Skip to main content
Donate to the 95 years appeal
Can Labour remain the party of labour?
On the 90th anniversary of the Independent Labour Party’s disaffiliation from the Labour Party, following the formation of the ‘national government,’ VINCE MILLS examines the significance of the trade union link

“TOO many socialist parties. Not enough socialists” — Tony Benn.

Readers of the Star will not have failed to notice that since Sir Keir Starmer blagged his way into the leadership of the Labour Party, there has been a lot of soul-searching about whether socialists should remain in the Labour Party or even help build a left-wing alternative — less, I notice, consideration of joining existing left alternatives — more of them later.

The British left inside and outside the Labour Party has faced this dilemma time and again, but perhaps the consequences of adopting such a strategy have never been more dire than the Independent Labour Party’s disaffiliation from the Labour Party in 1932, exactly 90 years ago. 

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
LONG DARK SHADOW: John Henry Whitley chaired, from 1917, a committee to report on ‘the Relations of Employers and Employees’ in the wake of the establishment of the Shop Stewards Movement. Photo:  Public domain
Features / 6 December 2025
6 December 2025

In the final part of a serialisation of his new book, JOHN McINALLY explains how in 2018, after years spent rebuilding the PCS into a leading force against austerity, a damaging rupture emerged from within the union’s own left wing

SOBERING FIGURES: Vote counting for the Runcorn and Helsby by-election on May 1 2025
Opinion / 16 May 2025
16 May 2025

VINCE MILLS gathers some sobering facts that would inevitably be major obstacles to any such initiative

Veteran Labour politician, Tony Benn, in Grosvenor Square, L
Editorial: / 3 April 2025
3 April 2025
Voices of Scotland / 25 March 2025
25 March 2025
While VINCE MILLS laments the resignation of Neil Findlay from Scottish Labour, he explains why he won’t be joining him outside the party in the ongoing struggle for a socialist future