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Socialist Alternative (England, Wales and Scotland)

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Ashikaga Takauji (talk | contribs) at 13:17, 15 June 2024 (Ashikaga Takauji moved page Socialist Alternative (England, Wales & Scotland) to Socialist Alternative (England and Wales): The International Socialist Alternative has created a separate Scottish branch). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Socialist Alternative
ChairpersonCollective (National Committee)
Founded2019
Split fromSocialist Party (England and Wales)
Preceded byMilitant (1964–1991)
Militant Labour (1991–1997)
NewspaperSocialist Alternative
Student wingStudent Socialist Alternative
IdeologyMarxism
Trotskyism
Revolutionary socialism
Socialist feminism
Internationalism
International affiliationInternational Socialist Alternative
Colors  Red
Slogan"Struggle, Solidarity, Socialism"
Website
socialistalternative.info

Socialist Alternative is a Trotskyist group in the United Kingdom, part of International Socialist Alternative. Socialist Alternative's goal is “To rid the world of capitalism and replace it with true democratic socialism".[1]

History

Socialist Alternative was founded in 2019 by over 130 former members[2] of the Socialist Party who had either resigned or been expelled[3] as the result of a split within the Committee for a Workers' International (CWI), with which the Socialist Party had been aligned.[4][5]

The majority of the Socialist Party supported a faction that left the CWI to become the Refounded CWI (now known as the CWI). The minority supported what was initially called the CWI-Majority but, has been known since January 2020 as International Socialist Alternative.[6][7]

International campaigns

Socialist Alternative took part in the KazakhSolidarity campaign supporting protests in Kazakhstan at the beginning of 2022, also supported by a number of other left groups[8]

Covid-19

Socialist Alternative members took part in protests in 2020 related to the UK Government's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. During a protest in Manchester they criticised the government prioritising "private profit over public health" and demanded the government stepped in to support working people as the furlough scheme was being wound down.[9]

Trade unions

In 2023 four supporters of Socialist Alternative were elected to the National Executive Committee of Unison. [10] Additionally two supporters were elected to the executive of the teacher's union NEU.[11] The Salford branch of Socialist Alternative supported the strike of workers at the CHEP factory in Trafford Park. They argued that these striking workers needed to work together with Kill the Bill protesters against the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill and fellow strikers in the University and College Union.[1] Members of the Coventry branch have been active in supporting the strike of refuse collector drivers.[12]

Climate change

At the COP26 conference in Glasgow, Socialist Alternative provided their part of a lively contingent from ISA on the demonstration. They described the conference as "a collection of hollow promises that still add up to a catastrophic 2.7C of global heating by 2100."[13][14] Spokesperson Danny said "We need to make sure that COP26 can hear the voice of the working class” [15][16]

Socialist Feminism

Socialist Alternative claims to be building the socialist-feminist wing of an emerging movement because it is the exploitative, unequal, sexist system of capitalism that provides the basis for gender violence.[17] As part of building this movement they organised a number of demonstrations.[18]

Publications

Apart from their newspaper they have also republished the classic work of revolutionary Marxism by Leon Trotsky, "Marxism in our Time". It has a new introduction by Hugh Caffrey.[19]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Cionco, Mel (8 February 2022). ""We will fight for every reform that makes workers lives better" – Socialist organisation to support protests and strikes in Salford community". salfordnow.co.uk. Archived from the original on 6 July 2022.
  2. ^ "Issue 1 feature: A new chapter for revolutionary socialism in Britain". Socialist Alternative. 1 August 2019. Archived from the original on 4 April 2022.
  3. ^ Demarty, Paul (2 August 2019). "Taaffe expels his majority". weeklyworker.co.uk. Archived from the original on 23 June 2023. Retrieved 5 August 2019.
  4. ^ Boggs, Pete (14 August 2019). "The split in the Socialist Party". Alliance for Workers' Liberty.
  5. ^ Boggs, Pete (5 September 2019). "Socialist Party split still unclear". Alliance for Workers' Liberty.
  6. ^ Byrne, Danny (22 October 2019). "Continuing the Fight for International Socialism". Socialist Alternative. Archived from the original on 2 April 2023.
  7. ^ "Bureaucratic coup will not stop CWI majority from building a strong revolutionary socialist international!". chinaworker.info. 26 July 2019. Archived from the original on 20 January 2024.
  8. ^ Rob M. (10 January 2022). "Picket of the Kazakstan Embassy, London 8th January". Archived from the original on 20 January 2024.
  9. ^ Randall, Georgina (25 October 2020). "Socialist Alternative at the People's Assembly protest against 'deliberate harm to workers in north'". thenorthernquota.org. Archived from the original on 4 October 2022.
  10. ^ Socialist Alternative (22 June 2023). "UNISON Conference Shows All to Play for in Fight to Transform Our Union". International Socialist Alternative. Archived from the original on 11 August 2023. Retrieved 9 August 2023.
  11. ^ Socialist Alternative Political Committee (7 June 2023). "NEU NEC Elections: Strengthening of the left, but work to do". Socialist Alternative. Archived from the original on 11 August 2023. Retrieved 9 August 2023.
  12. ^ "Catch-up on bin strike protest outside the Coventry council house". coventrytelegraph.net. 18 January 2022.
  13. ^ O'Toole, Marie (15 November 2021). "International Socialists mobilise in Glasgow for COP26 protests". Socialist Alternative. Archived from the original on 22 May 2022.
  14. ^ Brown, Alexander; Amos, Ilona. "COP26: Up to 100,000 protesters gather in Glasgow Green but Greta 'cancels'". The Scotsman. Archived from the original on 9 October 2023.
  15. ^ "Qìhòu dà yóuxíng dēngchǎng mínzhòng tòng pī yīng shǒuxiàng `wèijūnzǐ' | guójì jiāodiǎn| guójì" 氣候大遊行登場 民眾痛批英首相「偽君子」 | 國際焦點 | 國際 [Climate March kicks off, people slam British Prime Minister as "hypocrite" | International Focus | International] (in Chinese).
  16. ^ "Glasgow climate protest RECAP as thousands of activists march through city centre". Daily Record. 6 November 2021.
  17. ^ "International Women's Day 2022: Join socialist feminist protest actions against gender violence and all oppression". Socialist Alternative. Archived from the original on 30 June 2022.
  18. ^ Richardson, Hannah (3 March 2022). "International Women's Day demonstration in city to speak out against sexism and gender violence". Leicester Mercury. Archived from the original on 24 May 2022.
  19. ^ Trotsky, Leon; Caffrey, Hugh (27 September 2020). Marxism in Our Time. Primedia eLaunch LLC. ISBN 978-1-63649-125-7.
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