Socialist Party Wales
| Socialist Party Wales | |
|---|---|
.jpg){kind=logo} | |
| Founded | 1990s |
| Newspaper | The Socialist |
| Student wing | Socialist Students |
| Ideology |
Marxism Socialism Trotskyism Trade Unionism |
| Political position | Far-left |
| National affiliation |
Socialist Party Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition |
| International affiliation | Committee for a Workers' International |
| Colours | Red |
| Website | |
| socialistpartywales.org.uk | |
|
Politics of the United Kingdom Political parties Elections | |
The Socialist Party Wales or Plaid Sosialaidd Cymru is the Welsh regional organisation of the Socialist Party of England and Wales, a section of the CWI.
The SPW is a Trotskyist organisation that previously organised under the name Militant, a group which practised entryism in the Labour Party.
There are currently branches in Bangor, Wrexham, Llanelli, Cardiff Central, Cardiff South, Cardiff West, Newport, Swansea and Rhondda Cynon Taf/Caerphilly.
History
Welsh Militant supporters rose to prominence in the 1970s and 1980s when they put forward their version of Marxism in the Labour Party. The Militant tendency gained influence in Constituency Labour Parties in Cardiff and Swansea, especially in the Labour Party Young Socialists. They were involved in the miners' strike of 1984-85, and several branches of Militant supporters were set up in the coalfield.[1]
Many supporters of Militant in Wales were expelled from the Labour Party during the period of Neil Kinnock's leadership. After a split in the organisation over the continued viability of entryist practices in the Labour Party, the Socialist Party was eventually formed in the mid-1990s.
Due to the downturn in class struggle in the 1990s the SP/Militant in Wales shrank considerably. The Socialist Party was involved in the creation of the Welsh Socialist Alliance in the late 1990s. The Alliance was successful in drawing in independent layers in a difficult period, however it came into conflict with the Socialist Workers Party. The Socialist Party left the WSA in 2002 to run its own candidates under the name of Socialist Alternative.[2]
The party has continued this strategy standing in Cardiff and Swansea in local, General and Assembly elections. It has been involved in local National Health Service campaigns such as CRISIS in Cardiff which led it to contest the 2007 Assembly Elections under the banner 'Socialist Alternative - Defend Our Health Service'.[3]
Swansea Socialist Party member Rob Williams was trade union convenor during disputes at the Linamar car parts plant in Swansea.[4][5][6]
Since 2010, the party has participated in the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition
Platform
The party puts forward a transitional programme, fighting for immediate demands for the working class while at the same time agitating for the socialist transformation of society.
It argues for:
- Policies for full employment including: a 35-hour week without loss of pay; a massive public spending increase for health, housing, education, childcare, leisure and community facilities.
- A mass campaign against all public sector cuts and benefit cuts. For the right to decent benefits, education, training, or a job, without compulsion.
- A new mass party of the working class.
- Taking the heights of the economy into public ownership under democratic working-class control and management. Compensation to be paid only on the basis of proven need.
- A democratic socialist plan of production based on the interests of the overwhelming majority of people, and in a way that safeguards the environment.
- Major research and investment into renewable energy and ending the problems of early obsolescence and unrecycled waste.
- Free, publicly run, good quality education, available to all at any age. Abolition of university tuition fees and introduction of a living grant.
- A socialist NHS to provide for everyone's health needs, free at the point of use and under democratic control.
- Scrapping of the anti-trade union laws. For fighting trade unions, democratically controlled by their members. Full-time union officials to be regularly elected and receive no more than a worker's wage.
- Taxation of the super rich. Tackling the billions each year lost through tax evasion and avoidance.
- Oppose all forms of discrimination. Defend of abortion rights. Defend the right to asylum.
- A massive building programme of publicly owned housing, on an environmentally sustainable basis.
- Major investment in public transport.
- A living wage and a living pension.
National Question
Socialist Party Wales supports the right of all nations to self-determination up to and including the right to independence, calling for "a socialist Wales as part of a socialist confederation of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland[7]".
Publications
- This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
- Red Dylan: Dylan Thomas and Socialism
- Land of Whose Fathers? A short history of the Welsh working class
See also
References
- ↑ Ken Smith (2014). A Civil War Without Guns. Socialist Publications Ltd. ISBN 978-1870958608.
- ↑ See letter from SPW to WSA http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/CampaignsSocialistAlliances.htm
- ↑ Socialist party NHS Crisis Claim - BBC News http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/6560133.stm
- ↑ The Guardian, Wednesday 24 June, Even in a slump, strikes and occupations can get results, http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jun/24/strike-action-recession
- ↑ http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/9997
- ↑ "Rob Williams reinstated - Victory at Linamar!". LabourNet UK. 11 June 2009. Retrieved 17 December 2011.
- ↑ The National Question in Wales http://www.swanseasocialistparty.org.uk/view/analysis/90-the-national-question-in-wales.html
External links
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