Socialist Party

*"We want to achieve a new and better order of society. Not a handful of the rich, but all the working people must enjoy the fruits of their common labour. This new and better society is called a socialist society."*  - **Vladimir Lenin**

The **Socialist** **Party** formed towards the end of the Third Parliament in order to promote socialist ideals within the Model House of Commons. They are historically the most successful party outside of the "Big Three" (Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat), and have averaged approximately 6 seats an election since their foundation, never passing below 3 seats and with a peak of 11 in the Eighth Parliament.

Immediately after forming, they were strongly successful by third party standards. Having been created just as the original Green Party and Respect Party had disbanded, they picked up this now uncontested niche of the political market, and then took some support from Labour.

There was a great change in fortune following the shift by Labour towards the centre in the Eighth Parliament. The result was that instead of Labour and the Socialists dividing the left-wing vote and the Liberal Democrats having the unchallenged pick of the centre-left vote, Labour and the Liberal Democrats divided the centre-left vote and the Socialists took the left-wing vote essentially unchallenged. The Socialists picked up 11 seats, an all-time high for their party, and formed Her Majesty's Most Loyal Opposition - for the first time - against a minority Conservative government. This title was somewhat ironic given the Socialist policy of disestablishment of the monarchy (British Republicanism). In March 2009, Alasdair set up the party's own newspaper titled 'The Socialist'. Two more issues have been released since.

For the Ninth Parliament's General Election, Labour moved leftwards to reclaim their lost vote. Whilst the Socialists defeated Labour by a narrow margin, it was the Liberal Democrats who became the largest centre-left party. In the same Parliament, the Conservatives picked up 19 seats having benefited from from the popularity of the real-life Conservative Party and the fact that the right was divided to a far lesser extent than the left. Seeking to oppose this, the Liberal Democrats proposed a LibDem-Socialist-Labour coalition. This triggered the constitutional crisis that left the Ninth Parliament without government, as the Conservatives disputed the legitimacy of a three-party coalition offer.

Following the Ninth Parliament, the Socialist Party began to lose seats and saw defections to the Labour Party. By the Twelfth Parliament, the Socialists had recorded a fall to 4 seats. The Socialists began to recover, however, recording a gradual increase in seats through Parliaments Thirteen to Fifteen, and after Faland began to caucus with them in the Fifteenth Parliament they reached 8 seats, their second-highest.

This ascendancy was briefly halted when, in the Sixteenth Parliament, the Green Party re-formed, further dividing the furthest left end of the electorate. When the Socialists extended a coalition offer to the Labour Party at the start of the Sixteenth Parliament, the Labour Party, having moved leftwards in the previous term, accepted, and together they formed a Labour-Addzter-Socialist coalition. The Socialist Party followed this up with a one seat increase to six in the Seventeenth Parliament and formed the first ever coalition of opposition with the Green Party. However in the early election for the Eighteenth Parliament the Socialists performed less well, raking in only four seats and 7.71% vote share.

In the Nineteenth Parliament, the Socialists became members of a three-party coalition between themselves, Labour and Greens.

Fast forwarding to the Twenty-First and Twenty-Second Parliaments, the Socialists suffered their biggest defeats to date, winning only 3 seats, after a term of producing no legislation at all; this continued in the Twenty-Second Parliament with them winning only two seats.

However, these defeats woke up the party, and following a large influx of members around the time of the General Election, new recruits TheDefiniteArticle and GaelicBolshevik formed the representation in the MHoC and finished the parliamentary term with one of the most productive Parliaments in terms of legislation, and holding senior roles in the MHoC: the MP DMcGovern becoming both Commissar for External Affairs and Chair of the somewhat controversial Crisis Committee. TheDefiniteArticle became Deputy Commissar shortly afterwards and new recruit Mactotaur became Commissar for Internal Affairs.

In the 23rd General Election, the Socialist Party bounced back by winning five seats in the MHoC, which in part led to the Labour Party's defeat by a single vote by the Conservatives, who formed the Conservative-Liberal coalition government. TheDefiniteArticle defected to Labour after senior Labour members cBay and cranbrook\_aspie joined the Socialist Party, with the latter becoming CI and former becoming DC.

In the 24th General Election, the Socialist Party lost a seat but due to the Green Party forgetting to submit their manifesto and so not being able to stand, Labour won 17 seats and formed the Labour-Socialist government. The Socialist Party then voted for a new logo co-made by DMcGovern and cranbrook\_aspie. cBay then resigned as DC and MP for the Socialist Party, leaving Mactotaur to take his place as DC and frankielogue elected to fill the MP seat.

Talk about unique leadership structure here.

## Commissar for External Affairs (CE)

The position of First Commissar (Commissar of Recruitment and External Affairs) was established in August 2008. In June 2014, the title was changed to Commissar for External Affairs in order to eliminate the hierarchical difference between it and the Second Commissar role. As the name suggests, the Commissar for External Affairs was responsible for ensuring the party was well represented in the House through overseeing legislation and establishing good links with other parties.

There were 12 CEs in total with Herbal Bug being the first one and GaelicBolshevik being the last one. No CE served as Prime Minister.

CEs who also served as CIs during their membership are marked with an asterisk.

## Commissar for Internal Affairs (CI)

The position of Second Commissar (Commissar of Legislative Affairs) was established in August 2008. In June 2014, the title of Second Commissar was replaced with Commissar for Internal Affairs, as mentioned, to make it equal to the First Commissar position.The Commissar for Internal Affairs was responsible for running internal elections, reminding MPs to vote and more commonly, sending party updates.

There were 15 CIs in total with Grape190190 being the first one and Aph being the last one. No CI served as Prime Minister.

CIs who also served as CEs during their membership are marked with an asterisk.

## Deputy Commissar (DC)

In June 2014, the title of Deputy First Commissar was replaced with Deputy Commissar, with the role now backing up the CE and CI.

There were 13 DCs in total with paperclip being the first one and Stiff Little Fingers being the last one.

DCs who also served as Senior Commissars (CE or CI) during their membership are marked with an asterisk.

## Third Commissar (C3)

The position of Third Commissar (Commissar for Party Discipline) was created in August 2008. However, it was abolished in September 2013.

There were 7 Third Commissars with ukebert being the first one and nixonsjellybeans being the last one.

Third Commissars who also served as Senior Commissars are marked with an asterisk.