Tony Cliff

Tony Cliff was a prominent Jewish-British socialist activist, born in 1917 to a Jewish family in Ottoman Palestine. He later relocated to the United Kingdom in 1947, marking the beginning of his influential career in British socialist politics. Cliff's early life and experiences ultimately shaped his adherence to Trotskyist ideology, which would become a defining aspect of his activism.

As a key figure in British socialism, Cliff co-founded the Socialist Review Group, which underwent transformations to become the International Socialists and eventually the Socialist Workers Party in 1977. Throughout these organizational changes, Cliff emerged as the effective leader, guiding the groups with his vision and principles. Under the pen name Tony Cliff, which he had adopted by the end of the 1950s, he made significant contributions to socialist literature and theory, leaving a lasting impact on the movement until his passing in 2000.