Campaign for Socialism (CfS) is an autonomous

political organisation A political organization is any organization that involves itself in the political process, including political parties, non-governmental organizations, and special interest advocacy groups. Political organizations are those engaged in politic ...

Scottish Labour Party Scottish Labour (), is the part of the UK Labour Party active in Scotland. Ideologically social democratic and unionist, it holds 23 of 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament and 37 of 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons. It is repres ...

members and supporters who campaign for left-wing policies and candidates within the party. In 2016, CfS agreed to a joint membership scheme with

Momentum In Newtonian mechanics, momentum (: momenta or momentums; more specifically linear momentum or translational momentum) is the product of the mass and velocity of an object. It is a vector quantity, possessing a magnitude and a direction. ...

, a UK-wide grassroots movement supportive of

Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who has been Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Islington North (UK Parliament constituency), Islington North since 1983. Now an Independent ...

and his leadership of the Labour Party.

History

CfS was originally established in 1994 to campaign against the removal of

Clause IV Clause IV is part of the Labour Party Rule Book which sets out the aims and values of the British Labour Party. The original clause, adopted in 1918, called for common ownership of industry, and proved controversial in later years; Hugh Gaitskel ...

from the Labour Party's constitution. By 2012, it was one of the only remaining ideological-based groupings in the party but

Gerry Hassan Gerry Hassan (born 1964) is a Scottish writer, commentator and academic. He currently holds an Honorary Professor title at Glasgow Caledonian University for Social Change, having previously worked at the University of Dundee and the University o ...

and Eric Shaw, writing that year, claimed that CfS "has few members, little organisational presence and has had a negligible influence on the direction of the party". CfS played a key role in organising Neil Findlay and Katy Clark's leadership bid in the 2014 Scottish Labour leadership election. Though unsuccessful, CfS claims the campaign "built the foundations for Jeremy orbyns campaign just a few months later" by "giving many new, young volunteers experience and a network of contacts across the country that would help quickly mobilise an effective campaign". In 2016, Scottish Labour Young Socialists founded in 2015 became CfS's official youth wing. In 2017, five CfS members won seats on the Scottish Labour Party's national executive. They called for the then Scottish Labour leader,

Kezia Dugdale Kezia Alexandra Ross Dugdale (born 28 August 1981) is a Scottish former politician who served as Leader of the Scottish Labour Party from 2015 to 2017. A former member of the Scottish Labour Party and Co-operative Party, she was a Member of th ...

, to pursue a socialist agenda and work more closely with Jeremy Corbyn's team. CfS endorsed Richard Leonard to be the next leader of Scottish Labour following the resignation of Kezia Dugdale in August 2017. Leonard went on to win the leadership with 56.7% of the vote. In the

2021 Scottish Labour leadership election The 2021 Scottish Labour leadership election was triggered on 14 January 2021 by the resignation of Richard Leonard as leader of the Scottish Labour, Scottish Labour Party, who had led the party 2017 Scottish Labour leadership election, since ...

the CfS endorsed Monica Lennon to be the next leader of Scottish Labour following Richard Leonard's resignation in January 2021. She lost the election to

Anas Sarwar Anas Sarwar (born 14 March 1983) is a Scottish Labour and Co-operative Party, Co-operative politician who has served as Leader of the Scottish Labour Party since 2021 Scottish Labour leadership election, 2021. He has been a Member of the Scottis ...

, gaining 42.4% of the vote to his 57.6%. Notable members of CfS include: former Convenors Elaine Smith MSP and Neil Findlay MSP, former MPs Danielle Rowley and Hugh Gaffney (2017–2019), and Baroness Pauline Bryan.

Endorsed politicians

Members of the Scottish Parliament

* Katy Clark MSP * Carol Mochan MSP *

Paul Sweeney Paul John Sweeney FIES ; born 16 January 1989) is a Scottish politician. A member of the Scottish Labour and Co-operative Party, he currently serves as Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Glasgow region in the 6th Scottish Parliame ...

MSP * Mercedes Villalba MSP

Members of the United Kingdom Parliament

* Brian Leishman MP

References

External links

* {{Scottish Labour Party 1994 establishments in Scotland Democratic socialism Social democracy Organisations associated with the Labour Party (UK) Political party factions in Scotland Scottish Labour Socialist organisations in the United Kingdom