Opening the Books: Essays on the Cultural and Social History of the British Communist Party

by Geoff Andrews (Editor)

No

276 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[Matthew O'Brien]

Most of this book is a collection of very good essays. I particularly enjoyed "The Communist Party in the scots Coalfields in the inter-war period" by Alan Campbell, "The Communists and the colonies: Anti-Imperialism between the wars" by John Callaghan and "No home but the Trade Union Movement: Communists Activists and 'reformist' leaders 1926-56" by Nina Fishman. that being said the book contains an awful and strongly Zionist chapter by Henry Srebnik. It does massive harm to the book as it causes the book to go from a fantastic read to an ok read. The chapters by James Hinton and Michael Kenny are also pretty dull and can easily be skipped.

[Jessie B.]

An interesting collection of essays that look at the history of the communist party in England. While some are better than others overall it creates a fascinating picture of radical politics from the 20's to the 70's.