HISTORICAL BACKGROUND TO THE FORMATION OF
THE SOCIALIST LABOUR PARTY
INTRODUCTION
A political party is
"a political organisation that expresses the interests of a social class or its strata, uniting its most active representatives and directing them toward the attainment of certain goals and ideals". ('Great Soviet Encyclopaedia', Volume 19; New York; 1978; p. 305).
Labour is
"the general body of labourers and operatives viewed in its relation to the body of capitalists or with regard to its political interests and claims".
('Oxford English Dictionary', Volume 8; Oxford; 1989; p. 559).
Originally, a labour party was
"... a political party specially supporting the interests of labour".
('Oxford English Dictionary', Volume 8; Oxford; 1989; p. 560).
A Social-Democratic Party was, originally, a labour party in a country where the bourgeois-democratic revolution has not been accomplished. Already, in late 1897, Lenin stressed the significance of the term 'Social-Democratic' in relation to the name of the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP):
"The object of the practical activities of the Social-Democrats is ... socialist . . . and democratic. . . . Russian Social-Democracy has always emphasised ... the inseparable connection between its socialist and democratic tasks -- a connection which is strikingly expressed in the name which it has adopted". pp. 496-97).
(Vladimir I. Lenin: 'The Tasks of Russian Social-Democrats', in:
'Selected Works', Volume 1; London; 1944; p. 496-97).
SOCIAL-DEMOCRACY IN BRITAIN
The Social-Democratic Federation
In June 1881, Henry Hyndman, who regarded himself as
"...the first important British Marxist",
('New Encyclopaedia Britannica', Volume 6; Chicago; 1994; p. 199).
joined with others
"...in founding the Democratic Federation in 1884 the Democratic Federation was renamed the Social-Democratic Federation (SDF)".
('New Encyclopaedia Britannica', Volume 6; Chicago; 1994; pp. 199-200).
Engels describes Hyndman as
"an arch-conservative and an extremely chauvinistic but not stupid careerist, who behaved pretty shabbily to Marx . . . and for this reason was dropped by us personally".
(Friedrich Engels: Letter to August Bebel, 30 August 1883, in: Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels: 'Selected Correspondence: 1846-1895: With Commentary and Notes'; London; 1943; p. 419).
The Scottish Labour Party
The second party formed in Britain claiming to represent the interests of working people was the 'Scottish Labour Party', founded in May 1888. (Michael Keating & David Bleiman: 'Labour and Scottish Nationalism'; London; 1979; p. 51).
This merged with the Independent Labour Party
"...at the end of 1894".
(Michael Keating & David Bleiman: ibid.; p. 53).