Green Socialist Network

The Green Socialist Network (GSN) was a socialist environmentalist political grouping whose origins go back to the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB).

When the CPGB was wound up in 1991 a number of its members (and the assets of the party) transferred to a new organisation called the Democratic Left led by former CPGB General Secretary Nina Temple. However, the Democratic Left failed to live up to the expectations of a number of its comrades (particularly those who had spent many years in the CPGB and who still adhered to a Marxist political position) and a split occurred which led to many of these comrades - especially in the London area - leaving the Democratic Left and establishing the GSN.

The GSN was not merely a socialist grouping as its members accepted that the old Soviet style system of industrialised state socialism had failed in many respects. The GSN adopted a programme entitled "Towards Green Socialism" (1) which proposed linking socialism with environmental sustainability and which argued that these two developments were both essential for human survival and development and that each required the other.

In 2003 the GSN merged with the Leeds based Left Alliance (a grouping of primarily ex-Labour Party members in Yorkshire who had left, or been expelled from, New Labour) and some independent Green Leftists to form the Alliance for Green Socialism (AGS). The GSN programme "Towards Green Socialism" was adopted as the basis for the AGS's political programme and remains so.

The GSN membership was largely in London and the South East and former GSN members make up the majority of the AGS London membership. Two former GSN members became National Officers of the AGS and several others joined the AGS National Committee.

1. The GSN Programme "Towards Green Socialism" has been largely incorporated into AGS policy documents but is still available on request from the AGS, Freepost NEA 5794, Leeds LS7 3YY. E-mail requests to info@greensocialst.org.uk or via the website at