The Socialist

The Socialist is the weekly publication of the Socialist Party. It was established in 1964 as Militant and identified itself as the "Marxist voice of Labour and Youth." The paper was significant in uniting a powerful left-wing faction within the British Labour Party, leading to the group being referred to as the Militant tendency, named after the newspaper they distributed and engaged with. In 1997, Militant Labour, which emerged from the Militant tendency, rebranded itself as the Socialist Party, and the Militant newspaper was renamed The Socialist in the same year.

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Free school meals should be universal and fully funded

2 weeks ago | socialistparty.org.uk | Mark Best

Alex Sampson, Plymouth Socialist PartyKeir Starmer’s Labour government announced a week before the cutting spending review that it will extend the free school meals programme to include the children of all families on Universal Credit in England. It claims this will lift 100,000 children completely out of poverty.
We need council houses now!

2 weeks ago | socialistparty.org.uk | Mark Best

Joe Waters, Gloucestershire Socialist PartyDespite being elected on promises to address the housing crisis, among multiple other issues, Starmer’s Labour has made little progress in delivering council housing, or ‘social rent’ equivalents, since taking power last summer. Only 6% of homes approved by local councils between July and December 2024 were for social rent.
NatWest walks away with billions of public money

2 weeks ago | socialistparty.org.uk | Mark Best

Jimmy Haddow, Socialist Party ScotlandStarmer’s Labour government has sold the last of its interest in NatWest – formerly Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) – returning the bank fully to private hands. This after 17 years and over £46 billion in a publicly funded bailout following the 2007-08 banking and financial crisis. Actually, the UK government has only received £35 billion back from the bank’s bosses, which means the capitalists got it on the cheap by saving themselves £10.5 billion.
Defence spending and the workers’ movement

2 weeks ago | socialistparty.org.uk | Mark Best

Editorial of the Socialist issue 1325Twelve new attack submarines, £15 billion of nuclear warheads, thousands of new long-range weapons. A “ten-times more lethal” army and a “next generation” RAF with new F-35 and Typhoon jets. These promises from Keir Starmer’s strategic defence review will leave hairs standing on end for many people who voted for a Labour government in the hopes of an end to the Tories’ savagery at home and abroad.
Why you should come to NSSN conference

2 weeks ago | socialistparty.org.uk | Mark Best

The National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN) saysThis year’s NSSN conference takes place exactly one year since Starmer formed his Labour government. Yet we still face job cuts, there is no respite from the public sector funding crisis, and privatisation is being ramped up in our NHS. Workers fighting back still face Tory limits on the right to strike.
The obituary the Guardian wouldn’t print

2 weeks ago | socialistparty.org.uk | Mark Best

Hannah Sell, Socialist Party general secretaryThe Guardian newspaper on Saturday 24 May 2025 printed an obituary for Peter Taaffe. It began by stating, accurately, that in the 1980s Peter Taaffe “was famous in political circles, and Labour Party grandees shivered at the sound of his name”. Fear of the shivers of ‘Labour Party grandees’ appears to have been a central factor in the Guardian’s refusal to publish the first obituary for Peter that they received, four weeks earlier, on 28 April 2025.
Resistance stirs against Trump in US

2 weeks ago | socialistparty.org.uk | Mark Best

The following is a shortened edit of an article by S.J. Dickie, published by the Independent Socialist Group, the Socialist Party’s co-thinkers in the US, before events erupted in LA. Four months into the second Donald Trump presidency, larger protests against Trump’s attacks on immigrants, women, and the LGBTQ+ community are developing. Trump’s rapid-fire executive actions are meant to intimidate and spread fear.
Los Angeles resists Trump’s immigration crackdown

2 weeks ago | socialistparty.org.uk | Mark Best

Tom Baldwin, Socialist Party national committeeLos Angeles has become the centre of resistance to Donald Trump’s brutal crackdown on immigrants. As the Socialist goes to press, there have been four days of mass protests with demonstrations now spreading to other cities. These erupted in response to raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Leeds stall shows appetite for action against Trump’s visit

2 weeks ago | socialistparty.org.uk | Mark Best

TJ Diniz Mota, Leeds Socialist StudentsSocialist Students set up a campaign stall outside Notre Dame Sixth Form College in Leeds on 3 June, as part of our national effort to build for youth walkouts against Trump’s upcoming second state visit to the UK. The level of engagement we had was a real indication of the potential for mass action.
Solidarity with protesters in California: Walk out against Trump

2 weeks ago | socialistparty.org.uk | Mark Best

Socialist Students StatementSocialist Students stands in solidarity with workers and young people in the US, facing down President Donald Trump’s state repression. We are organising students at schools, colleges and unis to walk out against Trump on Day X – the day Trump visits parliament, on the invitation of Starmer and the king. Protests have erupted in Los Angeles, California against the deportation of migrants, under the orders of Trump, by immigration authority ICE.