CHNN 22, Spring 2008 - School of Social Sciences

Thesis reports
The Communist Party of Great Britain and Anti-Racist
Politics, 1948-1981
This PhD thesis was successfully completed in December 2007 for the Department of
History at Flinders University, South Australia. A copy has been sent to the Labour
History Archive and Study Centre in Manchester.
T
his thesis examines how the Communist Party of Great Britain, as the largest political
organisation to the left of the Labour Party and an influential force within the trade unions,
reacted to the arrival of immigrants from the Commonwealth in the post-war period, how
anti-racism was incorporated into the party’s wider struggle for socialism and the practical role
that the party occupied within the anti-racist movement in Britain. The scope of the thesis begins
with the onset of large-scale black immigration, symbolized by the arrival of the SS Empire
Windrush with 492 West Indians aboard at Tilbury in June 1948, through what Robert Miles and
Annie Phizacklea described as ‘the racialisation of British politics’, 1 ending with the riots across
Britain in the summer of 1981, when black and white youth reacted violently towards the
institutions of the state under Thatcherism. This time frame corresponds with the shifts in the
Communist Party’s post-war strategy towards parliamentary democracy under The British Road to
Socialism and through their ‘Indian Summer’ 2 during the industrial militancy of the late 1960s and
early 1970s, before the party suffered internal schisms and declining membership in the early
1980s. The history of anti-racism and the Communist Party was the history of a potential
squandered, one that had greatly diminished between the 1950s, when many black immigrants
were attracted to the party due to its anti-colonial legacy, and the early 1980s, when the party was
in sharp decline and the black communities were wary of labour movement that had for so long
minimised the problems of racism that black Britons faced. At the heart of the division between the
CPGB and black workers was the belief that racism was borne out of capitalism and that measures
taken to combat racism needed to be encompassed into the wider activities of the class struggle.
Despite the CPGB declaring that the interests of white and black workers were essentially the same,
the party faced major problems in convincing white workers, including the party’s own members,
to be actively involved in the fight against racism, particularly against racial discrimination in the
workplace and amongst the labour movement.
There are several factors that need to be examined in a history of the CPGB and anti-racist politics,
which are focused upon in this thesis. It must be remembered that the CPGB was primarily made
up of skilled and semi-skilled workers and, more so than other European communist parties, was
significantly representative of the nation’s working class. This is important as racism was pervasive
in British society in the post-war period and racist beliefs were abundant in the working class. The
Communist Party, by recruiting workers, could not be immune to some forms of racial prejudice
amongst its members, but it is important to analyse how anti-racist sentiment was formed within
the party and what practical effects this had upon anti-racist activities by party members.
Although the party did have an important legacy of being involved in anti-colonial and anti-fascist
struggles, many of its (primarily white) members had not been involved in this sphere of party
activity and during the economic boom of the post-war period, were more concerned with the
‘bread and butter’ issues of wage militancy and protecting workers’ rights. 3 Although these trade
union issues were extremely important, the problems faced by black workers were often overlooked
and issues of racism were subordinated to the class struggle. The perception of racism as a
construct of the capitalists to divide the working class and its eradication tied to the ideal of
socialist revolution meant that combating racism was consistently neglected, not just by the CPGB,
but by most sections of the labour movement and the left. The CPGB was willing to make use of its
black members, but the focus of the party remained upon the issues of industrial class politics.
Just as important as the party’s attitude towards ‘race’ and its place within the class struggle was
the practical implications of the party’s post-war strategy upon anti-racist activism. Outlined in the
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