SEK originated among a group of exiled Greek students in London, led by Maria Styllou and Panos Garganas, and a group of Greek students during the occupations of universities against the Greek dictatorship. In the beginning they organised themselves as the Socialist Revolution Organisation (OSE). While in London they developed relations with the International Socialists led by Tony Cliff and were won to the politics of the IST.
In the early 1980s, the OSE developed closer links with the IST, grew fairly rapidly and in 1997 changed their name to the Socialist Workers Party. In 2001 a minority left to form the Internationalist Workers Left (DEA) organisation. SEK publishes a weekly newspaper, Workers Solidarity (Εργατική Αλληλεγγύη), and a bi-monthly magazine, Socialism from Below (Σοσιαλισμός από τα Κάτω).
The SEK is active in a number of organisations, including the Greek "Stop the War Coalition", "United Against Racism and the threat of Fascism".
In the 2006 Greek local elections for Athens-Piraeus Super Prefecture, the SEK supported candidates under the banner "Συμμαχία για την Υπερνομαρχία" (Symmachia gia tin Ypernomarchia = Union for the Super Prefecture) which took 1.32%.
In October 2023, SEK released a statement declaring their support for Palestine in the 2023 Israel–Hamas war.[1]