Class Against Class: The Communist Party in Britain Between the Wars

by Matthew Worley

A Communist Party wanted, a party of action … that will wage class war up to the point of revolution, rejecting all compromise and truck with capitalist reform … seeking to rally the working class to the standard of International Communism'. Class against Class is the first major study of the Communist Party of Great Britain between the wars when it adopted the militant strategy of 'class against class, in its struggle to be the effective alternative to both the Labour Party and TUC and win the minds and hearts of the British working class. But the adoption of the 'New Line' of class struggle in 1929 and an end to cooperation with other leftwing parties seen as obedience to Moscow dictate resulted in loss of membership and much of the support and sympathy from within the wider labour movement it had gained during the General Strike of 1926. This revisionary study, based on newly unearthed material from the Communist Party's Manchester archive shows that far from losing influence and being driven to the brink of collapse, the CPGB consolidated its position as leader of the unemployed, led national hunger marches, organized social and cultural events, including party schools, theatre and film, while membership grew and the party developed as an effective and valued body in the pantheon of leftwing British politics.

Genres: History

368 pages, Paperback

First published February 9, 2002