CHNN 22, Spring 2008 - School of Social Sciences

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some new total membership figure replaced it. It is hard to tell the frequency with which this was done because there is not a complete run of data, but it seems to have happened at least annually, and occasionally on a six-monthly basis. Prior to the advent of computing, updating these figures was a laborious task and could not be undertaken continuously (and, indeed, the totals compiled by the party contain occasional arithmetical errors); and in any case, because card sales took place throughout the year, the decision about when to fix the total membership figure must always have been arbitrary. Partly to avoid spurious fluctuations in our own report due to reporting-date choices (and partly because of the years for which data happen to be available), in this note we have therefore chosen to report biennial rather than annual membership totals. The other difficult issue is one of geography. Communist Party districts varied enormously in size and importance (‘Devon and Cornwall’ vs. ‘Scotland’, for example). Districts were also split, or merged, from time to time. Without some sort of simplification, longitudinal studies of party membership would be impossible. What we have done in this note is to combine smaller districts into relatively consistent geographical units (so, for example, all the ‘Midlands’ districts have been grouped together). What this does not take account of is (a) whether the physical boundaries of districts with the same names were changed from time to time, and (b) occasions when some (but not all) members in one district (such as the East Midlands) were reassigned to a different place entirely (such as London). However, although this means that some inaccuracies must exist, we do not believe that they are sufficient materially to affect the overall picture; and the disaggregated original data are available, on request from the authors. Thus, the broad picture available from our research is as follows: (a) Membership up to and including 1957 (using original geographical terms) Figure 1. 1945 Data 1945 Communist Party Membership Totals London 14,417 Kent 1,063 Sussex 390 Hants & Dorset 800 East Anglia 585 W.of England 1,154 Devon 410 Tees-Side 467 North-East 1,121 Yorkshire 2,889 Lancashire 4,568 North West 459 Midlands 2,529 E.Midlands 2,135 S.E.Midlands 1,416 S.Midlands 874 Scotland 7,441 Wales 2,567 Overall 45,285 16
Figure 2. 1955 Membership Data, and change from 1945. 1955 Communist Party Membership Totals London 8,867 W. Middlesex 1,375 Surrey 1,359 S. Essex 1,031 Difference Change % Former 'London'? 12,632 -1,785 -12% Kent 913 -150 -14% Sussex 416 26 7% Hants. & Dorset 406 -394 -49% East Anglia 317 -268 -46% W. of England 679 -475 -41% Devon & Cornwall 178 -232 -57% Tees-Side 287 -180 -39% North East 668 -453 -40% Yorkshire 2,152 -737 -26% Lancs. & Chesh. 3,029 -1,539 -34% North West 171 -288 -63% Midlands 1,675 -854 -34% E. Midlands 1,207 -928 -43% S.E. Midlands 600 -816 -58% S. Midlands 397 -477 -55% Scotland 5,629 -1,812 -24% Wales 1,292 -1,275 -50% Overall 32,648 -12,637 -28% Figure 3. 1957 Data, and change from 1955 Membership Totals, and Percentage Change, 1955-1957 1955 Totals 1957 Totals London 8,867 5,686 -36% W. Middlesex 1,375 1,077 -22% Surrey 1,359 1,057 -22% S. Essex 1,031 878 -15% Former 'London'? 12,632 8,698 -31% Kent 913 796 -13% Sussex 416 347 -17% Hants. & Dorset 406 393 -3% East Anglia 317 233 -26% W. of England 679 535 -21% Devon & Cornwall 178 107 -40% Tees-Side 287 232 -19% North East 668 586 -12% Yorkshire 2,152 1,841 -14% Lancs. & Chesh. 3,029 2,576 -15% North West 171 n/a n/a Midlands 1,675 1,356 -19% E. Midlands 1,207 899 -26% S.E. Midlands 600 478 -20% S. Midlands 397 306 -23% Scotland 5,629 4,735 -16% Wales 1,292 1,232 -5% Overall 32,648 25,350 -22% Change 1955- 1957 Please note: There are great discrepancies in the three columns given for London in 1957 in the raw data, but the figures reported here seem the most credible, given the proportion of losses reported in other regions, where fewer discrepancies exist. 17
Page 1 and 2: C O M M U N I S T H I S T O R Y N E
Page 3 and 4: Contents ANNOUNCEMENT New journal:
Page 5 and 6: Announcement New journal: From the
Page 7 and 8: C ommunism was one of the defining
Page 9 and 10: Thesis reports The Communist Party
Page 11 and 12: the party still viewed the issue of
Page 13 and 14: sending the President of the Board
Page 15: Research note Regional Membership F
Page 19 and 20: Figure b2. Membership Totals, biann
Page 21 and 22: Concluding Remarks Without further
Page 23 and 24: a major factor in his decision, on
Page 25 and 26: to climb over the wall because I co
Page 27 and 28: with Cole there sort of presiding.
Page 29 and 30: epudiated, and you apologise to Tit
Page 31 and 32: direction and this reinforced my de
Page 33 and 34: one accepted the term, there were d
Page 35 and 36: She last visited the museum in Apri
Page 37 and 38: Don’t forget that this was post-S
Page 39 and 40: else. The party there was far more
Page 41 and 42: tended to be a bit broader. Eddie g
Page 43 and 44: they were marched out and the doors
Page 45 and 46: publicity, without caring a fig for
Page 47 and 48: would not have known this. Or would
Page 49 and 50: In his synopsis for an autobiograph
Page 51 and 52: to entirely go along with Cohen’s
Page 53 and 54: party represented the more recent t
Page 55 and 56: Jim Riordan: The Last British Comra
Page 57 and 58: there, and eaten them. There is to
Page 59 and 60: Sobhanlal Datta Gupta. Comintern an
Page 61 and 62: IWW Bibliography A century of writi
Page 63 and 64: Werstein, Irving. Pie In the Sky: A
Page 65 and 66: Sellars, Nigel Anthony. Oil, Wheat
Page 67 and 68:
pages. A complete biography. Smith
Page 69 and 70:
Queensland Press, 1988, illus., 252
Page 71 and 72:
Lewis, Austin. The Militant Proleta
Page 73 and 74:
ut critical of their failure to res
Page 75 and 76:
Burke, Fielding (pseud. for Olive T
Page 77 and 78:
Smedley, Agnes. Daughter of Earth.
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CHNN 22, Spring 2008 - School of Social Sciences

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