Peter Taaffe

Peter Taaffe (7 April 1942 — 23 April 2025) was a British Marxist Trotskyist political activist and a longtime leader of the Socialist Party and its predecessor, the Militant tendency.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite news</ref>

Taaffe was the founding editor of the Trotskyist Militant newspaper in 1964,<ref>Jimmy Deane's archive minutes.</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and became known as a leading member of the entryist Militant group. Taaffe was expelled from the Labour Party in 1983, along with four other members of Militant's editorial board.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Grant"/>

Taaffe was influential in the policy decisions of Liverpool City Council of 1983–1987, according to the council's deputy leader Derek Hatton,<ref>Derek Hatton Inside left, p. 32</ref> and in the formation of the Militant tendency's policy regarding the Poll Tax in 1988–1991.<ref name="Tommy Sheridan p. 45">Tommy Sheridan A Time to Rage, p. 45</ref>

Early life

Taaffe was born in Birkenhead, Cheshire on 7 April 1942. His father, a sheet metal worker, died when he was young.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> 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.<ref name="telegraph-20250424">Template:Cite news</ref>

One of his early jobs after leaving school was in the Liverpool City Council treasury department.<ref name="telegraph-20250424" />

He was recruited to what would become the Militant tendency in 1960 by Ted Grant.<ref name="Grant">Template:Cite news</ref>

General Secretary of Militant

Between 1979 and 1982, the group's membership had doubled in size.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> 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.<ref name=":3">Template:Cite book</ref>

Under pressure from centrists within the party,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> the left-wing Labour leader Michael 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.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Following Foot's landslide defeat to Margaret Thatcher in the 1983 election, he was succeeded as Labour leader by Neil 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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Throughout the 1980s, scores of Militant activists, including Hatton, were expelled from Labour constituencies across the country.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

General Secretary of Socialist Party (England and Wales)

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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2015, Jeremy Corbyn was elected Leader of the Labour Party. While Taaffe was supportive of Corbyn himself,<ref name=":0" /> he was critical of Momentum, a pro-Corbyn grassroots organisation, for refusing to endorse the demand for compulsory reselection 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?"<ref name=":0" />

In 2016, Taaffe and several other members of the Socialist Party attempted to re-join the Labour Party.<ref name=":0" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

At the Socialist Party National Congress in 2020, Taaffe stood down as General Secretary.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Personal life and death

In 1966, Taaffe married Linda Driscoll. She worked as a primary school teacher, and was heavily involved in a Trotskyist faction of the National Union of Teachers.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> They had two daughters; Nancy Taaffe stood as a TUSC candidate in local elections.<ref name="telegraph-20250424" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In his youth, Taaffe was a keen footballer, and he was a life-long supporter of Everton Football Club.<ref name="telegraph-20250424" />

Taaffe died on 23 April 2025, at the age of 83.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

External links

• Socialist Party (England & Wales) website
• Committee for a Workers' International website
• Marxist resource from the Committee for a Workers' International
• History of British Trotskyism By Ted Grant
• Militant's Real History: In reply to Ted Grant and Rob Sewell by Peter Taaffe (this is a reply to Ted Grant's History of British Trotskyism and Rob Sewell's Postscript to it)