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 | (1942-04-07)7 April 1942 Birkenhead, Cheshire, England |
| Died | (aged 83) |
| Political party | Socialist Party |
| Other political affiliations | Labour (until 1983), Revolutionary Socialist League (1960—1964), Committee for a Workers' International |
Peter Taaffe (7 April 1942 — 23 April 2025) was a BritishMarxistTrotskyist political activist and a longtime leader of theSocialist Party and its predecessor, theMilitant tendency.[1]
Taaffe was the founding editor of theTrotskyistMilitant newspaper in 1964,[2][3] and became known as a leading member of theentryistMilitant group. Taaffe was expelled from the Labour Party in 1983, along with four other members ofMilitant's editorial board.[4][5][6]
Taaffe was influential in the policy decisions ofLiverpool City Council of 1983–1987, according to the council's deputy leaderDerek Hatton,[7] and in the formation of the Militant tendency's policy regarding thePoll Tax in 1988–1991.[8]
Taaffe was born inBirkenhead, Cheshire on 7 April 1942. His father, a sheet metal worker, died when he was young.[9] Taaffe and his five siblings grew up in poverty. As a child, the ceiling of Taaffe's house collapsed on him whilst he was asleep, leaving him with a permanent scar on his nose.[10]
One of his early jobs after leaving school was in theLiverpool City Council treasury department.[10]
He was recruited to what would become the Militant tendency in 1960 byTed Grant.[6]
Between 1979 and 1982, the group's membership had doubled in size.[11] In 1982,Militant gained control of Liverpool City Council. Derek Hatton, the deputy leader of the council, described Taaffe as a "legendary" figure and a major influence on the council's policy decisions.[12]
Under pressure from centrists within the party,[13] the left-wing Labour leaderMichael Foot conducted an internal inquiry into Militant's activities. The Hayward-Hughes inquiry of 1982 found Militant guilty of breaking the Labour Party constitution. Within a year, Taaffe and the rest of Militant's editorial board were expelled from the Labour Party.[14] Following Foot's landslide defeat toMargaret Thatcher in the1983 election, he was succeeded as Labour leader byNeil Kinnock, who initiated a purge of Taaffe's followers from the Labour Party in an attempt to bring the party closer to the political centre.[15] Throughout the 1980s, scores of Militant activists, including Hatton, were expelled from Labour constituencies across the country.[16]
In 1991, there was a debate within Militant as to whether to continue working within the Labour Party, centred around whether they could still effectively operate in the party following the expulsions. The group became Militant Labour in 1991, after leaving the Labour Party. In 1997, Militant Labour changed its name to the Socialist Party.[17]
In 2015,Jeremy Corbyn was elected Leader of the Labour Party. While Taaffe was supportive of Corbyn himself,[1] he was critical ofMomentum, a pro-Corbyn grassroots organisation, forrefusing to endorse the demand for compulsoryreselection of Labour MPs as a means of shifting the party to the left. Taaffe asked, "What is the point of Jeremy Corbyn without the right to remove the Blairites, who are an enormous drag on the progress of the Labour Party?"[1]
In 2016, Taaffe and several other members of the Socialist Party attempted to re-join the Labour Party.[1][18]
At the Socialist Party National Congress in 2020, Taaffe stood down as General Secretary.[19]
In 1966, Taaffe married Linda Driscoll. She worked as a primary school teacher, and was heavily involved in a Trotskyist faction of theNational Union of Teachers.[20] They had two daughters; Nancy Taaffe stood as aTUSC candidate in local elections.[10][21] In his youth, Taaffe was a keen footballer, and he was a life-long supporter ofEverton Football Club.[10]
Taaffe died on 23 April 2025, at the age of 83.[22]
| Media offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by New position | Editor ofMilitant 1964–1994 | Succeeded by Nick Wrack |
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
