Name: Enemy within: The rise and fall of the British Communist Party
SKU: bhb25
Price: 350.00 ZAR
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Enemy within: The rise and fall of the British Communist Party

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Secondhand

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South Africa

Product code

bhb25

Bob Shop ID

647270549

Published by John Murray Publishers Ltd, 1995, hardcover, illustrated, index, 246 pages, closed tear to dustjacket. otherwise condition : very good

The story of the British Communist Party from 1920 onwards. The text covers talk of armed insurrection in the 1920s; Mosley's Fascists in the 1930s and the Spanish Civil War; Stalin; Britain's war effort; the invasions of Hungary and Czechoslovakia; and collapse after 1991.

A good, comprehendible history of the old CPGB. The perspective is critical, but not politically prejudiced and the book is by no means a hatchet job. Beckett's overall thesis is that British Communists were largely dedicated, principled, and effective people that were consistently hobbled by the absurd positions forced on them by the needs of the international movement, and the Soviet Union in particular. Despite this view, which is unlikely to please orthodox communists that much, Enemy Within casts the CPGB in a relatively heroic light, lingering on its finer moments and not over-egging its less glorious ones.
Beckett doesn't bother with minutia, but describes in broad stokes the big issues and debates which preoccupied his subjects in their time. For a lay reader looking for a humane, well structured, and concise history of the CPGB, I would recommend this book highly. It will also be a worthwhile read for anyone with an interest in British labour movement more generally. The CP consistently punched above its weight in British labour politics (in sharp contrast to the futility of the various Trotskyist sects) and Enemy Within gives a useful insight to how and why this was.

The author, Francis Beckett, is an author, journalist, broadcaster, playwright, and contemporary historian. A regular contributor to the "Guardian "and "New Statesman", he has written many books, including a previous biography of Clement Attlee.

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