CHNN 22, Spring 2008 - School of Social Sciences

Figure b2. Membership Totals, biannual sample, by simplified geography: trends
Source: membership campaign returns (some undated, handwritten) sampled bi-annually. CPGB Archive,
CP/CENT/ORG/19/03
From b(2) it can be seen that, perhaps surprisingly, Party membership held up relatively well until
the mid 1970s, despite the aftermath of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, but fell
sharply thereafter, just as (it might be thought) the Party’s influence in British national politics was
increasing. From b(3), below, another rather counter-intuitive result emerges; namely, that the
decline was relatively consistent across all the Districts in which the Party had members – largely
irrespective of their size, their level of organisation, or the extent to which they were engaged in
larger political struggles. Indeed, some well-organised districts (such as Yorkshire and London)
started to lose members relatively early; while the tiny number of members in Devon, Cornwall and
the West of England held on resolutely until much nearer the end.
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