Communist party of Great Britain

The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was founded in 1920. The Party was based upon the philosophy of Karl Marx (1818-1883) and was inspired by the Russian Revolution of November 1917. The Communists believed that before long revolution would over throw Capitalism and end the exploitation of the working class. The Communist Party supported the Russian Revolution and for many years accepted Russian funds in order to spread its ideas. During the next 70 years hopes of revolution faded as the Communists remained a minority party. However, despite its small size the party maintained its international links and continued to campaign for improvements in the lives of working people.

Initially the CPGB tried to channel its activities through the Labour Party, which at this time operated as a federation of left-wing bodies. However, despite the support of notable figures (such as the Independent Labour Party leader, James Maxton) the Labour Party decided against the inclusion of Communists within their ranks.

Throughout the 1920s and most of the 1930s, instead of building a party based on mass membership, the CPGB decided to follow the Leninist doctrine that communist parties should be run by a small revolutionary elite, excluding all but the ultra-committed. The CPGB also decided that it would follow directives issued from Moscow whether or not they applied to British circumstances. This succeeded in isolating the CPGB from the working classes, who they were supposedly there to represent, and drove away potential recruits, most of whom joined the mainstream Labour Party. It was also largely responsible for the fact that communism in Britain, unlike many other European countries, never became a significant political force. The party loosened its ties to Moscow in the late 1930s, after Stalin signed the non-aggression pact with Hitler.

Culturally the CPGB enjoyed popularity during the 1930s and attracted writers, poets, musicians and playwrights. Communists and their allies formed the Workers' Theatre Movement (1926), the Artists International Association (1934), The Unity Theatre Club (1936) and the Left Book Club (1936). The CPGB was at the forefront of campaigns to help the unemployed and campaigned tirelessly against the Means Test. Wal Hannington led the National Unemployed Workers Movement (NUWM), which organised numerous marches to highlight the plight of the unemployed.

A significant number of British Communists fought in The Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). The CPGB organised volunteers to fight for the Spanish government against fascism. In many respects the War symbolised the idealism of the Communist Party in the 1930s.

The Communist Party won very few parliamentary seats in elections. The Party was most successful when it tuned into popular concerns, such as anti-fascism and unemployment rights. In the 1935 general election William Gallacher was elected as the Communist Party's first MP for West Fife in Scotland. The CPGB reached its peak in the 1940s when at the 1945 general election, the Communist Party received 103,000 votes, and two Communists (including William Gallacher), were elected as Members of Parliament, although both lost their seats at the 1951 general election.

The CPGB attracted a broad membership and its policies were popular in the industrial areas of Glasgow, the poorer areas of East London and the coalmining regions of South Wales. After World War II the Party gradually moved away from simple class-based protests and linked up with feminist and Black rights movements. Communists joined popular campaigns against nuclear weapons and apartheid.

In 1956 the Party was thrown into disarray firstly with news of Stalin's purges, disclosed by Krushchev in his secret speech to the 20th Congress of the CPSU in January 1956. Secondly by the crushing of the Hungarian uprising by Soviet tanks in October 1956. A group of intellectuals formed around the unofficial publication The Reasoner, edited by E P Thompson, demanded a discussion of these events. When the CPGB leadership moved to close The Reasoner, Thompson and his supporters left the Party. Those who left criticised the CPGB's acceptance of Democratic Centralism, which made it impossible for the membership to question or call to account the leadership.

In 1991, when the Soviet Union broke up, the CPGB decided to disband and became the Democratic Left, a left-leaning political think-tank rather than a political party.

From the guide to the The Papers of the Communist Party of Great Britain, 1920-1994, (Labour History Archive and Study Centre)