British communism and the politics of race / by Evan Smith.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Smith, Evan, 1981- author.

Series:

Historical materialism book series ; 143.

Historical materialism book series ; volume 143

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Communism--Great Britain--History.

Communism.

History.

Great Britain.

Physical Description:

x, 279 pages ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

Leiden ; Boston : Brill, [2018]

Summary:

British Communism and the Politics of Race' explores the role that the Communist Party of Great Britain played within the anti-racism movement in Britain from the 1940s to the 1980s. As one of the first organisations to undertake serious anti-colonial and anti-racist activism within the British labour movement, the CPGB was a pioneering force that campaigned against racial discrimination, popular imperialism and fascist violence in British society.

Contents:

Introduction 1

Themes 8

Shifting Away from the Centrality of Class 12

Thinking Intersectionally about the CPGB and the Politics of 'Race' 14

Situating the Party's Anti-racism within the Wider Scholarship 17

A Note on Methodology 20

Book Structure 23

1 The End of Empire and the Windrush Moment, 1945-60 28

The Communist Party's Anti-colonial Traditions 29

The CPGB and the Era of Decolonisation 32

Left Nationalism and the Postwar CPGB 36

The Response of the Communist Party to Commonwealth Migration 38

The Campaign Against Polish Resettlement 39

The Legacy of the 'Battle of Cable Street' and the CPGB'S Postwar Anti-fascism 48

Anti-fascist Action against the Fascist Revival of the Union Movement, 1945-51 52

The Impact of Commonwealth Migrants upon the Party's Anti-racist Outlook 58

The Nationality Branches 65

Conclusion 67

2 Anti-racism and Building the 'Mass Party', 1960-9 70

The Communist Party, Labour and Immigration Controls 71

The Principle of Immigration Controls 78

The Campaign for Legislation against Racial Discrimination 80

The Race Relations Acts Under Labour, 1965-8 84

The CPGB'S Concept of 'Race' in the Post-Colonial Era 86

The Movement for Colonial Freedom and Moderate Anti-racism 90

The Beginnings of the 'British Upturn' and the Radicalism of '1968' 93

The Trade Unions and Race 99

The Rise of New Social Movements and Black Radicalism 101

The Link with International Issues 104

Capitulating to Racism: Labour and the Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1968 106

Integration and 'Good Race Relations': The 1968 Race Relations Act 109

Powellism and the Rise of the National Front 112

Conclusion 118

3 The Crisis Emerges, 1970-5 120

The 1971 Immigration Act and Opposition to the Conservative Government 122

The Communist Party and the Reaction of the Trade Unions to the Immigration Act 126

Facing the Limits of Industrial Militancy 128

The Ugandan Asian 'Controversy' and the Rise of the National Front under the Conservatives 130

The 'No Platform' Strategy 134

Red Lion Square and the Death of Kevin Gately 138

The Trade Union Response to Fascism and Racism in the 1970s 143

Asian Workers and the Trade Unions in the Early 1970s: Mansfield Hosiery Mills and Imperial Typewriters 147

Conclusion 156

4 The Great Moving Right Show, 1976-9 158

The Building of the Broad Democratic Alliance 162

The Grunwick Strike 166

Intersectionality and the British Labour Movement 169

Policing the Labour Movement 175

The NF'S Shift to the Streets and the Rise of the Asian Youth Movements 178

The Rise of the SWP and the Revival of Militant Anti-fascism 182

The 'Battle of Lewisham' 184

'The National Front is a Nazi Front': The Anti-Nazi League, 1977-9 189

Rock Against Racism 193

The ANL and the Wider British Left 199

Southall and the Death of Blair Peach 203

'Feeling Rather Swamped': Thatcher and the Exploitation of Popular Racism 206

Conclusion 210

5 Babylon's Burning: Into the 1980s 214

Further Defeats for the CPGE 218

The Police and the Black Communities 220

From Southall to Brixton: The Violent Reaction to the Police Under Thatcher 225

'Crisis in the Inner Cities': The Communist Party's Reaction 229

The 1981 Riots as Social Protest 232

Lord Scarman's Report and the Denial of Institutional Racism 234

The Broad Democratic Alliance and Municipal Anti-racism 237

The 'Limits' of Trade Unionism in the 1980s 242

The Push for Black Sections/Caucuses within the Labour Movement 248

The End of the Party 250

Conclusion 252.

ISBN:

9004297138

9789004297135

OCLC:

989030964