Revolutionary Democratic Group | |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1980s |
| Headquarters | London |
| Political position | Far-left |
TheRevolutionary Democratic Group (RDG) was asocialist organisation in the United Kingdom. It was founded in the early 1980s in a split from London and Scottish branches of theSocialist Workers Party, of which, for many years, it considered itself an "external faction".
The ideological centre of the RDG was a commitment torepublicanism. The RDG believed that the far left concentrates excessively on economic struggles without a clear focus on the need fordemocracy. The organisation developed the concept of thesocial monarchy to explain the nature of the British state, and sought to demonstrate links between the existence of the monarchy and the continuation of capitalism.
The RDG consistently sought alliances with other socialist groups with the aim of forming a larger democratic socialist party. For example, it began working with the Socialist Federation in 1984. For the1987 general election the RDG joined theRed Front, an electoral alliance spearheaded by theRevolutionary Communist Party. In 1988 the RDG sought fusion talks withRed Action. In the late 1990s it joinedArthur Scargill'sSocialist Labour Party, officially dissolving and becoming theRepublican Group. It left, however, regained the RDG name and soon afterwards joined the Socialist Alliance. The RDG had patchy relations with theCommunist Party of Great Britain (PCC) and occasionally had articles in that group's paper, theWeekly Worker. The RDG was also active within theUnited Socialist Party, a political initiative started by formerLiverpool dockers to build a new workers' party. The RDG briefly sold theAlliance for Workers' Liberty's newspaperSolidarity and occasionally produced one-off editions of its own paper,Republican Worker, targeted at particular events such as conferences or demonstrations.
With no website, publication or official activity, the RDG appears to be moribund. Its former leader Steve Freeman[1] has since been involved with theRepublican Communist Network,[2]Left Unity[3] and the Republican Socialist Alliance.[4] Freeman stood for Parliament inBermondsey and Old Southwark in 2010 as an Independent and in 2015 as the candidate of the Republican Socialist Party.[5][6]
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