Big Flame (political group)
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Big Flame were a soft Maoist political party in the United Kingdom. They were founded in Liverpool in 1970 and at first grew rapidly in the prevailing climate on the left, developing branches in a number of cities. They are described as soft Maoist in order to distinguish them from the hard-line Maoist groups which adopted a Stalinist stance. In contrast to this Big Flame was quite libertarian.
They published a magazine, also entitled Big Flame, and a journal, Revolutionary Socialism. They also devoted a great deal of time to self-analysis and considering their relationship with the larger Trotskyist groups. In time, they came to describe their politics as "libertarian Marxist". This led them in 1978 to join the Socialist Unity electoral coalition, led by the Trotskyist International Marxist Group.
In 1980, the former anarchists of the Libertarian Communist Group joined Big Flame, but as more members of the group defected to the Labour Party, the group was wound up in about 1983.