The Communist Unity Group (CUG) was a small communist organisation in the United Kingdom. Communism - Wikipedia /**/ @import /w/skins-1. ...

The origins of the group lay in the Socialist Labour Party (SLP). The SLP was a De Leonist group, but in support of the October Revolution, it decided to participate in unity negotiations with the other British communist groups - principally the British Socialist Party (BSP) and the Workers Socialist Federation (WSF). To this end, it formed a Unity Committee in January 1919. This committee included many prominent members of the SLP: Tom Bell, Arthur McManus, J. T. Murphy and William Paul, all of them proponents of a unity communist party. The Socialist Labour Party was a socialist political party in the United Kingdom. ... Developed by Daniel De Leon, Marxism-Deleonism is a form of Marxism. ... The October Revolution, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was the second phase of the Russian Revolution of 1917, the first having been instigated by the events around the February Revolution. ... The British Socialist Party was a socialist party founded in Britain in 1911. ... The Workers Socialist Federation was a socialist political party in the United Kingdom, led by Sylvia Pankhurst. ... 1919 (MCMXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... In modern usage, a communist party is a political party which promotes communism, the sociopolitical philosophy based on Marxism. ...

The main difficulty in the negotiations was the BSP - the largest group - were affiliated to the Labour Party and wished any new communist party to be so, or at least that former BSP members could maintain their individual affiliations, a position vehemently opposed by the SLP and WSF. As discussions broke down, the Unity Committee proposed that the issue could be avoided by holding a vote on Labour Party affiliation one year after the formation of a communist party, reasoning that once the party was formed, BSP members would conclude they did not need to remain part of Labour. Not only was this proposal unsuccessful, but the SLP executive publically repudiated, dissolved the Unity Committee, and decided against further unity negotiations. The Labour Party has since its formation in the early 20th century been the principal left wing political party of the United Kingdom (see British politics). ...

The main figures of the Unity Committee - with the exception of Murphy - continued to attend the unity negotiations unofficially, and in April 1920 they organised a seperate conference alongside the SLP conference. This event was not well attended, but the Committee had now moved in opposition to the SLP and directed the conference to constitute itself as the Communist Unity Group. The CUG adopted a policy of negotiated unity with parliamentary agitation but opposition to the Labour Party. A small number of SLP branches joined the CUG, but the group drew fewer members than they had hoped. However, around two thirds of its members were from the SLP. 1920 (MCMXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar) // Events January January 7 - Forces of Russian White admiral Kolchak surrender in Krasnoyarsk. ...

The group attended the unity convention which formed the Communist Party of Great Britain on 1 August 1920. Although the convention approved Labour Party affiliation by 100 votes to 85, the CUG joined the CPGB, initially becoming its second largest component. The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist party in the United Kingdom. ... August 1 is the 213th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (214th in leap years), with 152 days remaining. ...

References

• The British Communist Left 1914-45, Mark Hayes (International Communist Current)