The rise and fall of the Communist Party of Great Britain, 1928-1983

Prior to the 1926 British General Strike, large numbers of the CPGB’s leaders were put in prison under the charge of “seditious conspiracy”. But the CPGB’s support for the strike swelled its membership, particularly in Glasgow, East London and Wales, parts of which became known as “Little Moscow”.

The party was active in organising various rallies and demonstrations. Some of these ended in violence, notably in 1936 when Communist marchers clashed with the Blackshirts, members of Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists, in and around London’s Cable Street.

From a body of only 2,555 in November 1930, membership the CPGB reached its high watermark in 1943 at 60,000 and it received 103,000 votes in the 1945 General Election, leading to two elected Communist MPs.

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[GreatPolishWingedHussars]

It's good that this video reminds us that the communists were also active in western countries. If one thinks that this had no impact on these countries, then one is wrong. For example, when Poland was in the war 1919-21 against the communist Bolshesites, British shipyard workers influenced by the communists actually sabotaged the loading of equipment and weapons intended to support Poland in the fight against the communists. Becuase they refused to load the equipment and weapons onto the ships. British railroaders were also influenced by the communists and acted in this way by sabotaging the transport of equipment and arms to Poland. "Extract from the National Union of Railwaymen's newspaper 'The Railway Review' of 4 June 1920, which hails the actions of the dockers in refusing to load munitions onto the ship 'The Jolly George', and commits the railwaymen to "refuse to handle any material which is intended to assist Poland against the Russian people." A debate on the merits of direct action is included in the 27 August 1920 edition of The Railway Review"! On 6 August 1920, the British Labour Party printed in a pamphlet that British workers would not take part in the war as Poland's allies. By the way, in France there were also the same anti-Polish agitations and sabotages provoked by the communists. The French Section of the Workers' International declared in its newspaper L'Humanité: "Not a man, not a sou, not a shell for the reactionary and capitalist Poland. Long live the Russian Revolution! Long live the Workers' International!". In the the Second Congress of the Communist International (Comintern) deliberated in Moscow in 19 July to 7 August 1920 Lenin spoke of the increasingly favorable odds for the accomplishment of the World Proletarian Revolution, which would lead to the "World Soviet Republic". The congress issued an appeal to workers in all countries, asking them to forestall their governments' efforts to aid "White" Poland. The published Declaration on the Polish-Bolshevik War of the Third Congress of the Communist International June 22 to July 12, 1921 condemned France, Great Britain and the United States for allegedly inciting Poland to fight against Soviet Russia.

Although the impression should not arise here that the British government was really ready to support Poland sufficiently at that time. In autumn 1919, the British government of Prime Minister David Lloyd George agreed to provide arms for Poland and so a military contract was signed by Poland and Britain for the purchase of 100 fighter planes. The Polish army also received a small number of cannons and rifles. Only a dozen Polish pilots were trained in aviation schools in Great Britain. But on May 17, 1920, after the Polish takeover of Kiev, the cabinet speaker in the House of Commons informed the press that that no further assistance was granted to Poland. This wiki quote clearly illustrates the British government's attitude towards Poland. Quoting Wiki link Polish–Soviet War in 1920: "Britain's Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, once a strong supporter of Imperial Russia, was now a Soviet sympathizer and authorized British sales of large quantities of armaments (including modern tanks) to fill urgent Soviet orders, at the same time blocking any British moves to aid Poland." Insolently, the British also wanted to define Poland's eastern border with the so-called Curzon line, which would have meant that millions of Poles east of this line would have been exposed to the red terror. Although for the non-Poles in the areas claimed by Poland east of this line it would certainly be better to live in Poland than in the Bolshevik red terror state. So this fools meant with this stupid demands on Poles regarding the eastern Polish border that it was a good idea to leave the people beyond the Curzon Line to the Bolsheviks for famine and red terror. These conditions were absolutely unacceptable for Poland. In the midst of the Polish-Bolshevik War, as Poland struggled to survive, the British began 31 May 1920 negotiations with the Bolsheviks to negotiate a trade agreement. When Poland was in great distress and the Bolshevik troops marched towards the Polish capital the Soviets presented their armistice conditions to the French and British on 8 August 1920 in Britain. The conditions they presented amounted to demands for surrender of the Polish state. Prime Minister David Lloyd George and the British House of Commons approved the Soviet demands as just and reasonable and and the British ambassador in Warsaw suggested that the Polish government accept the conditions that would have led to the de facto sovietization of Poland. Poland refused this call for surrender and continued to fight. British behavior towards the Bolsheviks was completely irrational and harmful to Poland. On the one hand, the British recognized that the communists were a danger, which is why British troops fought on the side of the "Whites" Communist enemies in the Russian Civil War. When the anti-communist "Whites" lost this Russian civil war, the British then wanted to come to an agreement with the Bolsheviks because they believed that only the Bolsheviks would be strong enough to be a counterweight against Germany. In doing so, they completely underestimated the danger of the communist Bolsheviks who wanted the world revolution to introduce the communist system worldwide. On the 11 July, 1920, the government of Great Britain issued a de facto ultimatum to the Bolsheviks. The Bolsheviks were ordered to stop hostilities against Poland and to accept the " Curzon line" as a temporary border with Poland, until a permanent border could be established in negotiations. In case of Soviet refusal, the British threatened to assist Poland with all the means available. On the 17 July, the Bolsheviks refused and made a counter-offer to negotiate a peace treaty directly with Poland. The British responded by threatening to cut off the on-going trade negotiations if the Soviets conducted further offensives against Poland. These threats were ignored. British unions threatened a general strike over announced support for Poland in the war, providing a convenient excuse for British Prime Minister Lloyd George to withdraw his pledge of support to Poland. As mentioned above! Such behavior can already be described as treacherous!

By the way, in contrast to Western countries and Germany, in Poland there was practically no significant communist activity and the Polish communist party was tiny and insignificant! Poland was one of the few countries in Europe where there was no strong communist movement. In fact, in some European countries, in addition to communist-ruled Russia, there was even also Soviet republics. Moreover, there were also attempts by the communists to take power in other parts of Europe! So these are examples of communist successes outside the Bolshevik state at the time of the Polish-Bolshevik war. The Hungarian Soviet Republic was the communist state of Hungary from 21 March 1919 until 1 August 1919 (133 days). Until the anti-communists prevailed and abolished this Soviet republic. The other communist republics and communes have survived just as short as the Hungarian Soviet Republic but that makes it clear that there were strong communist influences throughout Europe. The Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic more commonly referred to as Red Finland, was a proclaimed Finnish communist state that ruled parts of the country during the Finnish Civil War of 1918. Another example of an attempted communist takeover of power in Europe was then the Alsace-Lorraine Soviet Republic of 1918 in France. The Limerick Soviet was one of a number of declared Irish soviets that were formed around Ireland 1919. The Slovak Soviet Republic was a short-lived Communist state in southeast Slovakia in existence from 16 June 1919 to 7 July 1919. Commune of the Working People of Estonia existed from 29 November 1918 to 5 June 1919. In 1918, announced the formation of the Latvian Socialist Soviet Republic. A communist revolutionary Red Guard was founded in Austria and an attempt was made to proclaim a Soviet Republic. Like in Hungary during the German November Revolution, the communist Karl Liebknecht proclaimed the communist republic in Germany on November 9, 1918. But the communists' seizure of power then failed, although later there were repeated attempts by the communists to gain power in Germany or parts of Germany. Like with the Bavarian Soviet Republic which was a short-lived communist state in Bavaria during the riots of 1918–19 in Germany. Then there were another attempts by the communists to come to power in German areas. The Bremen Soviet Republic was proclaimed which was a short-lived state in Germany, existing for 25 days in 1919. The communist Spartacist uprising with the goal of an all-German Soviet Republic were armed battles in Berlin from 5 to 12 January 1919.

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