Social Democratic Federation

This article is about the British political party. For other uses, see Social Democratic Federation (United States) and Socialist Democratic Federation (Japan).

Social Democratic Federation
LeaderHenry Hyndman
Founded1881 (1881)
Dissolved1911 (1911)
Preceded byManhood Suffrage League
Succeeded byBritish Socialist Party
Socialist Party of Great Britain
HeadquartersLondon
NewspaperJustice
IdeologySocialism
SDF founder Henry Hyndman

The Social Democratic Federation (SDF) was established as Britain's first organised socialist political party by H. M. Hyndman, and had its first meeting on 7 June 1881. Those joining the SDF included William Morris, George Lansbury, James Connolly and Eleanor Marx. However, Friedrich Engels, Karl Marx's long-term collaborator, refused to support Hyndman's venture. Many of its early leading members had previously been active in the Manhood Suffrage League.[1]

The SDF battled through defections of its right and left wings to other organisations in the first decade of the twentieth century before uniting with other radical groups in the Marxist British Socialist Party from 1911 until 1920.

  1. ^ Martin Crick, The History of the Social-Democratic Federation, pp. 20–21.