Who We Are

The Socialist Party is like no other political party in Britain. It is made up of people who have joined together because we want to get rid of the profit system and establish real socialism.

Our aim is to encourage others to become socialist and act for themselves, organizing democratically and without leaders, to bring about the kind of society that we advocate.

We are solely concerned with building a movement of socialists for socialism. We are not a reformist party with a programme of policies to patch up capitalism.

What we stand for is an introduction to the Party’s ideas. The End and the Means details the Socialist Party view on the role of ‘the party’.

Why we are different

The SPGB and our companion parties in the World Socialist Movement say that:

• socialism will be a moneyless, stateless worldwide society of common ownership and democratic control of the means of wealth production and distribution
• there is no need for a ‘transition period’
• socialism cannot be established by gradual implementation
• reforms of capitalism can never lead to socialism
• socialism must be established by a large conscious majority, preferably via a parliamentary mandate,
• socialism cannot be established by some minority vanguard or leadership group
• socialists should oppose all capitalist wars. Only socialism will end war
• the former USSR, China, Cuba and other so-called “socialist countries” were never socialist, but instead, state capitalist

Other groups may use the terms ‘socialist’ or ‘communist’

There are some groups, for example left communists and some anarchists, who agree with some of the above but not all.

Many groups advocate reforms to capitalism such as universal basic income, squeezing the rich etc that are touted as improving life for the majority. Fixes that don’t work explains why these reforms cannot change capitalism.

In Britain what’s called the Left is generally made up of groups which don’t have socialism as we describe it as an immediate (or even distant) goal, and instead aim at a ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’ with themselves in charge. These are the groups which follow Lenin and/or Trotsky. Below we list some of the biggest differences.

What we do

Our aim is to build a movement working towards a socialist society. We publish literature, we hold meetings and debates online and throughout the country, we write to the press and state our case wherever possible on the media. We run weekend educational conferences, we produce audios and pamphlets, we hand out leaflets, we contest elections, and we discuss our ideas with people wherever we can. We organise ourselves democratically, with party work being carried out cooperatively and voluntarily.

We are unique

The Socialist Party has been unique in Britain throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries for:

• Consistently advocating world socialism – a fully democratic society based upon co-operation and production for use.
• Opposing every single war
• Opposing every single government
• Being a democratic and leaderless organization

The next step

The more people who join the Socialist Party the more we will be able to get our ideas across, the more experiences we will be able to draw on and greater will be the new ideas for building the movement which you will be able to bring to us.

The Socialist Party is an organisation of equals. There is no leader and there are no followers. So, if you are going to join we want you to be sure that you agree fully with what we stand for and that we are satisfied that you understand the case for socialism.

If you want to know more about the Socialist Party, its ideas and activities, please contact us.