The Militant tendency, originally the Revolutionary Socialist League, was a Trotskyist entryist group within the British Labour Party based around the Militant newspaper which was first published in 1964. According to Michael Crick, its politics were influenced by Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky and "virtually nobody else".
In 1982, a Labour Party commission found Militant in contravention of clause II, section 3 of the party's constitution, and declared it ineligible for affiliation to the Labour Party. In 1983, the five members of the Editorial Board of the Militant newspaper were expelled from the Labour Party. At this point the group claimed internally to have about 4,300 members, a figure which may be generous.
Militant played a leading role in Liverpool City Council between 1983 and 1987 when 47 councillors were banned and surcharged. From 1983, a series of moves led by the Labour Party's National Executive Committee and leader Neil Kinnock led to the expulsion of prominent members of the group, and the eventual loss of Militant's three Labour MPs. These actions ended Militant's influence within the Party.
Between 1989 and 1991 Militant led the All-Britain Anti-Poll Tax Federation's non-payment campaign against the Community Charge ('poll tax'). In 1991, Militant decided by a large majority to abandon entryism in the Labour Party. Ted Grant, once the group's most important member, was expelled, and his breakaway minority, now known as Socialist Appeal, continued with the entryist strategy. The majority changed its name to Militant Labour, and then in 1997 to the Socialist Party.
Read more about Militant Tendency: Origins, Early Editions of Militant, The Poll Tax, The Open Turn
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