The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was founded in 1893 after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse working-class candidates. Historically a notable presence, it was known for its pacifist stance during both world wars. After breaking with the Labour Party in 1932, the ILP’s influence diminished. However, former ILP member, Bertrand Russell was one of the founding members of the Committee of 100 and the Anti-Vietnam war movement.
In the 1960s, the revived ILP was organised into nine regional divisions, including London & South. These were run by divisional councils consisting of representatives from local ILP organisations, which included district councils, federations and most importantly, branches operating with a good deal of autonomy.
The party was infiltrated by the SDS undercover HN326 ‘Doug Edwards’ from 1969 to 1971. Edwards focused on the London district of the ILP, and in particular the Tower Hamlets branch in east London. He became the branch treasurer, which gave him access to bank and membership details. Edwards also took part in meetings at district level. In his time in the ILP, Edwards reported on the group’s activities which were all lawful in nature. He recalled:
The SDS did not have any real interest in the ILP: it was merely a vehicle for obtaining information. Through my membership of the ILP, I targeted Tri-Continental, the Dambusters Mobilising Committee (‘DMC’) and linked anti-apartheid groups which were causing a lot of problems at the time.
Notable members of the ILP included MP Fenner Brockway, and material released to the National Archives shows that the group had previously been the subject of state surveillance due to its pacifist stance. Therefore, although Edwards’ deployment started in 1969, the precedent for spying on the ILP had already long since been established and, when considering the deployment, Edwards’ senior officers would no doubt have been aware of this.
Earlier British Surveillance State interest in the ILP 1915-1950
One of the reasons for the split from the British Labour Party in 1932, was the anti-war stance adopted by the ILP prior to the first world war, and reinforced during and after it. This stance seems to have been the focus of interest from the British Surveillance State; for instance, a telephone tap was granted against the ILP in 1915, as it was suspected that its anti-war stance might have been due to ‘anti-British sentiment’.
In the period just before the second world war, MI5 thought there was a danger that the party would ‘fall under the leadership of the Trotskyists who are with some success penetrating its ranks'.
Another earlier file records CPGB efforts to persuade the ILP to join the Second International to fight fascism. With the growing industrial unrest, MI5 re-commenced to take a serious interest in the party in 1944, concerned at systematic penetration by Trotskyists whose control of the ILP might constitute a subversive threat.
Fenner Brockway, a pacifist and ILP member, who spent three years in prison during the first world war as a conscientious objector. By 1921, MI5 had an extensive, three-volume file on him.
Brockway was involved in organising fellow ILP member George Orwell and others to fight in the Spanish civil war. Orwell had lengthy MI5 and Special Branch files open on him as well. These included recording Orwell’s membership of the ILP and his participation in the Spanish civil war.
In the 1950s Brockway’s anti-colonial stance and his criticism of the government response to the Mau-Mau uprising were noted by local police in east Africa as well as the Colonial Office at home. Brockway was also a member of the Movement for Colonial Freedom (later Liberation) as well as a founder-member of CND.
In 1982, when Brockway was in his 90s, MI5 thought him an unwitting agent of the Soviet Union.
Sources
Barry Winter: Independent Labour Party - Past & Present, 1993.
National Archives: Records of the Security Service.
Christopher Andrew: Defence of the Realm : An Official History of MI5.
McIlroy J and Campbell A: The Last Chance Saloon? The Independent Labour Party and Miners’ Militancy in the Second World War Revisited, Journal of Contemporary History, 46 (2011).