Christian Socialist Movement

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A meeting of the Oxford Branch of the Christian Socialist Movement, with Larry Sanders speaking, October 2007.
A meeting of the Oxford Branch of the Christian Socialist Movement, with Larry Sanders speaking, October 2007.

The Christian Socialist Movement, or CSM, is a socialist society affiliated to the British Labour Party.

The CSM was an amalgamation of the Society of Socialist Clergy and Ministers and the Socialist Christian League. R. H. Tawney made one of his last public appearances at the Movement's inaugural meeting on 22 January 1960. Donald Soper chaired the Movement until becoming its President in 1975.

The movement fulfilled a need among political activists on Christian left in Britain for an organisation that would be politically engaged and theologically reflective at the same time. It was a volunteer organisation until 1994 when it appointed a co-ordinator, followed by an administrator. This followed interest in the movement following the disclosure that the then Labour Leader John Smith was a member.

Today the CSM has over 40 members in the House of Commons and House of Lords including former prime minister Tony Blair (prior to his conversion to Roman Catholicism)[citation needed] and the current prime minister Gordon Brown.[citation needed] Its current Executive Committee Chair is Alun Michael; its Vice Chairs are Kerron Cross and Helen Dennis.

CSM is a member organisation of the International League of Religious Socialists.

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