The Communist Party of Britain (CPB) is a Marxist-Leninist party in Great Britain which emerged from a dispute between Eurocommunists and Marxist-Leninists in the Communist Party of Great Britain in 1988. It follows ML theory and supports what it regards as existing socialist states. The party has fraternal relationships with the ruling parties in Cuba, China, Laos, and Vietnam. It is affiliated nationally to the Cuba Solidarity Campaign and the Venezuela Solidarity Campaign. It is a member of the International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties, together with 117 other political parties. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the party was one of two original British signatories to the Pyongyang Declaration.
History Origins The origins of the CPB go back to the pro-Soviet opposition during in the 1960s, whom criticised the CPGB leadership for not supporting socialist countries, focusing on trade unions too much, and wasting resources on elections which was hurting relations with the Labour left.
In the period leading up to 1988, the Communist Party of Great Britain was in turmoil as the leadership fought the Marxist–Leninist tendencies inside the party.
In September 1982, controversy came from the feature article in the CPGB's theoretical journal, Marxism Today which was controlled by Eurocommunists and Martin Jacques. The feature, written by party member Tony Lane, was critical of the labour movement and trade unions. This caused a public response from Mick Costello and Tony Chater whom published their response in the form of an attack on the front page of the Morning Star newspaper. The executive committee backed the editor of Marxism Today, Martin Jacques due to the comments made by the two men posing a risk to their authority.
The CPGB's executive committee was flooded with communication from party branches over the affair, and the controversy had made the internal divisions of the party clearer. After this, the editorial board of Marxism Today introduced a disclaimer from the February 1983 issue onwards that said: "the views expressed by authors are personal and not necessarily those of the editor or editorial board".
While the Eurocommunists grouped more around Marxism Today and away from a focus on social class, members who wished for the involvement of class-based politics in the British Road to Socialism grouped more around the Morning Star. These early signs of trouble attracted international attention, notably from the East German SED which was concerned about the Eurocommunist tendency in the CPGB.
At the CPGB's 38th congress in November 1983, Tony Chater the editor of the Morning Star, as well as the assistant editor David Whitfield, were both removed from their positions on the party's executive. However, they were able to keep their positions at the paper, as it is owned and managed separately by the People's Press Printing Society co-operative. Prior to the controversy around Chater the PPPS had not been considered or treated independent of the CPGB, despite it being legally so, and Chater had used this technicality to keep his position.
The following year at the PPPS Annual General Meeting in June 1984, a majority of delegates re-elected Chater and Whitfield to the management committee of the newspaper, against the wishes of the CPGB leadership. In November 1984, the North-West District Congress elected an opposition majority to its District Committee, to which the leadership responded by declaring the district election illegitimate.
A similar movement was brewing in London, where the CPGB General Secretary Gordon McLennan pre-emptively dissolved the London District Congress and 11 members of the District Committee were suspended. In Scotland, 20 branches were brought under disciplinary sanctions. The CPGB Executive Committee then brought the dispute to a special congress on 18–20 May 1985, with a draft resolution condemning the Morning Star and the group around it. Over 650 amendments were submitted to the resolution, which was eventually passed after a long debate, and followed up by the expulsion of eighteen members.
Communist Campaign Group In June 1985, dissident and expelled members of the CPGB formed the Communist Campaign Group (CCG). The CCG explained the crisis of the CPGB as the fault of the Eurocommunists and Gordon McLennan. The CCG explained its role as to organise and execute mass resistance against the "Eurocommunist-controlled Executive Committee" using the party membership whilst dissuading and condemning actions that utilise party channels, courts of law or international assistance. Finally the CCG declared its main aims, which principally includes reinstating members, upholding the British Road to Socialism, and upholding "the rules and constitution of the Communist Party".
The Campaign Group was provided an office within the premises of the Morning Star. The first post-congress meeting of the new CPGB Executive Committee in July 1985 dropped the commitment for party members to support the Morning Star; it concluded with the dissolution of more branches and further disciplinary measures, such as the expulsion of Ken Gill.
Prospective supporters like Bert Ramelson were turned away from the CCG, mainly due to the Chater claiming in June 1983 that the CPGB was an "outside body" attempting to influence its own paper the Morning Star. Treatment of the CPGB as such meant that the CCG could not portray itself as the saviour of the party's principles.
From 1987, the CCG believed that the CPGB existed to promote reformism and class collaboration, while still defending Gorbachev's actions in the Soviet Union. Kevin Halpin was invited to Moscow to discuss the possibility that the CPGB would break apart, he was advised by the CPSU that the Campaign Group should continue working within the existing party structures.
Following their failure to challenge the CPGB's leadership, the Campaign Group called a press conference on 8 January 1988 to announce the formation of the Communist Party.
Formation The Communist Party of Britain was established in April 1988 at a conference called to re-establish the national branch of the Third International. The congress took place from the 23–24 April, where one of the prominent leaders of the Campaign Group, Mike Hicks, was elected to the position of General Secretary. The CPB's control over the Morning Star and the adoption of the British Road to Socialism are cited as reasons why the CPB is the refounded CPGB. Chater emphasised this continuity at the congress, explaining at the time:
The first party card was issued to Andrew Rothstein, who had also been one of the founding members of the CPGB. The following year the leaders of the CPGB formally declared that they had abandoned its programme, The British Road to Socialism. Many members perceived this as the party turning its back on socialism. The CPGB dissolved itself in 1991 and reformed as the Democratic Left. Many members of the Straight Left faction who had stayed in the CPGB formed a group called "Communist Liaison" which later opted to join the CPB. Others remained in the Democratic Left or joined the Labour Party.
The party still has members who were active in the CPGB, some of whom were active in the Anti-Apartheid Movement and trade union disputes such as the Upper Clyde work-in or the miners' strike of 1984–1985.
In reaction to the Revolutions of 1989, the party initially denied that the uprising in the GDR was linked to socialism or German reunification. By Summer 1990, however, after the party's reporting of events in Romania and Czechoslovakia, they acknowledged that the people and communists in those areas had rejected socialism and the ruling communist parties. This had mixed reactions within the party.
Since 1998 In 1998, Hicks was ousted as such in a 17–13 vote moved by John Haylett (who was also editor of the Morning Star) at a meeting of the party's executive committee. Hicks' supporters on the Management Committee of the Morning Star responded by suspending and then sacking Haylett, which led to a prolonged strike at the Morning Star, ending in victory for Haylett and his reinstatement. Some of Hicks' supporters were expelled and others resigned in protest. They formed a discussion group called Marxist Forum.
Andrew Murray was a Communist Party member until late 2016. Prior to the formation of the Respect – The Unity Coalition, with the support of the Socialist Workers Party, the party engaged in a debate about whether to join an electoral alliance with Respect and George Galloway. Those in favour, including general secretary Rob Griffiths, Andrew Murray and Morning Star editor John Haylett, were, however, defeated at a Special Congress in 2004.
In 2009, the party was one of the founder organisations of the No2EU electoral alliance alongside the RMT and a number of other left parties. The alliance stood in the 2009 and 2014 European Parliament elections on a platform of opposition to the European Union, which it considers undemocratic and neo-liberal. In 2010, the party was part of "Unity for Peace and Socialism". Later the party went on to lead a Left Leave Campaign (which was chaired by the party's General Secretary Robert Griffiths) along with the Socialist Workers Party, advocating the progressive case for a leave vote in the 2016 referendum on EU membership.
The party was a founding member of the People's Assembly Against Austerity in 2013, along with a number of other political and campaign groups, to create a broad organisation in opposition to austerity policies of the major political parties of Britain and of the European Union. The People's Charter, which the Communist Party had helped create several years earlier, was subsequently voted to be incorporated into the People's Assembly.
At the 2017 general election, the party fielded no candidates and gave its support to the Labour Party under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn. The CPB said it was the first election at which neither it nor the CPGB had fielded any candidates. In March 2018, Susan Michie, a leading member of the CPB, said that the party would no longer stand against Labour in general elections. CPB members should be "working full tilt" for the election of Corbyn as prime minister, she said. In the 2019 general election, the party again fielded no candidates and gave its support to the Labour Party.
However following the resignation of Corbyn as leader of the Labour Party and the election of Keir Starmer as his successor, the CPB again decided to field candidates in elections. In February 2021, the party's executive committee decided to mount one of the biggest electoral campaigns since the early 1980s.
In 2021, the party contested parliamentary seats in the Scottish parliamentary election, all regional lists in the Welsh Senedd election and seats across England in the May local elections.
The party briefly had a Councillor on Barrow Borough Council, after he left the Labour Party in February 2023, until the council was abolished in April the same year.
In 2024, the party contested 14 parliamentary seats at the general election, the most it has fought since its formation in 1988. In the 1987 election the CPGB, its predecessor, fielded candidates in 19 seats, and the CPB split from it the year after. It won none of the 14 seats fought in 2024 but won 2,622 votes, its best result at a general election.
Ideology
The party's ideology is Marxism–Leninism. It is anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist, pro-trade union and supports "progressive federalism". Its programme is called Britain's Road to Socialism.
Attitudes towards capitalism The party takes the traditional Marxist approach to capitalism, saying that it is at fault for wars, climate change, and corruption. It claims that 'capitalism must be overthrown in the interests of the working class and humanity.'
Attitudes towards imperialism