The Communist Party in Liverpool and Birkenhead, 1920-1940
Chris Jones
Socialist History Society, £5

WRITING local labour movement history is never an easy task. Unlike the ruling class, who litter themselves with memoirs about their contribution to the locality and its wellbeing, the organisations of the working class often fail to see the value of reserving records.

Nowhere is this more true than with the Communist Party.

So a big thank you to the Socialist History Society, which in a recent addition to its Occasional Publications series has published this well-written and thoroughly researched booklet. 

In recent years much has been written about the Communist Party, usually from outsiders, and with the well-worn theme that the party was little more than Moscow’s puppet.

Little attention has been paid to the party at grassroots level, particularly before the war, and this is a first-rate contribution to what can only be hoped will be a burgeoning interest in this neglected area.

The author, Chris Jones, is a retired academic nurse from Edge Hill University in Lancashire, who has written extensively about Liverpool and its history, and also about neurology and neuroscience.

Here, he has taken on a daunting task. There are few recorded reminiscences to rely on and minute books and branch records, except in rare cases, have been lost.

The activists of the period are sadly no longer with us and oral history was then in its infancy. So the author has had the onerous task of going through all the communist publications of the time, the Communist, Workers Life, Workers Weekly and, after 1930, the Daily Worker, plus numerous others. 

In addition he has had to scour the Merseyside press and the Liverpool Echo in particular which, as he rightly points out, was not sympathetic to the Communist Party. So to write the history of the Communist Party on Merseyside from its formation in 1920 until just after the start of WWII is a real labour of love.

The pamphlet covers all aspects of the party’s life and struggles, and we even discover where leading party members lived and where meetings were held.

Party activity in the ’20s and ’30s is covered in some detail. Notably, this includes the rise and fall of the Minority Movement on Merseyside, the fight against the rise of fascism, both at home and abroad, the long-lasting involvement of party members in the various movements of the unemployed, and a particularly detailed look at individual communists and their trade union activity. This includes the legendary Leo McGree, a well-known communist militant on Merseyside.

The social aspect of the party’s work is also covered: there were regular Left Book Club meetings in the area and, after its success in London, a branch of Unity Theatre was established.

Liverpool, more that any other big city in England, was riven, not only only by class politics, but also religious differences. Liverpool had a large Irish diaspora in its midst, which included Protestants and Catholics. The were regular Orange Order marches in the city. Sean Murray from the Communist Party of Ireland spoke at party meetings in Liverpool. Whether it was a consequence of that or not, the Orange Order, on a number of occasions, tried to break up Communist Party meetings.

Liverpool was also a major port, and black seamen at that time were discriminated against, even by their own union, the National Union of Seamen. The party called for unity and welcomed the creation of a new seamen’s club that it was hoped would attract black seamen.

Also, with the campaign to save the Scottsboro Boys, a group of mainly black teenagers, wrongly accused of raping two white women in Alabama, US, it was striving to reach out internationally. Merseyside communists organised a mass rally addressed by one of the boys’ mothers.

Also of note is the very interesting period from 1920 to 1925 when communists could also be members of the Labour Party.

This is a very readable, informative and valued contribution to the local history of the Communist Party.

To buy a copy please write to: Socialist History Society, 53 Fladgate Road, London, E11 1LX.

For more information see: socialisthistorysociety.co.uk.