Information overload is a curse. The inability to match one’s interests with the overwhelming amount of material that can be accessed from a keyboard is both frustrating and adds to the backlog of material to read even on a minority interest like the left in Britain. Previously the grey literature of bibliophiles was the print medium, found in obscure, often agitational pamphlets and publications, with the internet it has exploded beyond reasonable levels.
History sources on the Left are varied and many but still small radical presses and distributors are found via their web pages and more easily accessed. Individual local initiatives still exist like the Workers Educational Associations talks and course that may provide a print record. More commonly there are the limited distribution of self-published material of little known episodes in the class war that reflect an activist’s dedication. These can refer to quite localised events.
And obviously there are the archive builders. These often find expression with a dedication to provide a legacy of previous labour as in the provision of the work online of the Communist Historian Group and its publication “Our History”. There is a selection online of the 83 studies produced over 20 years of its operation. http://banmarchive.org.uk/collections/shs/index_frameset1.htm
Now superseded by the Socialist History group http://www.socialisthistorysociety.co.uk/.
The digital medium makes somethings possible that would be very difficult in the physical world such as the international co-operation and co-ordination for such political depositories as Encyclopedia of Anti-Revisionism On-Line that allows access to material that is scattered, rare and uncatalogued. There is no equivalent resource as it allows access and has more holdings than even a National library collection of record. https://www.marxists.org/history/erol/erol.htm
There are the products of stakhanovite activism, the perspective of those political groups and individuals, always an interesting exploration from the anarchist perspective, is the libcom library which contains nearly 20,000 articles of international history from the other side of the barricades. https://libcom.org/library . Many leftist sites are worth exploring for accounts [undoubtedly partisan] of Leftist history.
Other examples of contemporary online promotion of the local radical history revival are these two sites
- past tense promotion of London’s radical history https://pasttenseblog.wordpress.com/ and
- Bristol Radical History Group http://www.brh.org.uk/site/pamphleteerRecount episodes forgotten, uncelebrated and still worthy of acknowledgment.
Listing the obscure, out-of-print and difficult to now obtain pamphlets to add to the awareness of this history would not be much assistance, so instead more accessible material from a home Library listing of “Books on the History of the English Left” that can be found in the diminishing libraries of Britain, and from online booksellers like http://www.leftontheshelfbooks.co.uk/ , or try http://www.ethicalconsumer.org/ethicalreports/buyingbookswithoutamazon/radicalbookshopsdirectory.aspx
GENERAL BACKGROUND
Beer, M (1940 ) A History of British Socialism. George Allen & Unwin
Blatchford ,Robert (1893/ 1977) Merrie England. The Journeyman Press
Cole, G.D.H & Postgate, Raymond (1938) The Common People 1746-1938.Methuen
Cornforth ,Maurice ed.(1978) Rebels and their Causes: essays in honour of A.L.Morton. Lawrence & Wishart
Gerhold, Gerhold (2007) The Putney Debates 1647.Self-published
Harrison, Stanley (1974) Poor Man’s Guardian: a survey of the Struggles for a Democratic Press,1786-1973. Lawrence & Wishart
Hampton, Christopher (1984)A Radical Reader: the struggle for change in England,1381-1914. Penguin
Horspool, David (2009) The English Rebel: one thousand years of troublemaking, from the to the Nineties. Penguin Books
Jones, Colin (1983) Britain and Revolutionary France: conflict, subversion and propaganda. University of Exeter
MacCoby, S (1957) The English Radical Tradition 1763-1914.New York University Press
Manning, Brian (2003) Revolution and Counter-Revolution in England, Ireland and Scotland. Bookmarks
Samuel, Raphael & Jones, Gareth Stedman (1982) Culture, Ideology and Politics. Routledge & Keegan Paul
Royle, Edward (2000) Revolutionary Britannia? Reflections on the threat of revolution in Britain, 1789-1848. Manchester University Press
Thompson E.P. (1984) The Making of the English Working Class. Penguin
Walzer, Michael (1966) The Revolution of the Saints: A study in the origins of radical politics. Weidenfield and Nicolson
Wells, Roger (1986) Insurrection: the British Experience 1795-1803. Alan Sutton
19th CENTURY LIVES OF LABOUR
Briggs, Asa (1962) Chartist Studies. MacMillan
Briggs, Asa & Saville, John (1971) Essays in labour history 1886-1923.Macmillan
Charlton, John (1999) ‘It just went like tinder’: The mass movement & New Unionism in Britain. Red Words
Cherry, Steven (1981) Our History– a pocket history of the Labour Movement. Self-published
Coleman, Stephen ed. (1996) Reform and Revolution: three early socialists on the way ahead. Thoemmes Press
Fox, Ralph (nd) The Class Struggle in Britain in the epoch of imperialism 1880-1923 (two volumes) Martin Lawrence
Hobsbawm E.J. (1965) Labouring Men: studies in the history of labour. Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Kynaston, David (1976) King Labour: The British Working Class 1850-1914. George Allen & Unwin
Lane, Tony (1974) The Union Makes Us Strong: The British working class, its politics and trade unionism. Arrow
Marcus, Steve (1985) Engels, Manchester and the working class .Norton
Morris, Williams (1979) Political Writings. Lawrence & Wishart
Morton, A.L. & Tate,George (1973 I 1956) The British Labour Movement 1770- 1920. Lawrence & Wishart
Murphy, J.T. (1934/1972) Preparing for Power: a critical study of the history of the British working class movement. Pluto Press
O’Brien, Mark (2009) Perish the Privileged orders: a socialist history of the Chartist Movement. New Clarion Press
Pelling, Henry (1977) A History of British Trade Unionism. Penguin
Rosenberg, David (2015) Rebel Footprints: a guide to uncovering London’s radical history. Pluto Press
Samuel, Raphael (1982) Village Life and Labour. Routledge
Stearns, Peter (1975) Lives of Labour: work in a maturing Industrial Society. Croom Helm
Torr, Dona (1956) Tom Mann and his Times Vol One: 1856-1890.Lawrence & Wishart
THE BRITISH LABOUR PARTY
Bealey, F & Pelling, H. (1958) Labour and Politics 1900-1906: a history of the Labour Representation Committee. MacMillan
Burgess, Keith (1980) The Challenge of Labour: shaping British society 1850-1930. Croom Helm
Cliff, Tony & Gluckstein, Donny (1988) The Labour Party – a Marxist History. Bookmarks
Clough, Robert (1992) Labour, a party fit for imperialism. Larkin Publications [RCG]
Howell, David (1980) British Social Democracy, a study in development and decay. Croom Helm
Lyman, Richard (nd) The First Labour Government 1924. Chapman & Hall
Miliband, Ralph (1979) Parliamentary Socialism: a study in the politics of Labour. Merlin Press
Ramsay, Robin (2002) The Rise of New Labour. Pocket Essentials
EARLY 20TH CENTURY
Challinor, Raymond (1977) The Origins of British Bolshevism. Croom Helm
Duncan, Rolbert & Mcivor, Arthur (1992) Militant Workers: labour and Class Conflict 1900-1950. Essays in honour of Harry McShane (1891-1988). John Donald
Kendall, Walter (1971) The Revolutionary Movement in Britain 1900-21: the origins of British Communism. Weidenfeld and Nicolson
Northedge F.S. & Wells, Audrey (1982) Britain and Soviet Communism, the impact of a revolution. Macmillan
Paul, William (nd) The State: its origins and function. Socialist Labour Press
Rosenberg, Chanie (1987) Britain on the brink of revolution 1919. Bookmarks
Skelly, Jeffrey (1976) The General Strike 1926. Lawrence & Wishart
Thrope, Andrew (1989) The Failure of Political Extremism in inter-war Britain. University of Exeter
Weller, Ken (1985) ‘Don’t Be A Soldier!’ The radical anti-war movement in North London 1914-1918 . Journeyman
Werskey, Gary (1988) The Visible College: a collective biography of British scientists and socialists of the 1930s. Free Association Books
COMMUNIST PARTY OF GREAT BRITAIN
Adereth, Max (1994) Line of March: an historical and critical analysis of British Communism and its revolutionary strategy. Praxis Press
Attfield, John & Williams, Stephen (1984) 1939:The Communist Party and War. Proceedings of a conference held on 21April1979 organised by the Communist Party History Group. Lawrence & Wishart
Beckett,Francis (1995) Enemy Within: the rise and fall of the British Communist Party. John Murray
Beckett,Francis (2004) Stalin’s British Victims. Sutton Publishing
Bell, Tom (1937) British Communist Party, a short history. Lawrence & Wishart
Black, Robert (1970) Stalinism in Britain, a Trotskyist analysis. New Park Publication
Bronstein, Sam & Richardson, AI (nd) Two Steps Back: Communists & the wider labour movement 1934-1945. A study in the relations between vanguard and class. Socialist Platform
Clegg, Arthur (1989) Aid China 1937-1949.A memoir of a forgotten campaign. New World Presss
Cohen, Phil (1997) Children of the Revolution: communist childhood in Cold War Britain. Lawrence & Wishart
Croft, Andy (1998) A Weapon in the Struggle: the cultural history of the Communist Party in Britain. Pluto Press
Croft, Andy ed. (2012) After The Party: reflections on life since the CPGB. Lawrence & Wishart
Dewar, Hugo (1976) Communist Politics in Britain: The CPGB from its origins to the Second World War. Pluto Press
Drake, Bob (1952) The Communist Technique in Britain. Penguin Press
Green, John (2014) Britain’s Communists: The Untold Story. Artery Publications
Gollan, John (1978) Reformism and Revolution. Communist Party
Hannington, Wal (1979 I 1936) Unemployed Struggles 1919-1936: My life and struggles amongst the Unemployed. Lawrence & Wishart
Hinton, James & Hyman, Richard (1975) Trade Unions and Revolution: the industrial politics of the early British communist Party. Pluto Press
Hyde, Douglas (1952) I Believed: the autobiography of a former British communist. The Reprint Society
Macintyre, Stuart (1980) A Proletarian Science: Marxism in Britain 1917-1933. Lawrence & Wishart
Macleod, Alison (1997) The Death of Uncle Joe. Merlin Press
Mcilroy, Morgan & Campbell (2001) Party People, Communist Lives; explorations in biography. Lawrence & Wishart
Mitchell, Alex (1984) Behind the Crisis in British Stalinism. New Park Publication
Morgan, Kevin, Cohen, Gideon and Flinn, Andrew (2007) Communists and British Society 1920-1991 .River Cram Press
Murray, Andrew (1995) The CPGB , a historical analysis to 1941. Communist Liaison
Parker, Lawrence (2008) The kick inside: revolutionary opposition in the CPGB 1960-1991. Self-published. Second edition published by November Publications, 2012.
Pearce, Brian & Woodhouse, Michael (1975) Essays on the History of Communism in Britain. New Park Publications
Pelling, Henry (1958) The British Communist Party, a historical profile. Adam & Charles Black
Piratin, Phil (1980/ 1948) Our Flag Stays Red. Lawrence & Wishart
Rust, William (1949) The Story of the Daily Worker. People’s Press
Samuel, Raphel (2006) The Lost World of British Communism. Verso
Thompson, Willie (1992) The Good Old Cause: British Communism 1920-1991.Pluto Press
Trory, Erine (1974) Between the Wars: recollections of a communist organiser. Crabtree Press
Zinkin, Peter (1985) A Man To Be Watched Carefully. People’s Publication
HISTORY of the Communist Party of Great Britain
Published by Lawrence & Wishart
- Formation and early years 1919-1924 (Klugmann)
- The General strike 1925-1926 (Klugmann)
- HISTORY of the Communist Party of Great Britain 1927-1941 (Branson)
- HISTORY of the Communist Party of Great Britain 1941-1951 (Branson)
- Cold Wars, Crisis and Conflict: the CPGB 1951-1968 (Callaghan)
- Endgames and New Times: the final years of British Communism 1964- 1991 (Andrews)
THE SIXTIES
Alleyne, Brian (2002) Radicals Against Race; Black activism and cultural politics. Berg
Callaghan, John (1987) The Far Left in British Politics. Blackwell
Caute, David (1988) Sixty-Eight, the year of the barricades. Hamish Hamilton
Chun, Lin (1993) The British New Left. Edinburgh University press
Clutterbuck, Richard (1980) Britain in Agony, the growth of political violence. Penguin
Heinemann, Benjamin J. (1972) The Politics of Powerless: a study of the Campaign Against Racial Discrimination. Institute of Race Relations. Oxford University Press
Shipley, Peter (1976) Revolutionaries in Modern Britain. The Bodley Head
Smith, Evan & Worley, Matthew (2017) Against the Grain: The British Far Left from 1956. Manchester University Press
Tariq Ali (1972) The Coming British Revolution. Jonathan cape
Thayer, George (1965) The British Political Fringe, a profile. Anthony Blond
Tomlinson, John ( 1981) Left, Right : the march of political extremism in Britain. John Cape
Widgery, David (1976) The Left in Britain 1956-1968. Penguin
MAOISM
Ash,William (1978) A Red Square: the autobiography of an unconventional revolutionary. Howard Baker
Beil, Robert (1985/2015) Eurocentrism and the Communist Movement Kersplebedeb Publishing Montreal.
McCreery (n.d.) The Way Forward: a Marxist-Leninist of the British state, the CPGB and revolutionaries. WPPE
Podmore, Will ( 2004) Reg Birch: engineer, trade unionist, communist. Bellman books
Sherwood, Marika (1999) Claudia Jones, a life in exile. Lawrence & Wishart
TROTSKYISM
Bronstein, Sam & Richardson, Al (1986) War and the International: a history of the Trotskyist movement in Britain 1937-1949. Socialist Platform
Cliff, Tony (2000) A World To Win: life of a revolutionary. Bookmarks
Crick, Michael (1986) The March of Militant. Faber
Downing, G. (1991) WRP Explosion. The Socialist Fight Group
Essays on Revolutionary Marxism in Britain and Ireland from the 1930s to the 1960s. Revolutionary History Vol.6 No.2/3 Summer 1996
Grant, Ted (2002) History of British Trotskyism. Wellred Publications
Grant, Ted (1989) The Unbroken Thread: the development of Trotskyism over 40 years. Fortress Press
Groves, Reg (1974) The Balham Group: how British Trotskyism Began. Pluto Press
Higgins, Jim (1997) More Years for the Locust ; the origins of the SWP. IS group
Ratner, Harry (1994) Reluctant Revolutionary: memoirs of a Trotskyist 1936-1960. Socialist Platform
Taafe, Peter (1995) The Rise of Miltant : Militant’s 30 years. Militant Publications
The Fourth International, Stalinism and the origins of the International Socialists: some documents (1971) Pluto Press
MEMOIRS
Bone, Ian (2006) Bash The Rich; true-life confessions of an anarchist in the UK. Tangent Books
Cohen, Nick (2007) What’s Left: how Liberals lost their way. Fourth Estate
Kilfoye, Peter (2000) Left behind: Lessons from Labour’s heartland. Politico
Mitchell, Alex (2012) Come the Revolution: A Memoir. UNSW Press
Saville, John (2003) Memoirs From The Left. Merlin Press
Steel, Mark (2001) Reasons To Be Cheerful: from Punk to New labour through the eyes of a dedicated Trouble Maker. Scribner
Stuart, Christie (2005) Granny Made Me An Anarchist. Scribner
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