The party were formed by Ahmad Boestamam on 20 July 1968, 8 hours before he left Malaysia for London to pursue legal studies for two and a half years.[2]
They were formed due to disputes between Ahmad Boestamam, the first president of Partai Rakyat, and his successor, Kassim Ahmad, regarding the Marhaenism ideology that was left by the party leadership.[3][4][5]
They were led by the triumvirate of Ishak Surin, Shariff Babol (former founder of Partai Rakyat) and Sheikh Hassan Jaafar.
^http://links.org.au/node/732 Socialist Party of Malaysia: Building socialism while capitalism crumbles, Links – International Journal of Socialist Renewal, "Left sails through the turbulent times", By SANTHA OORJITHAM, 2008/10/26, NST