Socialist Propaganda League

:"See also the Socialist Propaganda League of America."

The Socialist Propaganda League was a tiny socialist group active in London from circa 1911 to 1951.

The League was formed as a result of an early dispute in the Socialist Party of Great Britain and of the optimistic belief of the Party’s founder members that the socialist revolution was near. A group of members around Henry Martin and Augustus Snellgrove wanted the Party to take a definitive stand on the attitude socialist delegates elected to parliament or local councils would take towards reform measures proposed by one or more of the capitalist parties.

In February 1910 a letter from “W.B. (Upton Park)” was sent to the "Socialist Standard" asking, “What would be the attitude of a member of the SPGB if elected to Parliament, and how would he maintain the principle of ‘No Compromise’?” The perspective of this small group of members was that no reform of capitalism could ever be supported by the party claiming to represent working-class interests as it was not the job of socialists to take part in the running of capitalism. Any attempt to do so would run counter to the famous ‘hostility clause’ of the Party's Declaration of Principles. The "Standard"’s reply on the matter, backed by the Party’s Executive Committee, stated that each issue would have to be looked at on its merits and the course to be pursued decided democratically. This did not satisfy the members who had raised the question,who formed a ‘Provisional Committee’ aimed at overturning the position espoused in the "Standard"’s reply and who set their case out in an ‘Open Letter’ to Party members, arguing that socialists were required to oppose measures introduced by capitalist parties on each and every occasion. This was again rebutted firmly by the EC who contended that it would be ridiculous for socialists, by way of example, to oppose a measure designed to stop a war in which the working class was being butchered.

Believing this approach to be a violation of the principle of ‘no compromise’, several members resigned over this issue during 1911, a small number going on to found the Socialist Propaganda League. The SPL’s principal speaker and writer was Henry Martin, Snellgrove having been one ofthose from the Provisional Committee later to rejoin the SPGB. Though Martin was sympathetic to the SPGB in all other respects, he continued to denounce the its willingness to engage in ‘political trading’ in pamphlets and on the outdoor platform until his death in 1951.

References

*cite book
title = From Slavery to Freedom
publisher = Socialist Propaganda League
*cite journal
title = "From Slavery To Freedom" (review)
journal = Socialist Standard
publisher = Socialist Party of Great Britain
date = November 1932
id = ISSN 0037-8259
*cite book
last = Barltrop
first = Robert
authorlink = Robert Barltrop
title = The Monument: The Story of the Socialist Party of Great Britain
publisher = Pluto Press
date = 1975
pages = 36–39
location = London
id = ISBN 0-904383-00-8
*cite book
last = Perrin
first = David A.
title = The Socialist Party of Great Britain: Politics, Economics and Britain's Oldest Socialist Party
publisher = Bridge Books
date = 2000
pages = 33–35, 38
location = Wrexham
id = ISBN 1-872424-80-5
*cite journal
last = DAP
title = Getting Splinters
journal = Socialist Standard
volume = 100
issue = 1198
pages = 38–41
publisher = Socialist Party of Great Britain
date = June 2004
id = ISSN 0037-8259