Flame was the newspaper of the Black section of the International Socialists (IS) and then of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) from 1975 to 1980.International Socialists (IS) / Socialist Workers Party (SWP)The International Socialists (IS)/Socialist Worker Party (SWP) is a Trotskyist political party. It started life in 1950 as the Socialist Review Group, changing its name to the International Socialists in 1962 and then to the Socialist Workers Party in 1977. The IS/SWP was of significant interest to the policing and security apparatus, spied on by at least 35 undercover officers. This profile is a stub that will updated.Full page: International Socialists (IS) / Socialist Workers Party (SWP)
The caucus and its publication propagated radical ideas from Black struggles in the US, radical anti-colonialism from Africa and the Caribbean and aimed to develop home grown Black radical politics from within the IS/SWP.
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From January 1977 to November 1981, the Flame caucus within the SWP was spied on by numerous SDS undercover officers, including HN80 ‘Colin Clark’ HN80 'Colin Clark''Colin Clark' was the assumed name of an officer who joined the SDS in September 1976. From March 1977, he infiltrated several north London branches and the national office of the Socialist Workers Party, helping to organise the 1981 Right to Work march. He also infiltrated the Anti-Nazi League before his deployment ended in March 1982. His real name has been restricted. , HN296 ‘Geoff Wallace’HN296 'Geoff Wallace'‘Geoff Wallace’ joined the SDS in mid-1975. He infiltrated the Hammersmith branch of the International Socialists from January 1976 until late 1978. He was elected to several officer roles, including Treasurer and was on the organising committee of the April 1978 Anti-Nazi League carnival., HN126 ‘Paul Gray’HN126 ‘Paul Gray’‘Paul Gray’ was the fake name of an undercover who infiltrated north-west London branches of the Socialist Workers Party and Anti-Nazi League and spied on pickets at the Grunwick dispute. He joined the SDS in December 1977 and was active undercover until at least April 1982. , HN354 Vincent Harvey (‘Vince Miller’)HN354 Vincent Harvey 'Vince Miller'Vincent James Harvey used the cover name ‘Vince Miller’ while infiltrating the Socialist Workers Party as an SDS undercover officer, from 1976 to 1979. He had four sexual relationships during his time undercover, including with Inquiry core participant ‘Madeleine’. He later became director of the UK Division at the National Criminal Intelligence Service from 1998 to 2003.Full page: HN354 Vincent Harvey 'Vince Miller'and HN155 ‘Phil Cooper’.HN155 'Phil Cooper''Phil Cooper' is the fake name of an SDS undercover who joined the unit in Autumn 1979. He was deployed into the Socialist Workers Party via the Waltham Forest Anti Nuclear Campaign and worked in the national SWP headquarters. Inquiry Chair Mitting found as a matter of fact that he had several casual sexual relationships while undercover. His real name has been restricted.
Most of these officers infiltrated IS/SWP branches across London, which brought them into organisational contact withFlame from 1975 onwards. Significantly, Wallace, became Flame organiser for the Hammersmith and Kensington SWP branch in January 1977.Report on fortnightly meeting of Hammersmith and Kensington SWP at which members were elected as Women's Organiser and HN296 as Flame Organiser, held at Westcott Lodge pub on 20 Jan 1977, 30 Jan 1977, Metropolitan Police Special Branch, UCPI0000017698.View Document
Flame, the newspaper, was founded in 1975 by three members of the International Socialists (IS) who had family links to Jamaica and India. Subtitled the ‘International Socialist Paper of Black Workers’, Flame aimed to propagate socialist and anti-colonial ideas and to recruit people into the IS/SWP caucus.
Although it focused on struggles in the Caribbean and had a solidly Pan-African outlook, theFlame group adhered to broader anti-imperialist politics concerning Asia. It supported Third World solidarity, including with the Palestinian liberation movement.
The Flame section also sought to intervene in domestic Black politics in Britain, developing its own political perspectives that linked Black workers’ struggles to wider issues of racism and police violence.
This was marked by Flame’s subtitle changing to the ‘Black Workers Paper for Self-Defence’. Its stated aims were to oppose all forms of racial discrimination and immigration laws and to support rank-and-file control of the trade unions and active self-defence against police brutality and the National Front.National Front (NF)The National Front (NF) was a far-right, openly racist organisation formed as an alliance of several small, far-right groups operating on the fringes of British politics in the 1960s, including the British National Party and the League of Empire Loyalists. The NF rose to prominence in the 1970s and 1980s, organising marches and standing candidates at local and national elections. Never a focus for SDS monitoring, the NF concerned many anti-fascist groups that the SDS infiltrated and reported on. HN303 ‘Peter Collins’ was asked to infiltrate the NF – not by the Metropolitan Police but by the Workers Revolutionary Party, the group the SDS had sent Collins to monitor. Full page: National Front (NF)
Flame, newspaper and section, experienced the same fate as the SWP women’s section and magazine, Women’s Voice.Women’s VoiceWomen’s Voice was a Socialist Workers Party newspaper focused on women, not to be confused with an earlier Women’s Voice connected to the Maoist Women’s Revolutionary Union. Lindsey German, an Inquiry core participant, was involved in co-ordinating the SWP Women’s Voice. Full page: Women’s Voice In 1979, the SWP leadership rejected the previous congress’ vote of support for Flame and the newspaper closed the following year.
Report on fortnightly meeting of Hammersmith and Kensington SWP at which members were elected as Women's Organiser and HN296 as Flame Organiser, held at Westcott Lodge pub on 20 Jan 1977
Report on aggregate meeting of Waltham Forest District SWP discussing the recent SWP National Conference, held at the Chequers pub, High Street E17 on 12 July 1978
MI5 note for liaison file reporting meeting DI McIntosh of the SDS and the introduction of his successor, Trevor Butler, discussing training, cover identities and future coverage, held at Curzon St House on 2 Oct 1979
