Red rectangular banner with white letters sewn on, white cross in the centre. On a wooden pole, with red and yellow tasselled rope.

The Church Socialist League was founded in 1906 following an address by the Labour MP Keir Hardie at Mirfield, with the initial aim of furthering the socialism of the Independent Labour Party and Social Democratic Federation within the Church. It absorbed many of the more radical members of the Guild of St. Matthew and the Christian Social Union. A gradual split eventually developed between those who wanted explicit affiliation with the parliamentary labour parties and those who saw their role as primarily theological. There was a branch at Plaistow 1911-1916.

From Newham Heritage & Archives collection