MIA: CP Great Britain: Subject Section


Tom Mann Centuria, a unit of the International Brigade, during the Spanish Civil War

Special Subject Collections

Communist Unity Convention (1919-1920)

The proceedings of the Communist Unity Convention at which the Communist Party of Great Britain was founded. Negotiations began early in 1919 to unite the various British Marxist and revolutionary groups and organisations into a single Party.

The Labour Monthly (1921-1981)

Founded in 1921, The Labour Monthly was a theoretical journal edited by R. Palme Dutt that provided a forum for the wide circulation of articles by CPGB members, socialists and militant trade unionists.

National Minority Movement (1924-1933)

Launched in 1924, the National Minority Movement replaced the British Bureau of the Red International of Labour Unions. It aimed to unify militant trade unionists, co-operators and unemployed workers in their respective organisations “for the purpose of conducting a relentless struggle against the leadership” to revolutionise policy.

The Struggle Against Trotskyism (1925)

Following the publication of Trotsky’s The Lessons of October in 1924, the CPGB began a campaign to eradicate Trotskyism as a political trend within the working class movement.

General Strike (1926)

The British General strike of May 1926 was called by the General Council of the Trade Union Congress in a dispute over miners wages and conditions, calling for nationalisation of the coal mines. The government was brought to the edge of defeat, but the TUC leaders backed down, resulting in an historic defeat.

Left Book Club (1936-1939)

Founded in 1936 by Victor Gollancz, the Communist Party was heavily involved in providing material to the LBC until the Soviet Union signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact in 1939.