Wolfie Smith
Power to the people!
The earnest, hapless socialist dreamer.
Reformist SocialistOne of 729 ideologies · enter the Socialist hall →- Role
- Would-be revolutionary (fiction)
- From
- Citizen Smith
- Region
- United Kingdom
- Social band
- Reformist
- Placement
- −72 · +24 · +55
§ Where Wolfie Smith stands
3 axesWolfie dreams of common ownership and the workers' triumph, and the Tooting Popular Front exists to bring down capitalism, starting with Tooting. John Sullivan's joke across Citizen Smith (1977–1980) is that the revolutionary who denounces the bosses is himself chronically work-shy, but his stated programme is unmistakably socialist.
Wolfie talks like an insurrectionist, promising that the people will seize power and settle scores with the bourgeoisie, which gives him a mild authoritarian streak. In practice the Tooting Popular Front never gets beyond talk and comic fiascos, so his politics in Citizen Smith (1977–1980) amount to noisy agitation inside an ordinary democracy rather than a real bid for power.
Wolfie belongs to the 1970s counterculture: he models himself on Che Guevara, scorns the suburban respectability of Shirley's parents and casts himself as the liberator of the oppressed. Sullivan's satire, first broadcast in 1977, gently undercuts that progressive self-image with Wolfie's vanity and laziness, without ever mocking the ideals themselves.
How close are you to Wolfie Smith?
Three statements, one per axis. Answer them and we’ll drop you on the compass next to them.
§ The story
FictionWolfie Smith is the hero of Citizen Smith, the BBC television sitcom written by John Sullivan and broadcast from 1977 to 1980, with Robert Lindsay in the role. A work-shy young Marxist from Tooting in south London, Wolfie styles himself an urban guerrilla and leads the Tooting Popular Front, a revolutionary movement made up of a handful of friends, while dodging work and courting his long-suffering girlfriend Shirley, whose father despises him.
Citizen Smith is an affectionate satire of the tiny far-left groups of 1970s Britain, with their grand names, endless meetings and certainty that revolution is just around the corner. Wolfie's beret, raised fist and cry of 'Power to the people!' made him a lasting comic shorthand for the earnest bedsit radical. The series launched Sullivan, who went on to write Only Fools and Horses, and Wolfie's name is still used to tease earnest left-wing activists.
Notable for
- 01'Power to the People!'
- 02The Tooting Popular Front
- 03Comic socialist everyman
Key works & moments
- 1977John Sullivan's pilot airs on BBC One, introducing Wolfie and the Tooting Popular Front.
- Opening titlesWolfie emerges from Tooting Broadway station, raises his fist and shouts 'Power to the people!'
- 1977–80Four series follow Wolfie's doomed schemes to spark the revolution in south London.
- 1981Sullivan launches Only Fools and Horses on BBC One, building on Citizen Smith's success.
In Wolfie Smith's words
“Power to the people!”
§ Minds closest to Wolfie Smith
All minds →
§ Also in the Socialist hall
Enter the hall →§ Common questions
4 answersWhat is Wolfie Smith's political ideology?
Wolfie Smith is a self-proclaimed Marxist revolutionary whose politics never get past talk: on the 99ideologies three-axis compass, a Reformist Socialist. Economically he sits well to the left (−72), dreaming of common ownership and the workers' triumph. On governance he leans mildly authoritarian (+24), full of insurrectionary rhetoric but confined to agitation within a democracy. Socially he is clearly progressive (+55), a counterculture radical who models himself on Che Guevara and champions the oppressed.
Is Wolfie Smith left-wing or right-wing?
Left-wing, and proudly so. Wolfie calls himself a Marxist, leads the Tooting Popular Front and greets the world with a raised fist and a cry of 'Power to the people!'. The sitcom pokes fun at him, but its target is the self-importance and futility of tiny revolutionary sects rather than left-wing ideas as such. John Sullivan's portrait is affectionate, and Wolfie's sincerity is a large part of his charm.
What is the Tooting Popular Front?
The Tooting Popular Front is the fictional revolutionary movement that Wolfie Smith leads in the BBC sitcom Citizen Smith (1977–1980). Despite its grand name and Wolfie's talk of seizing power, it has only a handful of members, mostly his friends, and its plans invariably collapse into farce. The name parodies the many tiny far-left fronts and parties of 1970s Britain, and it has become a byword for a political group whose ambitions vastly exceed its size.
Which minds are closest to Wolfie Smith?
On the 99ideologies three-axis compass, the minds closest to Wolfie Smith are Jean Jaurès (99% alike), Harold Laski (97% alike) and Jack London (97% alike). The furthest is Hans-Hermann Hoppe (7% alike).