Militant and the Trotskyist MPs in 1980s Britain: Entryism and Parliamentary Agitation

This paper explores the activities of Trotskyist MPs associated with the Militant Tendency, who operated within the Labour Party and gained parliamentary seats during the 1980s. Militant’s origins trace back to the Revolutionary Socialist League, which engaged in entryism within Labour, aiming to recruit members and spread Trotskyist ideas. By the 1980s, Militant managed to get three of its members elected as MPs: Dave Nellist, Terry Fields, and Pat Wall. In Parliament, they often disrupted sessions to expose the limitations of traditional politics and promoted revolutionary ideas, all while leveraging their status to agitate outside of Parliament, particularly against Thatcher’s poll tax. Militant’s activities triggered Labour’s crackdown on Trotskyist infiltration, leading to the expulsion of its MPs. The paper highlights the tension between radical ideologies and mainstream politics, showing how Militant MPs used parliamentary platforms to subvert traditional systems.