Talk:British Socialist Party

Where did my stuff go?
Weird, I had a pretty long bit up here about periodization yesterday and it up and vanished without a trace. Very strange. Carrite (talk) 15:58, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

Periodization, Take 2
The way I see it, there were essentially 4 periods for the BSP:


 * 1. Formative period (1911-July 1914). Party established; Hyndman faction dominates apparatus.


 * 2. Period of factional struggle (Aug. 1914-Easter 1916). Declaration of war makes militarism the big issue. Left Wing steadily grows, resulting the the Right's exit.


 * 3. Period of Left Wing consolidation (Easter 1916-Middle 1918). War still the big issue of the day.


 * 4. Proto-Bolshevik period (Middle 1918-Aug. 1920). Success of Russian Revolution and emergence of Comintern makes the Russian model the new question of the day. Presumably division among party members over this question of organizational form.

Admittedly, this perspective is probably colored by the fact that I'm coming to the BSP from a background of obsessing on the history of the Socialist Party of America. There were certainly huge parallels. In the American radical movement, the end of the war and disappointing performance in the Nov. 1918 elections, followed by the emergence of the Comintern triggered the growth of a formally organized faction, the Left Wing Section. I have to think there was a similar dynamic was at play in the BSP.

Does this periodization make sense? Other comments? —Tim Davenport /// Early American Marxism website /// Corvallis, Oregon (USA) Carrite (talk) 15:58, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

A lot more information about the BSP's annual conferences could be added.
A source of information for these conferences is James Klugman's book "History of the Communist Party of Great Britain volume 1" — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.238.34.84 (talk) 10:57, 30 December 2021 (UTC)