International Socialist Organisation (Australia)
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- This article is about the International Socialist Organisation in Australia. See also the International Socialist Organization.
The International Socialist Organisation is an Australian Trotskyist political organisation. It is part of the International Socialist Tendency and produces a newspaper called Socialist Worker.
It was founded in the early 1970s, as the International Socialists, and expanded from its initial base in Melbourne until it had branches in every major city. It has had a lively internal life and saw a breakaway faction in the 1980s called Socialist Action led by Tom O'Lincoln which later rejoined the IS. At this point they changed their name to the ISO.
A faction fight beginning in 1993 led to a split, mainly but not exclusively in Melbourne, out of which Socialist Alternative was formed in 1995. Another period of internal crisis beginning in 2001 led to a loss of members and a further split in 2003 when another grouping of members around former leader Ian Rintoul left to form a group known as Solidarity. Somewhat prior to this Tom O'Lincoln also left, eventually joining Socialist Alternative. The ISO is a part of the Socialist Alliance.
