Peter Taaffe

Peter Taaffe (born April 1942) is a British Marxist Trotskyist political activist and former leader of the Socialist Party.^[1]

Peter Taaffe
Taaffe in 2006
General Secretary of the Socialist Party
In office 1997–2020
Deputy	Hannah Sell
Succeeded by	Hannah Sell
General Secretary of Militant Labour
In office 1992–1997
General Secretary of Militant
In office 1964–1992
Preceded by	Position established
Personal details
Born	1942 (age 81–82) Birkenhead, Cheshire, England
Political party	Socialist Party

Taaffe was the founding editor of the Trotskyist Militant newspaper in 1964,^[2][3] and became known as a leading member of the entryist Militant group. Taaffe was expelled from the Labour Party in 1983, along with four other members of Militant's editorial board.^[4][5][6]

Taaffe was influential in the policy decisions of Liverpool City Council of 1983–1987, according to the council's deputy leader Derek Hatton,^[7] and in the formation of the Militant tendency's policy regarding the Poll Tax in 1988–1991.^[8]

Early life

Born in Birkenhead, Cheshire, one of six children of a sheet metal worker.^[9] He was recruited to what would become the Militant tendency in 1960 by Ted Grant.^[6]

Liverpool City Council under Militant

In the four-year Liverpool struggle, Taaffe was closely involved with developments, discussing with close friends and leading Liverpool Militant supporters, such as the former print worker Tony Mulhearn.^[10]

References

1. Stewart, Heather; Elgot, Jessica (11 November 2016). "Socialist party leader submits application to rejoin Labour". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 14 August 2024.
2. Jimmy Deane's archive minutes.
3. Wintour, Patrick (26 March 1993). "Militant ends entryism and opens up". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 August 2024.
4. Stewart, Heather; Elgot, Jessica (10 August 2016). "Leader of expelled leftwing group Militant expects readmission to Labour". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 August 2024.
5. "Expelled Militant Labour members apply to rejoin party". BBC News. 11 November 2016. Retrieved 14 August 2024.
6. Wade, Bob (27 July 2006). "Ted Grant (obituary)". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 August 2024.
7. Derek Hatton Inside left, p. 32
8. Tommy Sheridan A Time to Rage, p. 45
9. Andy McSmith Faces of Labour: The Inside Story, London: Verso, 1996, p. 100
10. Derek Hatton, Deputy leader of Liverpool City Council says "the man who has had the greatest political influence on my political thinking, and on the way in which we shaped our policy in Liverpool, was Peter Taaffe". Inside left, p. 32

External links

• Socialist Party (England & Wales) website
• Committee for a Workers' International website
• Marxist resource from the Committee for a Workers' International
• History of British Trotskyism By Ted Grant
• Militant's Real History: In reply to Ted Grant and Rob Sewell by Peter Taaffe (this is a reply to Ted Grant's History of British Trotskyism and Rob Sewell's Postscript to it)

Media offices
Preceded by New position	Editor of Militant 1964–1994	Succeeded by Nick Wrack