Militant Labour

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Militant Labour was the name of the political party openly formed by members of the Militant Tendency when they abandoned the Trotskyist tactic of entryism in 1990.

The decision, in 1991, to take an open turn came after Neil Kinnock's attack on the Militant from 1985 onwards became so successful that the Militant could no longer effectively operate in the Labour Party - selling the party's newspaper, Militant, was enough to get expelled, whereas previously, the Labour Party membership had not been inclined to support expulsions.

From 1989 Militant had taken the leading position in the Britain-wide Anti-Poll Tax Unions and the ferment and anger Margaret Thatcher's poll tax had generated suggested that there was more to be gained as an open organisation than inside a Labour Party which opposed the Anti-Poll Tax Unions' tactic of non-payment of the tax.

A minority inside the Militant - led by former leading ideologue Ted Grant - opposed the open turn and continued to support entryism. They subsequently formed their own party/faction around the paper Socialist Appeal.

In 1997 Militant Labour became the Socialist Party of England and Wales, after a lengthy debate in 1996, though in Scotland the majority abandoned formal Trotskyism as part of the Scottish Socialist Party - a wider grouping than the original Scottish Militant Labour.