Formation The Communist Party of Great Britain was founded in 1920 after the
Third International decided that greater attempts should be made to establish communist parties across the world. The CPGB was formed by the merger of several smaller
Marxist parties, including the
British Socialist Party, the
Communist Unity Group of the
Socialist Labour Party and the
South Wales Socialist Society. The party also gained the support of the Guild Communists faction of the
National Guilds League, assorted
shop stewards' and workers' committees, socialist clubs and individuals and many former members of the
Hands Off Russia campaign. Several branches and many individual members of the
Independent Labour Party also affiliated. As a member of the British Socialist Party, the
Member of Parliament Cecil L'Estrange Malone joined the CPGB. A few days after the founding conference the new party published the first issue of its weekly newspaper, which was called
the Communist and edited by
Raymond Postgate. In January 1921, the CPGB was refounded after the majorities of
Sylvia Pankhurst's group the
Communist Party (British Section of the Third International), and the Scottish
Communist Labour Party agreed to unity. The party benefited from a period of increased political radicalism in Britain just after the
First World War and the
Russian Revolution of October 1917, and was also represented in Britain by the
Red Clydeside movement. During the negotiations leading to the initiation of the party, a number of issues were hotly contested. Among the most contentious were the questions of "
parliamentarism" and the attitude of the Communist Party to the
Labour Party. "Parliamentarism" referred to a strategy of contesting elections and working through existing parliaments. It was a strategy associated with the parties of the
Second International and it was partly for this reason that it was opposed by those who wanted to break with
Social Democracy. Critics contended that parliamentarism had caused the old parties to become devoted to reformism because it had encouraged them to place more importance on winning votes than on working for
socialism, that it encouraged opportunists and place-seekers into the ranks of the movement and that it constituted an acceptance of the legitimacy of the existing governing institutions of
capitalism. Similarly, affiliation to the Labour Party was opposed on the grounds that communists should not work with 'reformist' Social Democratic parties. These
Left Communist positions enjoyed considerable support, being supported by Sylvia Pankhurst and
Willie Gallacher among others. However, the
Russian Communist Party took the opposing view. In 1920,
Vladimir Lenin argued in his essay
"Left Wing" Communism: An Infantile Disorder that the CPs should work with reformist trade unions and social democratic parties because these were the existing organisations of the working class. Lenin argued that if such organisations gained power, they would demonstrate that they were not really on the side of the working class, thus workers would become disillusioned and come over to supporting the Communist Party. Lenin's opinion prevailed eventually. Initially, therefore, the CPGB attempted to work within the Labour Party, which at this time operated mainly as a federation of
left-wing bodies, only having allowed individual membership since 1918. However, despite the support of
James Maxton, the
Independent Labour Party leader, the Labour Party decided against the affiliation of the Communist Party. Even while pursuing affiliation and seeking to influence Labour Party members, however, the CPGB promoted candidates of its own at parliamentary elections. Following the refusal of their affiliation, the CPGB encouraged its members to join the Labour Party individually and to seek Labour Party endorsement or help for any candidatures. Several Communists thus became Labour Party candidates, and in the
1922 general election,
Shapurji Saklatvala and
Walton Newbold were both elected. As late as 1923 the
National Executive Committee of the Labour Party endorsed Communist parliamentary candidates, and 38 Communists attended the 1923
Labour Party Conference.
1920s and 1930s In 1923, the party renamed its newspaper as the
Workers Weekly. After Labour lost to the Conservative Party in the election, it blamed the Zinoviev Letter for its defeat. In the aftermath of the Campbell Case and the Zinoviev letter, Labour expelled Communist Party members and banned them from running as its parliamentary candidates in the future. After the
1926 British general strike, it also disbanded 26
Constituency Labour Parties which resisted the ruling or were otherwise deemed too sympathetic to the Communist Party. Some of the key activists charged with this task,
Philip Spratt and
Ben Bradley, were later arrested and convicted as a part of the
Meerut Conspiracy Case. But this support built during the party's first years was imperilled during the Third Period from 1929 to 1932, the Third Period being the so-called period of renewed revolutionary advance as it was dubbed by the (now
Stalinised) leadership of the
Comintern. The result of this "class against class" policy was that the Social Democratic and Labourite parties were seen as just as much a threat as the
fascist parties and were therefore described as being
social-fascist. Any kind of alliance with "social-fascists" was obviously to be prohibited. The Third Period also meant that the CPGB sought to develop revolutionary trade unions in rivalry to the established
Trades Union Congress affiliated unions. They met with an almost total lack of success although a tiny handful of "red" unions were formed, amongst them a miners union in Scotland and tailoring union in East London.
Arthur Horner, the Communist leader of the Welsh miners, fought off attempts to found a similar union on his patch. But even if the Third Period was by all conventional standards a total political failure it was the 'heroic' period of British communism and one of its campaigns did have impact beyond its ranks. This was the
National Unemployed Workers' Movement led by
Wal Hannington. Increasing unemployment had caused a substantial increase in the number of CP members, especially those drawn from engineering, lacking work. This cadre of which Hannington and
Harry MacShane in Scotland were emblematic, found a purpose in building the NUWM which resulted in a number of marches on the
unemployment issue during the 1930s. Although born in the Third Period during the
Great Depression, the NUWM was a major campaigning body throughout the
Popular Front period too, only being dissolved in 1941. , gives a speech to a large crowd outside the
British Museum in support for the
Aid to Russia Fund, 1941 After the victory of
Adolf Hitler in
Germany, the Third Period was dropped by all Communist Parties as they switched to the policy of the
Popular Front. This policy argued that as fascism was the main danger to the workers' movement, it needed to ally itself with all anti-fascist forces including right-wing democratic parties. In Britain, this policy expressed itself in the efforts of the CPGB to forge an alliance with the Labour Party and even with forces to the right of Labour. In the
1935 general election Willie Gallacher was elected as the Communist Party's first
MP in six years, and their first MP elected against Labour opposition. Gallacher sat for
West Fife in
Scotland, a coal mining region in which it had considerable support. During the 1930s the CPGB opposed the
National Government's
European policy of
appeasement towards
Nazi Germany and
Fascist Italy. On the
streets the party members played a leading role in the struggle against the
British Union of Fascists, led by
Sir Oswald Mosley whose
Blackshirts tried to emulate the Nazis in
anti-Semitic actions in London and other major British cities. The Communist Party's Oxford branch under the leadership of
Abraham Lazarus managed to successfully contain and defeat the rise of fascism in the city of Oxford, forcing the Blackshirts to retreat from the town and into the relative safety of Oxford University after the
Battle of Carfax.
1939–1945: Second World War With the beginning of the
Second World War in 1939, the CPGB initially continued to support the struggle on two fronts (against Chamberlain at home and Nazi fascism abroad). Following the
Molotov–Ribbentrop nonaggression pact on 23 August between the Soviet Union and Germany, the Comintern changed its position, describing the war as the product of imperialism on both sides, in which the working class had no side to take. The CPGB central committee followed the directive, changing to an anti-war stance. This change was opposed by
Harry Pollitt and
J. R. Campbell, the editor of the
Daily Worker, and both were relieved of their duties in October 1939. Pollitt was replaced by
Palme Dutt. From 1939 until 1941 the CPGB was very active in supporting strikes and in denouncing the government for its pursuit of the war. However, when in 1941 the
Soviet Union was invaded by Germany, the CPGB came out in support of the war on the grounds of defence of the Soviet Union against fascism. Pollitt was restored to his former position as Party Secretary. The party then launched a campaign for a Second Front in order to support the USSR and speed the defeat of the
Axis powers. In industry, they now opposed
strike action and supported the Joint Production Committees, which aimed to increase productivity, and supported the
National Government that was led by
Winston Churchill (Conservative) and
Clement Attlee (Labour). At the same time, given the influence of Rajani Palme Dutt in the Party, the issue of
Indian independence and the
independence of colonies was emphasised. In the
1945 general election, the Communist Party received 103,000 votes, and two Communists were elected as
members of parliament: Willie Gallacher was returned, and
Phil Piratin was newly elected as the MP for
Mile End in
London's East End. Harry Pollitt failed by only 972 votes to take the
Rhondda East constituency. Both Communist MPs, however, lost their seats in the
1950 general election. The Party was keen to demonstrate its loyalty to Britain's industrial competitiveness as a stepping point towards socialism. At the 19th Congress, Harry Pollitt asked rhetorically, "Why do we need to increase production?" He answered: "To pay for what we are compelled to import. To retain our independence as a nation." The party's membership peaked during 1943, reaching around 60,000. gives a speech to workers in Whitehall, London, 1941
1946–1956: Start of the Cold War In 1951, the party issued a programme,
The British Road to Socialism (officially adopted at the 22nd Congress in April 1952), which explicitly advocated the possibility of a peaceful transition to socialism – but only after it had been personally approved by
Joseph Stalin himself, according to some historians. The BRS would remain the programme of the CPGB until its dissolution in 1991 albeit in amended form and today is the programme of the breakaway
Communist Party of Britain. From the war years to 1956 the CPGB was at the height of its influence in the labour movement with many union officials who were members. Not only did it have immense influence in the
National Union of Mineworkers but it was extremely influential in the
Electrical Trade Union and in the
Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers, a key blue-collar union. In addition, much of the Labour Party left was strongly influenced by the party. Dissidents were few, perhaps the most notable being
Eric Heffer, the future Labour MP who left the party in the late 1940s. In 1954, the party solidified its opposition to
British racial segregation, with the publication of ''A Man's a Man: A Study of the Colour Bar in Birmingham''. Although the Communists had always opposed both
racial segregation and British colonialism, this publication made clearer the party's position, and also had an enduring influence on British anti-racist politics outside the party. The
Poznań protests of 1956 disrupted not only the CPGB, but many other Communist Parties as well. The CPGB was to experience its greatest ever loss of membership as a result of the
Warsaw Pact's crushing of the
1956 Hungarian Revolution. "[T]he events of 1956... saw the loss of between one-quarter and one-third of Party members, including many leading intellectuals." The party's orientation, though, was to the left union officers, not the rank and file. Historian Geoff Andrews explains "it was the role of the shop stewards in organising the Broad Lefts and influencing trade union leaders that were the key rather than organising the rank and file in defiance of leaderships", and so the party withdrew from rank-and-file organisations like the
Building Workers' Charter and attacked "
Trotskyist" tactics at the
Pilkington Glass dispute in 1970. Still the party's efforts to establish an electoral base repeatedly failed. They retained a handful of seats in local councils scattered around Britain, but the CPGB's only representative in Parliament was in the
House of Lords, gained when
Wogan Philipps, the son of a ship-owner and a long-standing member of the CPGB inherited the title of
Lord Milford when
his father died in 1963. The
Daily Worker was renamed the
Morning Star in 1966. At the same time, the party became increasingly polarised between those who sought to maintain close relations with the Soviet Union and those who sought to convert the party into a force independent of Moscow. The
Sino-Soviet split that began to entrench divisions between the two largest communist countries in 1961 led to divisions within many Communist Parties, but there was little pro-Beijing sympathy in the relatively small British Party. Perhaps the best known of the tiny minority of CPGB members who opposed the Moscow line was Michael McCreery, who formed the
Committee to Defeat Revisionism, for Communist Unity and acted as the co-editor of the Vanguard editorial. This tiny group left the CPGB by 1963. McCreery himself died in
New Zealand in 1965. Later a more significant group formed around
Reg Birch, an engineering union official, established the
Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist). Initially, this group supported the position of the
Chinese Communist Party during the Sino-Soviet split. Divisions in the CPGB concerning the autonomy of the party from rule from Moscow reached a crisis in 1968 when Warsaw Pact forces
invaded Czechoslovakia. The CPGB, with memories of 1956 in mind, responded with some very mild criticism of Moscow, refusing to call it an outright invasion, preferring "intervention". Three days after the invasion,
John Gollan said "we completely understand the concern of the Soviet Union about the security of the socialist camp... we speak as true friends of the Soviet Union". Even this response provoked a small localised split by the so-called
Appeal Group which was in many respects a precursor of the 1977 split which formed the
New Communist Party. From this time onwards, the most traditionally-minded elements in the CPGB were referred to as '
Tankies' by their internal opponents, due to their support of the Warsaw Pact forces. Others within the party leaned increasingly towards the position of
Eurocommunism, which became the leading tendency within the Communist parties of Italy, Spain and France in the 1970s. The last strong electoral performance of the CPGB was in the
February 1974 General Election in
Dunbartonshire Central, where candidate
Jimmy Reid won almost 6,000 votes. However, this strong result was primarily a personal vote for Reid, who was a prominent local
trade union leader and gained much support because of his prominent role in the
Upper Clyde Shipbuilders work-in, which had taken place a few years earlier and was seen as having saved local jobs. Nationally the party's vote continued its decline: according to a contemporary joke, the CPGB at this time pursued
the British Road to Lost Deposits. According to historian
Geoff Andrews, "The mid-1970s saw
Gramscians" (otherwise known as
Euro-Communists) "take leading positions within the party".
Dave Cook became National Organiser in 1975 and
Sue Slipman was appointed to the executive committee and to the
Marxism Today editorial board. Jon Bloomfield, former Student Organiser became the West Midlands District Secretary.
Pete Carter prominent in
UCATT, had been gaining influence since the late 60s and was appointed National Industrial Organiser in 1982.
Beatrix Campbell (a contributor, with Slipman, to
Red Rag) and Judith Hunt became active in the National Women's Advisory Committee.
Martin Jacques, on the executive committee since 1967, replaced
James Klugmann as editor of
Marxism Today in 1977. Its turn to Eurocommunism was prefigured by what Andrews describes as Sarah Benton's "radical and heretical" stint as editor of the fortnightly review
Comment. Critics from the past, like
Eric Hobsbawm and Monty Johnstone, also gained influence. The Euro-Communists in the party apparatus were starting to challenge the authority of the trade union organisers. At the 1975 Congress, economist Dave Purdy proposed that "the labour movement should declare its willingness to accept voluntary pay restraint as a contribution to the success of the programme and a way of easing the transition to a socialist economy" – a challenge to the Industrial Department's policy of "free collective bargaining". An argument he reiterated in print in
The Leveller in 1979. The growing crisis in the party also affected the credibility of its leadership, as formerly senior and influential members left its ranks. In 1976, three of its top engineering cadres resigned.
Jimmy Reid, Cyril Morton and
John Tocher had all been members of the Political Committee, playing a crucial role in determining the direction of the party. Like another engineer, Bernard Panter, who left a few months before them, they jumped a sinking ship. According to
the Party's official historian, this period was marked by a growing division between the practitioners of
cultural politics – heavily inspired by the writings of
Antonio Gramsci and party's powerful industrial department which advocated a policy of
militant labourism. The cultural politics wing had dominated the party's youth wing in the 1960s and was also powerful in the student section. As such many of its members were academics or professional intellectuals (or in the view of their opponents, out of touch and middle class). They were influenced by the environmental and especially the
feminist movement. The other wing was powerful in senior levels of the trade union movement (though few actually reached the very top in the unions) and despite the party's decline in numbers were able to drive the
TUC's policy of opposing the
Industrial Relations Act. In the view of their opponents on the cultural or Eurocommunist wing,
they were out of touch with the real changes in working people's lives and attitudes. As the seventies progressed and as industrial militancy declined in the face of high unemployment, the tensions in the party rose even as its membership continued to decline.
1977–1991: Infighting and dissolution rally in 1984 By 1977, debate around the new draft of the
British Road to Socialism brought the party to breaking point. Many of the anti-Eurocommunists decided that they needed to form their own anti-revisionist Communist party. Some speculated at the time that they would receive the backing of Moscow, but such support appears not to have materialised. The
New Communist Party of Britain was formed under the leadership of
Sid French, who was the secretary of the important Surrey District CP, which had a strong base in engineering. Another grouping, led by Fergus Nicholson, remained in the party and launched the paper
Straight Left. This served as an outlet for their views as well as an organising tool in their work within the Labour Party. Nicholson had earlier taken part in establishing a faction known as "Clause Four" within
Labour's student movement. Nicholson wrote as "Harry Steel", a combination of the names of Stalin ("man of steel" in Russian) and Harry Pollitt. The group around
Straight Left exerted considerable influence in the trade union movement,
CND, the
Anti-Apartheid Movement and amongst some Labour MPs. Under the influence of
Eric Hobsbawm on the opposing wing of the party,
Martin Jacques became the editor of the party's theoretical journal
Marxism Today and rapidly made it a significant publication for Eurocommunist opinions in the party, and eventually for revisionist tendencies in the wider
liberal-left, in particular for the
soft left around
Neil Kinnock in the Labour Party. Although the circulation of the magazine rose it was still a drain on the finances of the small party. As early as 1983, Martin Jacques "thought the CP was unreformable... but stayed in because he needed its subsidy to continue publishing
Marxism Today." Jacques' conviction that the party was finished "came as a nasty shock to some of his comrades" like Nina Temple, who "as unhappy as Jacques himself, stayed on only out of loyalty to Jacques." In 1984, a long-simmering dispute between the majority of the leadership and an anti-Eurocommunist faction (associated with party industrial and trade union activists) flared up when the London District Congress was closed down for insisting on giving full rights to comrades who had been suspended by the executive committee. After the General Secretary closed the Congress a number of members remained in the room (in
County Hall in
South London) and held what was, in effect, the founding meeting of a breakaway party, although the formal split did not come until four years later. Members of the minority faction set about founding a network of
Morning Star readers' groups and similar bodies, calling themselves the
Communist Campaign Group. In 1988, these elements formally split from the CPGB to organise a new party known as the Communist Party of Britain. This was considered by many in the anti-Eurocommunist faction, including national executive members like
Barry Williams, to be the death of the 'Party'. In 1991, when the
Soviet Union collapsed, the Eurocommunist-dominated leadership of the CPGB, led by
Nina Temple,
decided to disband the party, and establish the
Democratic Left, a left-leaning political
think tank rather than a political party. The Democratic Left itself dissolved in 1999 and was replaced by the
New Politics Network, which in turn merged with
Charter 88 in 2007. ==Size and electoral information==