Commissioned Wednesday, written Thursday, delivered Friday and in tomorrows (Monday) Morning Star. Britains Communists: the Untold Story, by John Green (Artery Publications, £12.50) I am not, and never have been a Communist, but over the years I have worked closely with The Party. In Aberdeen, in the 1970s, the local anarchist group and the Young Communist League often found that, unlikely as it might seem, they were natural political allies. I was particularly impressed that the CP kept alive important groups like CND during its quiet years, ran the tenants association in the roughest part of town and the Aberdeen Communist folksinger Bob Cooney really had fought in the Spanish Civil War. Mind you, that did not endear him to anarchists who took a different view of the war, but nonetheless... At its height the Communist Party of Great Britain had 60,000 members, with over 1000 in my subsequent adopted hometown of Nottingham. Even at its dissolution there were over 6000 members nationally, several times that of the Communist Party of Britain, effectively the successor organisation. Despite its size the CPB provides the muscle that keeps the Morning Star going, John Green being one of the Stars regular writers. Rather than analysing the twists and turns of Party policy over the decades the author looks at the influence of Party members on British life as well as the body politic. Inevitably he concentrates on figures of national importance within the various mileaux the Party worked rather than the equally important local activity. The author tells the story thematically, including the struggle against fascism, the peace movement, the womens movement, internationalism, campaigns among professional workers and, the main focus, within trade unions. The book comes alive in looking at the Partys influence on literature and culture, on books, the stage and film. Im not sure whether the arts were over-represented within the CP but certainly it had active members of import ranging from the lyricist Lionel Bart, the playwright Arnold Wesker through to critics such as Raymond Williams and many fine novelists and poets. Not all stayed with the Party of course but in arts, the trade unions and elsewhere the Party had influence beyond its numbers including within the scientific world, something recently covered by Peter Frost in the paper. Over the past few years there has been much more attention given to the history of the CP. This book is a readable and worthwhile addition. It is also a reminder that Party members did not simply attend meetings, take part in demonstrations and fundraise for the Morning Star/Daily Worker but had day to day public roles without which this country would have been very different. Ross Bradshaw
Posted on: Sun, 26 Oct 2014 17:43:44 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015