Socialist League Vpered


Socialist League Vpered was a radical left-wing political organisation in Russia. It was the Russian section of the reunified Fourth International.

History and activity

It was founded in 2005 as the split from Socialist Resistance, a Russian group then affiliated with the Committee for a Workers' International. In February 2008, it obtained permanent observer status in the Fourth International. In February 2010 it became the Russian section of the Fourth International.
VPERED had groups in a few of the country's cities: Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Saint Petersburg, Samara, Saratov, Tyumen, Yaroslavl and others. VPERED was actively involved in campaigns against governmental reform of education. The organisation was active inside some "alternative" trade unions, including the All-Russian Confederation of Labour and Defence of Labour.
VPERED published a paper under the same name. It participated in publishing trade-union magazine Svobodny Profsoyuz along with the All-Russian Confederation of Labour and left magazine Levaya Politika along with Boris Kagarlitsky and his Institute of Globalization and Social Movements.

Merger into the RSM

In 2011, Socialist League Vpered fused with two Russian left organizations, Socialist Resistance and the Revolutionary Workers' Party. The new organization is named the Russian Socialist Movement. Within RSM was formed a Group of members of the Fourth International, which has become the new Russian section of the Fourth International.