On January 29 and 30, 1921, there assembled at Leeds a Communist Conference for the purposes of merging the various Communist bodies into one party. One hundred and seventy delegates took part representing the following bodies:—Communist Party of Great Britain; Communist Labour Party; Communist Party (British Section of Third International); Aberdeen Communist Group; Left Wing of Independent Labour Party; Industrial Communist Party; Jewish Socialist Party; Bolton Communist Group; Croydon Communist Group; Shop Stewards; South Wales Workers’ Committee.
Later on, April 23 and 24, 1921, another Communist Conference took place in Manchester to settle the constitution and the rules. The party was called the Communist Party of Great Britain, its ultimate purpose being the establishment of a Communistic Republic and its immediate end the abolition of the wage-system through a social revolution. As a means of furthering a social revolution the party urges the adoption by the workers of a Soviet or Workers’ Council system as it exists in Russia, and “for a weapon against the massing of the forces of capitalism” the use of “the dictatorship of the revolutionary masses,” This Party applied for affiliation to the Labour Party, but that was refused at the Brighton Conference in 1921 and again at Edinburgh in 1922. It is affiliated to the “Red” or Communist International of Moscow. The best account of the revolutionary organizations in this country is that contained in Dr. Shadwell’s Revolutionary Movement in Great Britain, Grant Richards, Ltd., 1921.
The Fabian Society
The well-known Fabian Society was founded in January 1884, and has been affiliated to the Labour Party from its inception. It aims at reorganizing society by emancipating land and industrial capital from individual or class ownership and vesting them in the State. It advocates transfer to the community of the administration of such industrial capital as can conveniently be managed socially. As a result of this transfer without compensation, “though not without such relief to expropriated individuals as may seem fit to the community,” rent and interest will be added to the reward of labour, and the idle class now living on the labour of others will necessarily disappear. The Society specially tries to influence local authorities so as to impart a socialistic tendency to their administration. The Fabian Research Department has conducted many valuable investigations into industrial questions; since October 1918, it has been known as the Labour Research Department; affiliation with it is open to Trade Unions, Socialist Societies, Co-operative Organizations, Trades Councils, Labour Parties and private individuals. Its object is to co-operate with the Labour, Socialist and Co-operative movements in supplying information upon all questions relating to labour, and it does so most effectively.
The Independent Labour Party
In 1893, the Independent Labour Party was formed. It owes its origin, as has been stated, to the energy of Mr. Keir Hardie. The “I.L.P.” was established “to secure the collective ownership of all the means of production, distribution and exchange,” and “independent labour representation on all legislative, governing and administrative bodies.” Its original constitution stated:
“That the object of that Party is to establish the Socialist State, when land and capital will be held by the community and used for the well-being of the community and when the exchange of commodities will be organized also by the community, so as to secure the highest possible standard of life for the individual. In giving effect to this object, it will work as part of the International Socialist Movement.”
The I.L.P. and its weekly paper, the Labour Leader, took up persistently a pacificist attitude throughout the war, especially in regard to compulsory military service. It is represented by four members in the present House of Commons.
The Socialist Labour Party
In 1903, the Socialist Labour Party was established in Glasgow—by secessionists from the Social Democratic Federation—on the lines of the revolutionary American Socialist Party led by Daniel de Leon. It is in close affiliation with the Industrial Workers of the World, and actively agitates to further the Syndicalist conception of industrial Unionism. All candidates for membership must subscribe to “class-war”—no Trade Union official is eligible. The Party propagates revolutionary political action, and also revolutionary industrial action of the extreme syndicalistic type. The Party has between thirty and forty branches throughout the country, owns the Socialist Labour Press, and publishes a monthly paper called the Socialist. Although the majority of its members are Trade Unionists, the party refuses to affiliate with the Labour Party. Throughout the recent conflict it carried out an implacable campaign against the war, and impeded in every possible way its successful prosecution.