Workers' Power (UK)
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Workers Power
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| Leader | Collective Leadership (National Committee) |
| Founded | 1974 |
| Dissolved | 2015 |
| Split from | International Socialists (UK) |
| Headquarters | London |
| Ideology | Trotskyism |
| Political position | Far-left |
| National affiliation | Workers' Power |
| European affiliation | None |
| International affiliation | League for the Fifth International |
| European Parliament group | None |
| Colours | Red |
| Website | |
| http://workerspower.com/ | |
Workers' Power was a Trotskyist group which formed the British section of the League for the Fifth International. The group published the magazine Workers Power and distributed the English language journal Fifth International.
The group originated in the International Socialists (IS) as the Left Faction. The Faction argued that IS needed a fully developed programme. It also criticised the stance IS adopted on the Provisional Irish Republican Army's paramilitary actions in 1972. In 1973 it set up a faction, then when it refused to dissolve in 1974 it was excluded from IS and formed the Workers Power Group. In 1975 it briefly joined with Workers Fight to form the International-Communist League which split into its constituent parts soon afterward.
In 1980 Workers Power abandoned the position that the "Stalinist states" were 'state capitalist', seeing this position as an error on the part of Tony Cliff who argued that the USSR was state capitalist, functioning as a giant company which competed on the world market militarily. In that year it co-published "The Degenerated Revolution" which adopted a unique term, that countries other than the USSR (such as those in Eastern Europe and countries such as Cuba) were "degenerate workers states" and "degenerate from birth", representing a nuance to the Fourth International's 1948 analysis that the USSR was a 'degenerated workers state' while the other countries were 'deformed workers' states'. (See the theoretical section in League for the Fifth International article and below.)
In the mid-1980s, Workers Power was involved in solidarity around the miners strike, arguing for a general strike against the Tories and for picket line defence against police violence towards strikers. Workers Power was active in the anti-fascist movement against the National Front and the British National Party. Towards the end of the 1990s, it was a key organiser in the Coalition Against BP in Colombia, highlighting abuse or workers and environmental giant by British Petroleum. Workers Power members were involved in No Sweat along with the Alliance for Workers Liberty until 2002.
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