The British Communist Party and the Trade Unions, 1933–1945

The British Communist Party and the Trade Unions, 1933–1945 PDF Author: Nina Fishman
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351893629
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 246

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Book Description
This is a pathbreaking book, essential reading for students of interwar political and social history. Previous histories of the period have underestimated the crucial role which Communists played in trade union organisation from top to bottom. Despite its relatively small size the Communist Party occupied a strategic place in the trade union movement: the leaders of the movement, notably Ernest Bevin, refused to acknowledge this at the time. Thanks to her extensive research and numerous interviews, and to the ’opening of the books’ of the Communist Part, Nina Fishman has been able to uncover a fascinating story, one which official Communist historians have never told, and which other historians could only recount in fragments. The main protagonists are the Communist Party General Seretary, Harry Pollitt, and the Editor of the Daily Worker, Johnny Campbell. The book brings to vivid life the work of activists on the shop floor and in the coalmines during the Depression and the Second World War. The book includes the first comprehensive analysis of Communist activity in key sectors of the British economy, notably in engineering shop stewards’ movements and among London busmen. It concludes with an authoritative review of Communists' part in the British war economy and a vigorous challenge to the conventional wisdom about the effect of Communist Party changes of line on the war on activists’ abilities to incite and lead strikes.

The British Communist Party and the Trade Unions, 1933–1945

The British Communist Party and the Trade Unions, 1933–1945 PDF Author: Nina Fishman
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351893629
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 246

Get Book Here

Book Description
This is a pathbreaking book, essential reading for students of interwar political and social history. Previous histories of the period have underestimated the crucial role which Communists played in trade union organisation from top to bottom. Despite its relatively small size the Communist Party occupied a strategic place in the trade union movement: the leaders of the movement, notably Ernest Bevin, refused to acknowledge this at the time. Thanks to her extensive research and numerous interviews, and to the ’opening of the books’ of the Communist Part, Nina Fishman has been able to uncover a fascinating story, one which official Communist historians have never told, and which other historians could only recount in fragments. The main protagonists are the Communist Party General Seretary, Harry Pollitt, and the Editor of the Daily Worker, Johnny Campbell. The book brings to vivid life the work of activists on the shop floor and in the coalmines during the Depression and the Second World War. The book includes the first comprehensive analysis of Communist activity in key sectors of the British economy, notably in engineering shop stewards’ movements and among London busmen. It concludes with an authoritative review of Communists' part in the British war economy and a vigorous challenge to the conventional wisdom about the effect of Communist Party changes of line on the war on activists’ abilities to incite and lead strikes.

The Communist Party of Great Britain Since 1920

The Communist Party of Great Britain Since 1920 PDF Author: J. Eaden
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1403907226
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 242

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Book Description
A new single volume history of the Communist Party of Great Britain examining the party from its foundations in 1920 to its demise in the early 1990s. Drawing on original research and a reading of specialist texts, the authors analyze the rise and fall of the party and evaluate its role on the left of British politics. Whilst sympathetic to the ideals and commitment of many British communist activists, the book is sharply critical of much of the actual practice of the party.

British Trade Unions and Industrial Politics

British Trade Unions and Industrial Politics PDF Author: John Mcllroy
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429842961
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 408

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Book Description
First published in 1999, this volume describes the political climate and state of trade unions after the second world war in Britain. Detailing the transition of individuals who had survived in the war or had taken part in the war effort to going back a civilian life in 1945. Following the rise of the Labour party in Britain until 1964.

The Communist Party of Great Britain and the National Question in Wales, 1920-1991

The Communist Party of Great Britain and the National Question in Wales, 1920-1991 PDF Author: Douglas Jones
Publisher: University of Wales Press
ISBN: 1786831325
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 345

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Book Description
While electorally weak, the Communist Party of Great Britain and its Welsh Committee was a constant feature of twentieth century Welsh politics, in particular through its influence in the trade union movement. Based on original archival research, the present volume offers the first in-depth study of the Communist Party’s attitude to devolution in Wales, to Welsh nationhood and Welsh identity, as well as examining the party’s relationship with the Labour Party, Plaid Cymru and the labour and nationalist movements in relation to these issues. Placing the party’s engagement of these issues within the context of the rapid changes in twentieth century Welsh society, debates on devolution and identity on the British left, the role of nationalism within the communist movement, and the interplay of international and domestic factors, the volume provides new insight into the development of ideas by the political left on devolution and identity in Wales during the twentieth century. It also offers a broad outline of the party’s policy in relation to Wales during the twentieth century, and an assessment of the role played by leading figures in the Welsh party in developing its policy on Wales and devolution.

British Trade Unions and Industrial Politics

British Trade Unions and Industrial Politics PDF Author: John McIlroy
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429842996
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 470

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Book Description
First published in 1999 , this book discusses trade unionism in Britain from 1964 to 1979. Detailing political change in British politics from union strikes to Thatcherism in the late 1970s and the implications that had on trade unions and industrial politics.

British Trade Unions and Industrial Politics: The post-war compromise, 1945-64

British Trade Unions and Industrial Politics: The post-war compromise, 1945-64 PDF Author: Alan Campbell
Publisher: Ashgate Publishing
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 360

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Book Description
The first of two volumes focusing on the politics of British trade unionism since World War II, considering not only the movement's relations with the state but also factionalism, the dynamics of industrial struggle, and the allegiances of union activists. Historians, scholars of politics and industrial relations, and others present 11 studies, many from a September 1997 conference in Warwick augmented with commissioned essays, include overviews, a survey, and case studies. The second volume is subtitled The High Tide of Trade Unionism, 1940-1979. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

The British Communist Party and Moscow, 1920-43

The British Communist Party and Moscow, 1920-43 PDF Author: Andrew Thorpe
Publisher: Manchester University Press
ISBN: 9780719053122
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 480

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Book Description
The relationship between the British Communist Party and Soviet Communism is one of perennial fascination. In this text Thorpe makes extensive use of available sources, to offer a new view of this most controversial of topics.

Class Struggle in Hollywood, 1930–1950

Class Struggle in Hollywood, 1930–1950 PDF Author: Gerald Horne
Publisher: University of Texas Press
ISBN: 0292750137
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 326

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Book Description
“A taut narrative in elegant prose . . . Horne has unearthed a vitally important and mostly forgotten aspect of Hollywood and labor history.” —Publishers Weekly As World War II wound down in 1945 and the cold war heated up, the skilled trades that made up the Conference of Studio Unions (CSU) began a tumultuous strike at the major Hollywood studios. This turmoil escalated further when the studios retaliated by locking out CSU in 1946. This labor unrest unleashed a fury of Red-baiting that allowed studio moguls to crush the union and seize control of the production process, with far-reaching consequences. This engrossing book probes the motives and actions of all the players to reveal the full story of the CSU strike and the resulting lockout of 1946. Gerald Horne draws extensively on primary materials and oral histories to document how limited a “threat” the Communist party actually posed in Hollywood, even as studio moguls successfully used the Red scare to undermine union clout, prevent film stars from supporting labor, and prove the moguls’ own patriotism. Horne also discloses that, unnoticed amid the turmoil, organized crime entrenched itself in management and labor, gaining considerable control over both the “product” and the profits of Hollywood. This research demonstrates that the CSU strike and lockout were a pivotal moment in Hollywood history, with consequences for everything from production values, to the kinds of stories told in films, to permanent shifts in the centers of power.

Towards a Comparative History of Coalfield Societies

Towards a Comparative History of Coalfield Societies PDF Author: Andy Croll
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351878530
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 490

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Book Description
Few areas of labour history have received as much attention as the coal industry, with miners often finding themselves at the centre of studies on working-class political and industrial history. Yet whilst much has been written about the struggles of miners and their unions in particular countries, their national confrontations and political organization, much less work has been done on the regional communities and how they related both to the national and international picture. The central theme of this volume is to transcend such over-arching national models and to focus instead on local coal mining societies which can then be compared and contrasted to similar communities elsewhere. In so doing the book is able to tackle a number of familiar labour history themes in a more nuanced way, exploring issues of political activism and class relationships from the perspectives of gender, ethnicity, race and specific localized cultural traditions. As the chapters in this volume illustrate, such an approach can offer rich and often surprising conclusions, in many cases challenging the accepted notion of miners as the vanguard of militant working-class political activism. Adopting a regional approach that compares coalfield communities from five continents, this volume reflects coalfield experiences on a truly global scale. By looking at what made communities unique as well as what they shared in common, a much fuller understanding of the workplace, neighbourhood, family, identity and political organization is possible. Underlining the strong connections between politics, community and identity, this work emphasizes the challenges and opportunities available to labour historians, pushing forward the boundaries of the discipline in new and exciting ways.

Parties at War

Parties at War PDF Author: Andrew Thorpe
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191556785
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
Political parties formed the cornerstone of the liberal democracy for which Britain claimed it was fighting in the Second World War. However, that conflict represented the most sustained challenge to the British party system during the twentieth century. War forced the suspension of normal electoral politics, and exerted considerable extra demands on the time and loyalties of party activists and organizers. This all posed a serious challenge to the Conservative, Labour and Liberal parties. Parties at War uses an unusually broad and deep range of records of the main political parties to explore how they responded to the challenge of war. Extensive use of the local as well as the national-level papers of the major parties offers a fuller picture than ever previously attempted. Andrew Thorpe focuses on what parties actually did, at both local and national levels, to sustain their organization during the war. He assesses the varying impacts of war, not just on each of the parties, but also over time, and between the different regions and areas of Britain. Thorpe demonstrates how wartime struggles over organization had significance not just for the election of the first majority Labour government in 1945, but also for the longer-term development of 'party' in modern British politics.