The Independent Labour Party, disaffiliation, revolution and standing orders

The disaffiliation of the Independent Labour Party (ILP) from the Labour Pa rty in 1932 has been characterized in ways that make the decision almost in explicable. The dominant view can be challenged by reconstructing the diffe ring reasons for that decision. By stressing the importance of the increasi ngly troubled relationship between the ILP and the larger organization, and especially the role of the dispute over the standing orders of the parliam entary Labour Party, one strand of ILP thinking is revealed. By showing the tensions between this and other arguments for political separation, which stressed need for a new and revolutionary political strategy, a nuanced exp lanation is provided for the disaffiliation decision.