Peter Taaffe
Peter Taaffe (born April 1942) is a British Marxist Trotskyist political activist and journalist. He was the general secretary of the Socialist Party of England and Wales from its founding until 2020 and was a member of the International Executive Committee of the Committee for a Workers' International (CWI).
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 (age 81–82) Birkenhead, Cheshire, England |
| Political party | Socialist Party |
| Children | Nancy Taaffe |
Taaffe was the founding editor of the Trotskyist Militant newspaper in 1964, 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
Taaffe was influential in the policy decisions of Liverpool City Council of 1983–1987, according to the council's deputy leader Derek Hatton, in the formation of the Militant tendency's policy regarding the Poll Tax in 1988–1991, and the Militant tendency's "open turn" from the Labour Party in the late 1980s, becoming general secretary of Militant's eventual successor, the Socialist Party in 1997. He retired as general secretary after the party's February 2020 congress but remains on the party's executive committee as political secretary.