Political party in the United Kingdom
The
Workers' Socialist Federation
was a
socialist
political party
in the
United Kingdom
, led by
Sylvia Pankhurst
. Under many different names, it gradually broadened its politics from a focus on
women's suffrage
to eventually become a
left communist
grouping.
East London Federation of the WSPU
[
edit
]
It originated as the East London Federation of the
Women's Social and Political Union
(WSPU, better known as the
Suffragettes
). The East London Federation was founded by Dr
Richard Pankhurst
and his wife
Emmeline Pankhurst
in 1893,
[1]
and differed from its parent organisation in being
democratic
and including men, such as
George Lansbury
.
By this point, Sylvia had many disagreements with the route the WSPU was taking. She wanted an explicitly socialist organisation tackling wider issues than women's suffrage, aligned with the
Independent Labour Party
, based among
working class
people in the
East End of London
. She also wanted to focus on collective workers' action, not individual attacks on property.
East London Federation of Suffragettes
[
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]
These and other differences, including personal ones, led to Sylvia's expulsion, along with the East London Federation, from the WSPU. In early 1914, they renamed themselves the
East London Federation of Suffragettes
(ELFS) and launched a newspaper, the
Women's Dreadnought
.
At first, the group campaigned for
universal suffrage
and agitated among
parliamentarians
, with the assistance of
Keir Hardie
. But with the outbreak of
World War I
, they began also to attack participation in the war, supporting the positions of the
Zimmerwald Conference
. This view initially lost the group support, but they began work to ameliorate suffering in the East End.
The ELFS got a chain of
cost price
restaurants set up, and itself set up a
toy factory
,
free clinic
and
Montessori
nursery. They also agitated for
widow's pensions
and dependent's allowances.
Workers' Suffrage Federation
[
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]
As public opinion turned against the war, the group gained new support, and its newspaper increased its circulation. To reflect its now broader political positions, in March 1916 it renamed itself the
Workers' Suffrage Federation
(WSF).
Similarly, in July 1917, the newspaper was renamed the
Workers' Dreadnought
. From the start of 1917, it adopted a new aim: "to secure Human Suffrage, namely, a Vote, for every Woman and Man of full age, and to win Social and Economic Freedom for the People".
The WSF supported the
1916 Irish Rising
and became a leading proponent of improved
social welfare
while continuing agitation for a universal franchise. As such, it opposed the
Franchise Bill
which ultimately gave women in Britain the vote in
general elections
as the restrictions on women voting were much stricter than those on men.
Despite its evolving position, during much of 1917, the party remained focused on campaigning for universal suffrage and an end to
World War I
. It welcomed the
February Revolution
in Russia, largely on the basis that it would establish a
Constituent Assembly
elected by universal suffrage
and withdraw Russia from the war.
As the months went by, the WSF noted in
Workers' Dreadnought
that a situation of
dual power
had broken out between the
Petrograd Soviet
and the
Russian Provisional Government
,
and upon analyzing the attitudes of the various socialist faction, decided to align with the
Bolsheviks
.
The party then enthusiastically supported the
October Revolution
of 1917,
which acted as a catalyst that changed their position from supporting universal suffrage towards anti-parliamentarism. When, in January 1918, the new Bolshevik government in Russia dissolved the Assembly, the group now welcomed its replacement by the
All-Russian Congress of Soviets
and now argued that
Soviets
were the most democratic form of government.
The WSF also looked forward to the Russian withdrawal from the war, welcoming the
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
as a step towards peace.
During this period, the WSF led campaigns against the
Allied intervention
in the
Russian Civil War
, with the slogan "
Hands off Russia
".
The WSF demanded that the
British government
negotiate peace with
Soviet Russia
, urged the
labour movement
to take action in support of the Soviet government, and eventually called on workers' to launch a
general strike
that would force an end to the intervention.
In the April 1918 issue of
Workers' Dreadnought
, Pankhurst argued that the most effective way to aid the Soviet government in Russia would be to establish
workers' councils
in Britain, and later insisted that a
world revolution
would be needed to overthrow global capitalism in order for the
Russian Revolution
to survive.
Workers' Socialist Federation
[
edit
]
The WSF's support for the soviet system led them to doubt the possibility of establishing
socialism
through a
parliamentary system
,
increasingly arguing that only the
Soviets
could form the "guiding and co-ordinating machinery" of the
social revolution
.
In May 1918, the party's conference agreed to again rename the group, now as the
Workers' Socialist Federation
, reflecting its growing opposition to Parliamentarism. However, their views on parliamentarism remained in a state of transition, with substantial internal disagreement on the issue.
As preparation for the
1918 United Kingdom general election
was underway, the WSF stated that it would not stand candidates in the election, Pankhurst herself refusing to stand for the
Sheffield Hallam
constituency, but it remained willing to support other socialist candidates for Parliament. The group went on to support the
Socialist Labour Party
's (SLP) three candidates in the election, along with independent socialists
David Kirkwood
and
John Maclean
, and permitted individual members to campaign for
Labour Party
candidates.
By March 1919, the WSF had moved to a hardline anti-parliamentary position, with Pankhurst arguing socialists needed to choose between "perpetuating the Parliamentary system" or building up "an industrial republic on Soviet lines."
At the party's conference in June 1919, it voted to ignore all future elections, and also to follow the advice of the
Third International
by opening discussions with other socialist groups with the aim of forming a single communist party.
As a result, it organised meetings in London later in the month, which were attended both by anti-parliamentarists such as the WSF and
South Wales Socialist Society
(SWSS), as well as by supporters of "Revolutionary Parliamentarism", including the SLP and
British Socialist Party
(BSP).
Pankhurst wrote to
Vladimir Lenin
in July 1919, asking for his support for the party's opposition to standing in elections; but to her disappointment, he argued that renouncing parliamentary action would be a mistake.
While not changing its views, the WSF accordingly deprioritised this policy in the hope of furthering the unity negotiations, a decision criticised by
Rose Witcop
of the
Communist League
.
It also began working with the
London Workers' Committee
.
Alongside the question of parliamentary action, the issue of affiliation to the Labour Party provided another roadblock to the unity negotiations. In March 1920, the WSF's executive committee declared that "if the BSP refuses to withdraw from the Labour Party, we get on with [the] formation of [a]
Communist Party
."
By June 1920, it had become apparent that the unity negotiations would not satisfy all the participants, as they were unable to agree either on the issues of parliamentary action or whether the new communist party should attempt to affiliate to the Labour Party. In an attempt to get ahead of the Communist Unity Convention, which they believed would be dominated by those on the "right-wing" that favored parliamentarism and affiliation, the WSF instead called an "Emergency Conference", inviting all the "
left-wing communists
" which opposed parliamentarism and affiliation.
Communist Party (British Section of the Third International)
[
edit
]
The conference was held in June 1920 but was attended only by WSF members, some local groups and independents. It agreed to form the
Communist Party (British Section of the Third International)
(CP(BSTI)) and voted to boycott future unity meetings. Instead, it attempted to interest the SLP in a merger. They proposed opening discussions with the
Socialist Party of Great Britain
and the
British Section of the International Socialist Labour Party
, but then withdrew, leaving the exercise a failure. However, the CP(BSTI) did gain influence in the Scottish
Communist Labour Party
and the tiny
Communist Party of South Wales and the West of England
was formed on their platform.
The BSP had meanwhile formed the
Communist Party of Great Britain
(CPGB). Lenin called on other communists to join the new party, and the CP(BSTI) was one of the groups covered in his work
Left-Wing Communism: An Infantile Disorder
. Although
Workers Dreadnaught
was openly critical of this pamphlet, Pankhurst attended the Second Congress of the
Comintern
, where Lenin personally persuaded Sylvia that her objections were less important than unity, and that it would be possible to maintain an anti-Parliamentary opposition within the CPGB. Pankhurst called a conference, inviting the
English Shop Stewards' and Workers' Committee Movement
, the Communist Labour Party, the
Scottish Workers' Committee
and the
Glasgow Communist Group
. She was arrested in September, but with the support of
Willie Gallacher
, all the groups at the conference bar
Guy Aldred
's Glasgow Communist Group agreed to merge with the Communist Party of Great Britain in January 1921.
After a period, Pankhurst was instructed to place the
Workers' Dreadnought
under the control of the party, which she refused to do. In particular, she criticised the Communist Party members of the
Poplar
Board of Guardians
for agreeing to reduce outdoor
Poor Law
relief, which was cited as the reason for her expulsion from the CPGB in September 1921. While the idea of
democratic centralism
, newly accepted as the governing principle for the CPGB, would seem to suggest that she was in breach of discipline,
Labour Monthly
continued as the personal organ of
R. P. Dutt
and even received subsidies.
Communist Workers' Party
[
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]
Pankhurst reorganised her group of supporters around
Workers Dreadnought
, and began criticising the admittance of
trade unions
to the
Red International of Labour Unions
, and warning that they felt the
Bolsheviks
were beginning to "slip to the right". The decline in
class conflict
that culminated in the dissolution of the
Shop Stewards Movement
had reignited debates over
trade unionism
within the British socialist movement, which split into two camps: the "
Amalgamationists
" that advocated the amalgamation of
existing trade unions
into
industrial unions
and "
Dual Unionists
" that advocated for building new industrial unions from scratch.
Where trade unionists aligned with the CPGB largely pursued amalgamation, the
Dreadnought
group had moved away from that position towards dual unionism, with Pankhurst writing in an August 1921 article that workers needed to unite into
One Big Union
capable of abolishing capitalism. Pankhurst criticised the attempts to reform existing trade unions from within, drawing parallels between the amalgamationists'
tactic
of trying to change union leadership from within and earlier socialist experiences with electoralism, arguing that institutional trade unionism needed to be abolished entirely and replaced with
industrial unionism
.
The
Dreadnought
group advocated grouping together
Industrial Unions
under the auspices of the "All-Workers Revolutionary Union": intended as "
One Big Union
" which would unite all workers in a struggle against capitalism.
In February 1922, the
Dreadnought
group established the
Communist Workers' Party
(CWP), with this newly-adopted industrial unionist policy as its foundation. In the party's programme, it stated its aim as such:
To prepare for the proletarian revolution, by setting up
Soviets
or
workers' councils
in all branches of production, distribution and administration, in order that the workers may seize and maintain control.
With this object, to organise
One Revolutionary Union
:
(a) built up on the workshop basis, covering all workers, regardless of sex, craft, or grade, who pledge themselves to work for the overthrow of
Capitalism
and the establishment of the workers' Soviets;
(b) organised into a department for each industry or service;
(c) the
unemployed
being organised as a department of the One Revolutionary Union, so that they may have local and national representation in the workers' Soviets.
The CWP had been influenced by the formation of the
General Workers' Union of Germany
(AAUD) by the
Communist Workers' Party of Germany
(KAPD) during the
German Revolution
. They intended as such to establish a British counterpart to the AAUD, just as the CWP was intended as the British counterpart to the KAPD.
Taking the AAUd's programme as a basis, in September 1922 the CWP established the
All-Workers' Revolutionary Union
(AWRU) in order to implement its
revolutionary unionist
goals, envisioning the AWRU as the One Big Union that would itself manage the transition to
socialism
.
The union organized itself along industrial unionist lines, where recallable delegates were elected by workshops, factories, districts, areas and national councils from the bottom-up.
The CWP was quickly rendered redundant and was subsequently superseded by the AWRU, as the AWRU adopted the CWP's entire programme as its own and developed it into an even more comprehensive one than the CWP's, with membership of the AWRU being accepted only on the condition of adhering to all six points of the CWP platform:
- to spread
communist ideas
;
- electoral abstention
and anti-parliamentary propaganda;
- refusal of affiliation to the
Labour Party
or any other reformist organisation;
- to emancipate workers from the
existing trade unions
;
- to organise '
One Revolutionary Union
' as the forerunner of the
workers' councils
;
- and affiliation to the
Communist Workers International
(KAI).
The foundation of the AWRU was grounded in the CWP's
prefigurative politics
, as the AWRU was intended to itself organise the workers' councils which would then seize the
means of production
and form the basis of a
council communist
society
,
with the CWP even claiming in 1923 that "Communism and the All-Workers' Revolutionary Union are synonymous."
This model stood in contrast to how the Soviets of the
Russian Revolution
and the workers' councils of the
German Revolution
had formed, largely
spontaneously
without their development by pre-existing organisations, but in Britain this kind of organising was no longer possible since the decline of the strike movement.
However the model of dual unionism never bore fruit in Britain either, as its material circumstances were far different from that of the United States, where the
Industrial Workers of the World
(IWW) had seen success.
The lack of reception to dual unionism meant that the organisation of the AWRU existed largely within the CWP's literature in
Workers' Dreadnought
. When the AWRU announced its campaign to build the "One Big Union" in July 1923, they also admitted that they had no funds and very few people.
Despite optimism concerning a rise in revolutionary sentiment, by the end of 1923 the AWRU had dissolved.
Despite the failure of the AWRU, by July 1923 the CWP had announced the formation of the
Unemployed Workers' Organisation
(UWO), modelled closely on the IWW as an alternative to the CPGB's "reformist"
National Unemployed Workers' Movement
(NUWM). Initially, this attracted numerous former members of the NUWM, sometimes even whole branches throughout London. By the start of 1924, it claimed 3,000 members, mostly in London but also with a branch in Leeds.
The organisation grew rapidly, which ended up becoming counterintuitive to the UWO's aims of organising an "army of production", given its members were made up of the
unemployed
.
In the end, no national group was formally constituted, and they later referred to their network as the
Communist Workers Group
, although it was by that point a very small party. On 14 June 1924,
Workers' Dreadnought
ceased publication, bringing a definitive end to the CWP.
Honorary Treasurers
[
edit
]
- 1913: Sybil Smith
[42]
- 1913:
Sybil Thomas
[42]
- 1914:
Evelina Haverfield
[42]
- 1915:
Edgar Lansbury
[42]
- 1916:
Norah Smyth
[42]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Elizabeth Crawford, ‘Bull , Amy Maud (1877?1953)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
accessed 1 January 2017
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
Elizabeth Crawford,
The women's suffrage movement: a reference guide, 1866-1928
, p.185
Bibliography
[
edit
]
- Bullock, Ian (1992). "Sylvia Pankhurst and the Russian Revolution: The making of a 'Left-Wing' Communist". In Bullock, Ian;
Pankhurst, Richard
(eds.).
Sylvia Pankhurst: From Artist to Anti-Fascist
.
New York
:
St. Martin's Press
.
ISBN
9780312068400
.
OCLC
925160984
.
- Davis, Mary (1999).
Sylvia Pankhurst: A Life in Radical Politics
.
Sterling, Virginia
:
Pluto Press
.
ISBN
0-7453-1518-6
.
OCLC
1162569507
.
- Federation, Anarchist Communist
(1996).
"Anarchist Communism in Britain"
.
Organise!
(42).
London
: 11?18.
OCLC
500079933
. Archived from
the original
on 1 April 2006.
- Hayes, Mark (2005).
The British Communist Left: a contribution to the history of the revolutionary movement 1914-1945
.
London
:
International Communist Current
.
ISBN
1897980116
.
OCLC
642281773
.
- Jones, Rob (October 1991) [1989].
"Anti-Parliamentarism and Communism in Britain, 1917-1921"
.
Discussion Bulletin
.
Grand Rapids, Michigan
: Industrial Union Caucus in Education.
OCLC
13302352
. Retrieved
26 October
2021
.
- Shipway, Mark (1988).
Anti Parliamentary Communism: the movement for workers' councils in Britain, 1917-45
.
London
:
Macmillan
.
ISBN
033343613X
.
OCLC
468642120
.
- Winslow, Barbara
(2021) [1996].
Sylvia Pankhurst: Sexual Politics and Political Activism
.
London
:
Verso Books
.
ISBN
9781839761621
.
OCLC
1201686427
.
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