Social Democratic Federation
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Social Democratic Federation
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| Leader | Henry Hyndman |
| Founded | 1881 |
| Dissolved | 1911 |
| Succeeded by | British Socialist Party |
| Headquarters | London |
| Newspaper | Justice, The Social Democrat |
| Ideology | Socialism |
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.
The SDF battled through defections of its right and left wings to other organizations during the first decade of the 20th Century before uniting with other radical groups to establish the Marxist British Socialist Party from 1911 until 1920 (not to be confused with the current Socialist Party of Great Britain founded in 1904, and the Socialist Party (England and Wales) founded in 1997).
The British Marxist movement effectively began in 1880 when a businessman named Henry M. Hyndman read Karl Marx's magnum opus Capital in French translation while crossing to America. Upon his return to London, Hyndman sought out Marx, then an exile living not far from his home. Hyndman, who had run for parliament earlier that year, decided to start a new political organization which he called the Democratic Federation and in June called its foundation convention, consisting of an assortment of radical grouplets and individuals.
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