Socialist Party is the name of several different political parties around the world that are explicitly called Socialist. All of these parties claim to uphold socialism, though they might belong to different branches of the socialist movement and might therefore have different interpretations of what socialism means. Most of these parties advocate either social democracy, democratic socialism or even Third Way as their ideological position. Many socialist parties have explicit connections to the Labour movement and trade unions. See also Socialist International, list of democratic socialist parties and organizations and list of social democratic parties. A number of affiliates of the Trotskyist Committee for a Workers' International also use the name Socialist Party.

These are parties which no longer exist or have changed their name from socialist party

Peter Taaffe (born 1942) is a British political activist and journalist. He is the general secretary of the Socialist Party of England and Wales and member of the International Executive Committee of the Committee for a Workers International (CWI), which claims sections in over 35 countries around the world.

Taaffe was the founding editor of the Militant newspaper in 1964, and became known as a leader of the Militant tendency. Taaffe was expelled from the Labour Party in 1983, along with other members of Militant's editorial board, Ted Grant, Keith Dickinson, Lynn Walsh and Clare Doyle.

Taaffe was influential in the policy decisions of Liverpool City Council of 1983-87, according to the council's deputy leader Derek Hatton, in the formation of the Militant tendency's policy regarding the Poll Tax in 1988-1991, and the Militant tendency's 'open turn' from the Labour Party in the late 1980s, becoming general secretary of Militant's eventual successor, the Socialist Party in 1997.

Born in Birkenhead, Cheshire) (now part of Merseyside), Taaffe first joined the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, before joining the Labour Party where he was attracted to the radical element in the Liverpool Labour Party. In an interview for the BBC Radio 4 programme ‘The Party’s Over’, Taaffe gave a few biographical details:

Peter Gary Tatchell (born 25 January 1952) is an Australian-born British political campaigner best known for his work with LGBT social movements. He attracted international attention when he attempted a citizen's arrest of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe in 1999 and again in 2001.

Tatchell was selected as Labour Party Parliamentary candidate for Bermondsey in 1981, and was then denounced by party leader Michael Foot for supporting extra-parliamentary action against the Thatcher government. The Labour Party subsequently allowed his selection when he ran in the Bermondsey by-election in February 1983. In the 1990s, he became a prominent LGBT campaigner through the direct action group OutRage!, which he co-founded. He has worked on a wide variety of issues, such as Stop Murder Music, which campaigns against music lyrics that incite violence against LGBT people, and is a frequent contributor on human rights and social justice issues in print and through broadcast media, authoring many articles and six books. In 2006, New Statesman readers voted him sixth on their list of "Heroes of our time".^{[dead link]}

Jim Sillars (Gaelic: Seumas Mac an Airgid; born 4 October 1937) is a Scottish politician. He is married to current member of the Scottish Parliament, Margo MacDonald.

Sillars was born in Ayrshire, Scotland. His early working life involved him following his father into working on the railways, then joining the Royal Navy, before becoming a fireman. It was as a fireman that he became more active politically, through the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) and later with the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC).

Sillars was elected at a by-election in 1970 as Member of Parliament (MP) for South Ayrshire constituency, representing the Labour Party. He became well known as an articulate, intellectual left-winger, strongly in favour of the establishment of a devolved Scottish Assembly.

In 1976 he led a breakaway Scottish Labour Party (SLP). The formation of the SLP was inspired primarily by the failure of the then Labour Government to secure a Scottish Assembly. Sillars threw himself into establishing the SLP as a political force, but ultimately it would collapse following the 1979 General Election. At that election the SLP had nominated a mere three candidates (including Sillars who was attempting to hold on to his South Ayrshire seat). However only Sillars came remotely close to winning and it was this failure to secure a meaningful share of the vote that prompted the decision to disband.

Colin Fox (born 17 June 1959, Motherwell) is the national spokesperson of the Scottish Socialist Party, and a former member for Lothian in the Scottish Parliament. He lives in the Inch, Edinburgh, with his partner Zillah and their two children.

Fox studied mathematics at Strathclyde University for a year before switching to Bell’s College, Hamilton, where he trained to be an accountant.

Fox describes Tony Benn as "one of my heroes", and says that it was after attending a talk given by Benn at Glasgow University that he was inspired to get involved in politics.

He was a leading activist in the struggle against the poll tax in Edinburgh as a member of Labour Party Young Socialists, and became Lothian regional organiser of the SSP. He was selected as its no. 1 candidate in Lothian region for the Scottish Parliament election of 2003, and was elected. He lost his seat in the 2007 election.

On 28 November 2004 he announced his candidature for Convenor of the Scottish Socialist Party after the resignation of Tommy Sheridan. At the SSP conference on 13 February 2005 Fox was elected with 252 votes against 154 for Alan McCombes. He was re-elected unopposed at the February 2006, October 2006 and October 2007 conferences. In the March 2008 conference the position of convenor was abolished and replaced by two national spokespersons, a man and a woman. Fox is currently the sole spokesperson after Frances Curran stood down at the April 2011 conference.