Red Wedge was a collective of musicians formed in theUK in 1985 who attempted to educate youth with the policies of theLabour Party leading up to the1987 general election in the hope of ousting theConservative government ofMargaret Thatcher.^[1]

Fronted byBilly Bragg (whose 1985Jobs for Youth tour had been a prototype of sorts for Red Wedge),Paul Weller andthe Communards' lead singerJimmy Somerville, the Red Wedge held concert parties and appeared in the media, adding their support to the Labour Party campaign.

The group was launched on 21 November 1985, when Bragg, Weller,Strawberry Switchblade andKirsty MacColl were invited to a reception at thePalace of Westminster hosted by LabourMember of Parliament (MP)Robin Cook. The collective took its name from a 1919 poster byRussian constructivist artistEl Lissitzky titledBeat the Whites with the Red Wedge. Despite this echo of theRussian Civil War, Red Wedge was not a communist organisation, nor was it an officially arm of the Labour Party, but it did initially occupy office space at Labour's headquarters. The group's logo, also inspired by the Lissitzky poster, was designed byNeville Brody.

Red Wedge organised a number of major tours. The first, in January and February 1986, featured Bragg, Weller's bandthe Style Council, the Communards,Junior Giscombe,Lorna Gee andJerry Dammers, with guest appearances byMadness,The The,Heaven 17,Bananarama,Prefab Sprout,Elvis Costello,Gary Kemp,Tom Robinson,Sade,the Beat,Lloyd Cole,the Blow Monkeys,Joolz andthe Smiths. At the Labour Party Annual Conference in 1986, Red Wedge's support of the party was praised, in a speech on a motion concerning the arms trade, by a conference delegate (Steve Hoyland) who referred particularly to the lyrics of the Billy Bragg song "Island of No Return" which critically references British involvement in the Falklands War.

Red Wedge did not receive universal support from left-wing musicians, and some groups such asthe Housemartins,^[2]Easterhouse andthe Redskins^[3] rejected involvement and/or criticised the campaign.

When the general election was called in 1987, Red Wedge organised a comedy tour featuringLenny Henry,Ben Elton,Robbie Coltrane,Craig Charles,Phill Jupitus, Mark Miwurdz (Hurst) andHarry Enfield, and another tour by the main musical participants along withThe The,Captain Sensible and theBlow Monkeys. The group also published an election pamphlet,Move On Up, with a foreword by Labour leaderNeil Kinnock.^{[citation needed]}

After the 1987 election produced a third consecutive Conservative victory, many of the musical collective drifted away. A few further gigs were arranged and the group's magazineWell Red continued, but funding eventually disappeared and Red Wedge was formally disbanded in 1990.

• Black, Johnny (March 1996)."Red Wedge: bringing Labour party politics to young music fans".Q. Retrieved4 September 2017 – viaThe Guardian, 22 April 2015. A Red Wedge retrospective.
• Denselow, Robin (1989).When The Music's Over: The Story of Political Pop. London:Faber and Faber.ISBN 978-0-571-13906-4.
• Frith, Simon & Street, John (1992). "Rock Against Racism and Red Wedge: From Music to Politics, from Politics to Music". In Garofalo, Reebee (ed.).Rockin' the Boat: Mass Music and Mass Movements. Boston:South End Press. pp. 67–80.ISBN 978-0-89608-428-5.
• Collins, Andrew (2002).Still Suitable for Miners: Billy Bragg, the Official Biography (2 ed.). London:Virgin Books.ISBN 978-0-7535-0691-2.
• Rachel, Daniel (2016).Walls Come Tumbling Down: The Music and Politics of Rock Against Racism, 2 Tone and Red Wedge. London:Picador.ISBN 978-1-4472-7268-7.

• Music organisations based in the United Kingdom
• Musical advocacy groups
• 1985 establishments in the United Kingdom
• 1990 disestablishments in the United Kingdom
• History of the Labour Party (UK)
• Political music groups
• Billy Bragg

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