How many communists in the UK?

[RedAnarchist]

I was reading a similar thread regarding American Communists, and i was wondering if anyone knew if Communism is more popular in the United Kingdom than it is in the US?

The UK isnt as religious and reactionary as America - its quite a secular country, altyhough Islam is growing faster than any other religion, even Christianity. Most of our Communist parties hardly ever gain a council seat, never mind a parliamentary seat, and our three big parties are Tories, Diet Tories (Labour) and the Liberal Democrats, who are pro-fat cat and centrist.

[seraphim]

The socialist party hope to have a candidate in the next general election not with the hope of winning a seat because that's highly unlikely, but to get their ideas out there. To let the U.K left who have lost faith in the 'Tony Blair Party' that there is a viable alternative. Socialism and communist ideals took a battering in the U.K during the 90's but we're on the rise again.

the socialist party uk (http://www.socialistparty.org.uk)

[h&s]

The socialist party hope to have a candidate in the next general election not with the hope of winning a seat because that's highly unlikely
I wouldn't say its highly unlikely, it just depends which area you are talking about, and as far as I'm aware our election strategy doesn't even exist yet. We do have quite a few councilors in some areas, so its not entirely impossible for us to gain a parliamentary seat. However, you are right about it being to spread our ideas.

[seraphim]

ok so perhaps highly unlikely was a bit over the top, i for one hope a seat in the house is possible. Perhaps i was thinking in terms of my local area which is staunchly conservative, so changing opinions is gonna take long enough. I don't doubt it can be done however.

[Eddie Van Halen]

There is a acutally a UK communist party, with its own HQ in london, but since the communist house closed in my local town in the 90's, I think it may be a dying organisation.

[h&s]

There are at least three parties that I know in the UK with the word communist in their name. Just because they are called a communist party though doesn't mean that we should dupport them.

[RevolverNo9]

The CPGB split into many confusing different factions, almost like the IRA and I forget which one is the true successor.


I wouldn't say its highly unlikely

I would I'm afraid. We have a grand total of... four councilors (one of the Coventry three lost their seat in the recent Local Elections. The other two are in Lewisham.) I really don't see them getting a seat in parliament, it would be a gargantium task but let's hope they can get a good portion of votes and start re-establishing themselves as a presence in British politics.

[monkeydust]

There's not that many at all, really.

In fact, most of the "communists" I've seen tend to be middle-class students, struggling to find some meaning in a secular culture with undefined values and boundaries. In more cases than not, when prompted, these people can only utter some vague moralistic platitudes on the righteousness of freedom, justice, eqaulity and, of course, "people over profit". They often seem more like hippies than communists, though they're normally nice enough guys.

The main growth in the British "left" seems to be in "wishy-washy" liberal types, greens or vague anti-globalization movements.

[octovia]

Communism would make speedy progress in the U.K if people paid more attention to its true values.I as a commie myself think that the majority of communists in U.K are not trying hard enough.We do our best through the means of attraction i.e Youth Communist League (YCL).Hopefully if the communist party are elected which won't be for a long time,we could get rid of those nazi raving bastard BNPs.