a country whose political tradition has remained predominantly constitutional accounts for the fact that the crisis inside the S.D.F., and with it the origins of the S.L.P. and the S.P.G.B. themselves have been consigned to obscurity in the history of British Socialism.

Vera Zasulich’s Critique of Neo-Populism

2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 93-125
Author(s):  
Daniel Gaido ◽  
Constanza Bosch Alessio
Keyword(s):  
Social Democracy ◽  
Labour Party ◽  
Political Prisoner ◽  
Revolutionary Movement ◽  
Labour Movement ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Revolutionary Party ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Creation

Vera Zasulich’s shooting of Trepov, a governor of St Petersburg who had ordered the flogging of a political prisoner, in January 1878, catapulted her to international fame as a revolutionary heroine, a reputation that she put to good use by becoming one of the five ‘founding parents’ of Russian Marxism that created the ‘Group for the Emancipation of Labour’ in 1883. But her act of self-sacrifice also triggered, to her dismay, the institutionalisation of individual-terrorist tactics in the Russian Populist movement with the creation of the ‘People’s Will’ (Narodnaya Volya) Party in 1879. The organisation went into decline after the killing of Tsar Alexander ii in 1881, and Populism itself was increasingly superseded by Marxism as the hegemonic force on the left with the rise of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (rsdlp). But individual-terrorist tactics reappeared with the creation of the Socialist Revolutionary Party in 1902, prompting Zasulich to write an article for Die neue Zeit, the theoretical organ of German Social Democracy, in which she both condemned the Neo-Populist tendency as deleterious to the rising labour movement and supported the organisational plans for the rsdlp sponsored by the Iskra group, developed at length by Lenin in his book What Is to Be Done?, published in March 1902. This article provides the background to Vera Zasulich’s article ‘The Terrorist Tendency in Russia’ (December 1902), setting it against the history of the Russian revolutionary movement from 1878 to 1902.

New Nationalism? The S.D.L.P. and the creation of a socialist and labour party in Northern Ireland, 1969–75

2013 ◽  
Vol 38 (151) ◽  
pp. 422-438 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Labour Party ◽  
Socialist Party ◽  
Major Advance ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Avant Garde ◽  
Nationalist Party ◽  
The Social ◽  
Secular Society

‘Since our foundation, the S.D.L.P. has been proudly nationalist and is 100 per cent for a United Ireland.’ This description, from the website of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (S.D.L.P.), advances a claim which might be thought not to sit easy with the party's founding ideals which claimed it as a ‘radical socialist party’ and insisted that, while a united Ireland was one of the party's main aims, it would prioritise the socio-economic above the constitutional question. This article will argue that while the S.D.L.P. was widely recognised as a major advance in nationalist politics in Northern Ireland when it was formed in August 1970, it had lost its avant-garde approach to the constitutional question and become a more organised form of the old Nationalist Party by 1975. Although initially the S.D.L.P. combined socialist rhetoric with a discourse that linked social justice with the reunification of the island – its ideal was a ‘completely new constitution for the whole of Ireland, a constitution which will provide the framework for the emergence of a just, egalitarian and secular society’ – there existed an uneasy tension between nationalist and socialist aims within the party, with the former taking precedence by the time of the powersharing Executive of 1974.

scholarly journals New Perspectives on Socialism II Socialism and Capitalism Reconsidered

2003 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 351-360
Author(s):  
Richard Schneirov
Keyword(s):  
Progressive Era ◽  
American Politics ◽  
Gilded Age ◽  
Socialist Party ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Political Movement ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
History Of ◽  
Socialist Party Of America

The July 2003 special issue of the Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era revisited the history of the Socialist Party of America during the Progressive Era. This second issue on “New Perspectives on Socialism” examines socialism largely outside the party context, thereby challenging the tendency of scholars and non-scholars alike to identify socialism with a party-based political movement. To the degree that the essays collected here examine party-based socialism, they focus on the gradualist or revisionist wing of the party, whose socializing and democratic reforms, programs, and ideas helped establish a context for the Progressive Era and thereafter, when a “social democratic” type of politics became intrinsic to the mainstream American politics.

Majorities without Mandates: Issues and Elections in the Spring of 1924

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles S. Maier
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Party ◽  
Socialist Party ◽  
The Political ◽  
Social Democratic Party ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Policy Alternatives ◽  
The Social

This chapter examines issues arising from the elections that were held in France, Germany, and Italy in the spring of 1924, asking in particular whether the elections could resolve the political ambiguities persisting in the three countries. It suggests that the presence of important political alternatives could not guarantee that the voting would yield clear decisions. Even where significant majorities or shifts of opinion occurred, the results were not unequivocal in terms of the issues at stake. Choices on the ballot did not parallel real policy alternatives. Superficially decisive victories led merely to coalitions built around opportunity rather than policy. The chapter considers the limits of Benito Mussolini's majority, the setback suffered by the Social Democratic Party (SPD) at the polls, and the coalition between the Radical Socialist Party and the SPD to form the Cartel des Gauches.

Lucian as Social Satirist

1961 ◽  
Vol 11 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 199-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Baldwin
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Social Problem ◽  
Economic History ◽  
Dio Chrysostom ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Practical Politics ◽  
Revolutionary Movements ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Actual Participation

This paper owes its inspiration to a remark made by Professor M. Rostovtzeff; in a note in his Social and Economic History of the Roman Empire on the widespread social unrest of the first two centuries A.D., having cited other literary authorities such as Dio Chrysostom, Aelius Aristides, etc., he writes: ‘The social problem as such, the cleavage between the poor and the rich, occupies a prominent place in the dialogues of Lucian; he was fully aware of the importance of the problem.’ No one, as far as I know, has attempted to collect and discuss the main passages in Lucian on this topic, and the latest writer on this aspect of Lucian reaches a conclusion quite opposed to Rostovtzeff and one which I believe to be wholly misleading. The aim of this paper is to collect and discuss the main references in Lucian to the social problem interpreting them in the light of Lucian's life and background, and the social and economic conditions of his age. In particular I shall stress the importance of the Cynic tradition as it bears on Lucian's attitude, but shall endeavour to show that this tradition is firmly rooted in practical politics and actual participation in social revolutionary movements and goes far beyond the repetition of mere ethical cliches generally ascribed to it.

scholarly journals Neoliberalism and trade unions in Britain

Tempo Social ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-28
Author(s):  
Steve Cushion
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Conservative Party ◽  
Labour Party ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Ruling Class ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Social ◽  
Parliamentary Politics

For the past 30 years, Britain’s ruling class has been deeply split over membership of the European Union. This came to a head over the referendum on so-called “Brexit”. The Conservative Party (Tories) was split into “Remain” and “Leave” wings, both neoliberal, but with a different interpretation of the best way to make profits for the section of British capitalism each represents. Meanwhile the Labour Party is divided between the pro-business, neoliberal wing and the social democratic, reformist wing. The trade unions, with one or two notable exceptions, have conducted their activities within the parameters of parliamentary politics and desperately hoped for a Labour victory. The recent general election gave complete victory to the “Leave” Tories, which is potentially disastrous for the trade unions and their members.

Merger or Bust: Whatever Happened to Members of the SDP?

1994 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 403-417 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Denver ◽  
Hugh Bochel
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Party ◽  
Labour Party ◽  
General Election ◽  
British Politics ◽  
Social Democratic Party ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Modern Times ◽  
The Social ◽  
Opinion Polls

The Social Democratic Party (SDP) was perhaps the nearest thing to a ‘flash’ party seen in British politics in modern times. It was formed in March 1981, largely on the initiative of four leading figures in the Labour party (Roy Jenkins, David Owen, Shirley Williams and William Rogers), following the apparent success of the left in dominating the party, and initially it had a sensational impact on British politics. It had thirty MPs by March 1982 (mostly as a result of defections by Labour MPs); in alliance with the Liberals it immediately went to first place in the opinion polls and stayed in that position until May 1982. The Alliance won four by-elections between 1981 and 1983, and in the 1983 general election, with 25.4 per cent of the vote, came within two points of ousting Labour from its second place. For the next four years the Alliance held its position and in the 1987 election its vote fell only slightly to 22.6 per cent.

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