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Political Party/527

Workers Revolutionary Party (WRP)

Type:

Left-of-Center Political Party
Location:

London, England
Formation:

1947
Leader:

Frank Sweeney

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The Workers Revolutionary Party (WRP) is a radical-left political party in the United Kingdom that is a proponent of Trotskyism, a branch of Marxist ideology. The Workers Revolutionary Party has been registered with the U.K. electoral commission since May 2001, and ran five candidates in the 2024 general election in the United Kingdom. WRP candidates received a total of 1,190 votes in that election, well below one percent of total votes cast. 1 2 3

While its current U.K. electoral registration dates to 2001, the WRP predates its present registration. WRP’s founder and former leader Gerry Healy was removed from his position in 1985, the same year in which the WRP first split. He was accused of sexual abuse of female party members, being physically violent towards members, and “slandering David North,” the secretary of the US Workers League at the time, as “a CIA agent.” 4

The WRP supported Muammar Gaddafi and his ideology of a “revolutionary” state in Libya during the 1970s. Gaddafi’s government’s ideology was anti-imperialist and anti-Western, which drew the support of the WRP. In return for its endorsement, the WRP received funding from the Gaddafi government, as well as resources and occasionally weapons. 5

Background

The Workers Revolutionary Party is a far-left political party in the United Kingdom that is a proponent of Trotskyism, a branch of Marxist ideology. The organization states on its website that it and its members are “Marxists” who “fight for the principles founded by Marx, Engels, Lenin and Trotsky.” The organization also states that it fights to “lead the struggle for the British and world socialist revolutions.” 1

The WRP has been registered with the U.K. electoral commission since May 2001, and Frank Sweeney is its registered leader. 2 The WRP ran in the 2024 general election in the United Kingdom. According to election results, WRP contested five constituencies and received 1,190 votes, well below one percent of the total votes in that election. The WRP also received a vote share of effectively zero percent in the 2010, 2015, 2017, and 2019 general elections. 3

History

Formation

The Workers Revolutionary Party was founded in 1947 as “The Club” by Gerry Healy, an Irish-born, radical-left political activist. The organization began after it grew out of a faction within the Revolutionary Communist Party. The faction, which was led by Healy, wanted to work within the Labour Party. 6

The organization changed its name to the Socialist Labour League in 1959 and had a large amount of influence over the Labour Party youth wing, the Young Socialists. The organization rebranded to the Workers Revolutionary Party in 1973, and by that time, it was an independent organization. 6

The WRP claims to be the British section of the International Committee of the Fourth International, formed in 1953 by national sections of the Fourth International, known as the World Party of Socialist Revolution, founded in 1938 by Leon Trotsky, an early Marxist-Leninist revolutionary expelled from the Soviet Union government following a power struggle with Josef Stalin. 7 8 9

These groups splintered further over the years, with the WRP now being a small, radical political party in the U.K. that publishes a daily “socialist paper,” The News Line. 10

Gerry Healy

The Workers Revolutionary Party’s founder and former leader Gerry Healy was removed from his position in 1985, the same year in which the WRP first split. 4

According to former WRP central committee member Simon Pirani, who published his account of the split in February 2013, the organization split due to the removal of Healy. Healy was accused of sexual abuse of female party members, being physically violent towards members, and “slandering David North,” the secretary of the US Workers League at the time, as “a CIA agent.” 4

According to Pirani, citing a letter from Healy’s secretary Aileen Jennings, there were 26 alleged victims of Healy. Pirani wrote in 1986 that “Healy had systematically taken advantage of his position of authority” within the organization, “to sexually abuse female comrades against their will.” Pirani also defined Healy’s actions as “serial rape, such as might be practiced on girls by their fathers or uncles.” 4

Pirani states that according to WRP policy, any charges brought against a member should be tabled, communicated to said member, and then heard by a party body. Pirani notes that the charges against Healy were tabled; however, Healy did not attend the meeting, and 11 people who supported him created another faction. Healy was expelled a week later after the charges were heard by the party body. 4

According to Pirani, during a members’ meeting where the charges had been tabled but not heard, another member, actor Corin Redgrave, opposed charging Healy, “on the grounds that it would damage the revolutionary leadership.” While discussing whether the charges were false, Redgrave, while referencing the achievements of the WRP in Healy’s defense, reportedly stated, “If this is the work of a rapist, let’s recruit more rapists.” 4

Pirani also notes that Healy got physically violent, referencing a time when Healy physically struck and expelled a “young militant” who had disagreed with the WRP’s attitude to the Irish Republican movement. Healy was said to have shouted at the member and “slapped him on the face and kicked him.” 4

Libyan Connection

The Workers Revolutionary Party supported Muammar Gaddafi and his ideology of a “revolutionary” state in Libya during the 1970s. 5

Gaddafi’s regime’s ideology was anti-imperialist and anti-Western. In return for its endorsement, the WRP received funding from the Gaddafi government, as well as resources and occasionally weapons. 5

Healy and the WRP praised Gaddafi and Libya during the 1970s and 1980s, while Gaddafi’s government funded WRP events and political projects. 5  11

A WRP report that was mostly kept secret but partially published, stated that in 1976, Corin Redgrave signed a deal with the Libyan government to provide “intelligence information on the ‘activities, names and positions held in finance, politics, business, the communications media and elsewhere’ by ‘Zionists’.” The report also stated that the deal had “strongly anti-Semitic undertones, as no distinction is made between Jews and Zionists.” 11

Anti-Israel Sentiment

The Workers Revolutionary Party’s online “socialist paper,” The News Line, published a New Year’s statement on December 31, 2024, entitled “2025 – Victory for Palestine and World Socialist Revolution,” written by its editorial board. 12 The statement claimed that the “capitalist system” was “bankrupt” and “in its imperialist death agony.” It also claimed that the world was in an “economic crisis” that “must be resolved through the victory of the world socialist revolution in 2025.” 12

The statement continued by sending “revolutionary greetings” to Palestinians, claiming that they have “faced an unprecedented genocidal war by the imperialist-backed Zionist regime,” adding that Israel had carried out a “campaign of indiscriminate bombings” while using “starvation as a weapon of war.” 12

The statement also claimed that “the Zionists have completely failed to crush the Hamas resistance,” referring to the foreign terrorist organization designated as such by the U.S. Department of State since October 8, 1997. 12  13

The WRP continued by calling Israel an “imperialist attack dog” in the Middle East and referred to Hezbollah (also known as Hizballah) as a “resistance movement” despite it being designated a foreign terrorist organization by the United States since October 8, 1997. 12  13

It also claimed that Israel has “imperialist masters,” which the WRP claimed aimed to “obliterate Palestinians, crush all resistance to imperialist domination and secure the oil rich region for capitalist domination.” 12

The WRP stated that its “urgent task” in 2025 was “building revolutionary parties of the International Committee of the Fourth International” in every country, to “lead the struggle for the world socialist revolution.” 12

References

  1. “About Us.” Workers Revolutionary Party. Accessed February 27, 2026. https://wrp.org.uk/about/. 
  2. “Workers Revolutionary party.” U.K. Electoral Commission. Accessed February 27, 2026. https://search.electoralcommission.org.uk/Registrations/PP184. 
  3. “Workers Revolutionary party – Election Results.” U.K. Parliament. Accessed February 27, 2026. https://electionresults.parliament.uk/political-parties/50. 
  4. “The break-up of the WRP: from the horse’s mouth – Simon Pirani.” Libcom.Org. Accessed February 27, 2026. https://libcom.org/article/break-wrp-horses-mouth-simon-pirani. 
  5. “The Bizarre History of the Workers Revolutionary Party (UK) and its Links to Libya.” Young Pioneer Tours. Accessed February 27, 2026. https://www.youngpioneertours.com/history-of-the-workers-revolutionary-party/. 
  6. “Workers Revolutionary Party.” Irish Left Archive. Accessed February 27, 2026. https://www.leftarchive.ie/organisation/266/. 
  7. “40 years since the suspension of the Workers Revolutionary Party from the ICFI.” World Socialist Web Site. December 17, 2025. Accessed February 27, 2026. https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2025/12/17/vweq-d17.html. 
  8. “International Committee of the Fourth International.” Irish Left Archive. Accessed February 27, 2026. https://www.leftarchive.ie/international/1627/. 
  9. “About the ICFI.” January 31, 2022. Accessed February 27, 2026. https://www.wsws.org/en/special/pages/icfi/about.html. 
  10. “The News Line.” Workers Revolutionary Party. February 27, 2026. Accessed February 27, 2026. https://wrp.org.uk/. 
  11. Curtis, Adam. “HE’S BEHIND YOU.” BBC Blogs. October 21, 2012. Accessed February 27, 2026. https://www.bbc.co.uk/webarchive/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.co.uk%2Fblogs%2Fadamcurtis%2Fentries%2Ff77519ae-1ab6-3755-8416-f18d1be078bc. 
  12. “2025 – Victory for Palestine and World Socialist Revolution.” Workers Revolutionary Party. December 31, 2024. Accessed February 27, 2026. https://wrp.org.uk/news/2025-victory-for-palestine-and-world-socialist-revolution/. 
  13. “Foreign Terrorist Organizations.” U.S. Department of State. Accessed February 27, 2026. https://www.state.gov/foreign-terrorist-organizations. 
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