Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-94d59 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T22:54:08.446Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Russian Emigration and British Marxist Socialism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 December 2008

Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Britain's tradition of political asylum has for centuries brought refugees of many nationalities to her shores. The influence both direct and indirect, which they have exerted on British life has been a factor of no small importance. The role of religious immigration has frequently been examined, that of the socialist emigrés from Central Europe has so far received less detailed attention.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis 1963

References

page 351 note 1 Hovell, Mark, The Chartist Movement, Manchester 1925, p. 286Google Scholar; Schoyen, A. R., The Chartist Challenge, London 1958, pp. 130151.Google Scholar

page 351 note 2 Hovell, Mark, The Chartist Movement, p. 286Google Scholar; Northern Star, 9 October, 1847.Google Scholar

page 351 note 3 Hovell, Mark, The Chartist Movement, p. 287Google Scholar; Schoyen, A. R., The Chartist Challenge, pp. 135145Google Scholar; The Red Republican, London (issues of 1850), edited by Harney, C. J..Google Scholar

page 351 note 4 Hovell, Mark, The Chartist Movement (The Pole, Major Beniowski), pp. 176f.Google Scholar; Schoyen, A. R., The Chartist Challenge, pp. 88, 90, 92.Google Scholar

page 351 note 5 Committee of the Delegates of the Russian Socialist Groups in London, An Appeal to Public Opinion, London 1916, p. 16Google Scholar; Browne, Douglas G., The Rise of Scotland Yard, London 1956, p. 279.Google Scholar

page 351 note 6 Browne, Douglas G., The Rise of Scotland Yard, p. 279.Google Scholar

page 352 note 1 Committee of Delegates of the Russian Socialist Groups in London, An Appeal to Public Opinion, London 1916, p. 7.Google Scholar

page 352 note 2 Lerner, Shirley W., Breakaway Unions and The Small Trade Union, London 1961, pp. 8587.Google Scholar Sam Elsbury, later an important figure in Communist union history, is an excellent example of the militant highly skilled cutter. Ibid., p. 100 et seq.

page 352 note 3 Rocker, Rudolf, The London Years, London 1956.Google Scholar Introduction by Leftwich, Joseph, p. 2728.Google Scholar – “The Jews whose lives were fallen in pleasant places”, as the Jewish Chronicle termed it, did not, with few exceptions, want to put themselves out to “become their brothers keepers”. There was a cold attitude amongst responsible Jewish organisations towards “our poor East End brethren”. For the apathy of large sections of population, Rocker The London Years, pp. 78–82. For difficulties of organisation, Ibid., p. 122 et seq.

page 352 note 4 Rocker, Rudolf, The London Years, pp. 192193Google Scholar, relates how in November 1909 on the eve of the London Lord Mayor's Show, he had personally to intervene in order to dissuade a small group of anarchists from carrying out a plan to throw a bomb at the procession.

page 353 note 1 Rocker, Rudolf, The London Years, pp. 123, 136, 177.Google Scholar

page 353 note 2 Woodcock, George and Avakumović, Ivan, The Anarchist Prince, London 1950, p. 145.Google Scholar Kropotkin with others founded the Freedom Group in 1886. Ibid., p. 208.

page 353 note 3 Rocker, Rudolf, The London Years, pp. 162165.Google Scholar

page 353 note 4 Mayer, Gustav, Friedrich Engels, London 1936, p. 197.Google Scholar

page 353 note 5 Bernstein, Edward, My Years of Exile, London 1921, p. 219.Google ScholarSchapiro, Leonard, The Communist Party of the Soviet Union, London 1960, p. 819Google Scholar (for role as founder). Haimson, Leopold H., The Russian Marxists and the Origins of Bolshevism, Cambridge (Mass.) 1955.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

page 353 note 6 Bernstein, Edward, My Years of Exile, p. 219Google Scholar; (Stepniak) p. 214.

page 354 note 1 Lee, H. W. and Archbold, E., Social Democracy in Britain, London 1935, p. 65.Google Scholar

page 354 note 2 Lee, H. W. and Archbold, E., Social Democracy in Britain, pp. 8283Google Scholar; Bax, E. Belfort, Reminiscences and Reflections, London 1918, p. 73 et seq.Google Scholar

page 354 note 3 “We are opposed to strikes altogether”, wrote Hyndman in April 1903. “They never were a powerful weapon and now they are quite out of date.” Justice, 18.4.1903.

page 354 note 4 “…great strikes can force concessions … they cannot alone effect any permanent improvement in the conditions of those who labour.” Lee, H. W., The Great Strike Movement of 1911, London, p. 16.Google Scholar

page 354 note 5 Maclean, John. Biographical material in possession of Maclean's daughter Nan Milton.Google Scholar

page 354 note 6 See Hyndman's, address to the Founding Conference of the British Socialist Party. British Socialist Party Annual Report, London 1912.Google Scholar

page 355 note 1 Krupskaya, N., Memories of Lenin, Vol. I, London 1930, p. 60Google Scholar et seq. (Krupskaya gives an excellent impression of the mobility of emigré political life); Trotsky, L., Lenin, London 1925, p. 27Google Scholar et seq.; Trotsky, L., My Life, New York 1930, p. 142Google Scholar et seq.; Rocker, Rudolf, The London Years, pp. 128, 177.Google Scholar

page 355 note 2 Krupskaya, N., Memories of Lenin, p. 85Google Scholar; Eastman, Max, Leon Trotsky—Portrait of a Youth, London 1926, p. 174.Google Scholar

page 355 note 3 Eastman, Max, Leon Trotsky—Portrait of a Youth, pp. 171172Google Scholar; Trotsky, L., My Life, p. 145.Google Scholar

page 355 note 4 Eastman, Max, Leon Trotsky–Portrait of a Youth, pp. 172174Google Scholar; Trotsky, L., Lenin, , p. 39.Google Scholar

page 355 note 5 Krupskaya, N., Memories of Lenin, Vol. I, p. 66.Google Scholar

page 355 note 6 It was Harry Quelch, editor of “Justice”, who arranged for Trotsky to be admitted to the British Museum Library. Trotsky arrived in October. See Trotsky, , My Life, p. 205.Google Scholar

page 356 note 1 Lenin, on Britain (a compilation), London 1934, pp. 118119.Google Scholar

page 356 note 2 Schapiro, Leonatd, The Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Appendix II, p. 604.Google Scholar

page 356 note 3 Lenin, on Britain, pp. 107109.Google Scholar

page 356 note 4 Hobson, S. G., Pilgrim to the Left, London 1938, pp. 125128.Google Scholar

page 357 note 1 Lee, H. W. and Archbold, E., Social Democracy in Britain, London 1935, pp. 148154.Google Scholar

page 357 note 2 Pope, Arthur Upham, Maxim Litvinov, London 1943, pp. 51Google Scholar, 68, 84, 96, 103 et seq.

page 357 note 3 Justice, 15.7.1905.Google Scholar

page 358 note 1 Justice, 30.3.1907Google Scholar: “Social Democrats and their Tactics in the Russian Duma”.

page 358 note 2 Balabanova, Angelica, My Life as a Rebel, London 1938, pp. 8591Google Scholar; Trotsky, L., Stalin, , London 1947, pp. 8992.Google Scholar

page 358 note 3 Balabanova, Angelica, My Life as a Rebel, p. 86, 89.Google Scholar

page 358 note 4 Balabanova, Angelica, My Life as a Rebel, p. 90Google Scholar; Postgate, Raymond, The Life of George Lansbury, London 1951, 6970Google Scholar; Trotsky, L., My Life, p. 202Google Scholar; Brailsford, H. N., Plebs Magazine, Tillicoultry, May 1948, pp. 8688.Google Scholar Trotsky puts the figure at £ 3,000. The accounts vary over details.

page 359 note 1 Aldred, Guy, No Traitors Gait, Glasgow, p. 281.Google Scholar Quelch spoke an 16.5.1907. The Congress lasted from May 13th to June 1st.

page 359 note 2 Hansard, 27.5.1907Google Scholar, Col. 1319. “I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is aware that the Russian delegates who are now holding a conference in London are being shadowed and their photographs taken by private detectives and the police, and whether he intends taking any action in the matter?”

page 359 note 3 Justice, 1.6.1907.Google Scholar

page 359 note 4 Justice, 15.6.1907.Google Scholar

page 360 note 1 Gorki, M., Days with Lenin, London 1933, p. 18.Google Scholar

page 360 note 2 Brust, Harold, I Guarded Kings, London 1935, pp. 8788.Google Scholar

page 360 note 3 The Club was opened on February 3rd, 1906Google Scholar. Rocker, R., The London Years, p. 178.Google Scholar

page 360 note 4 Brust, Harold, I Guarded Kings, London 1935, pp. 9094Google Scholar; Brust, Harold, In Plain Clothes, London 1937, pp. 2225.Google Scholar

page 360 note 5 Brust, Harold, I Guarded Kings, p. 89.Google Scholar

page 360 note 6 Society of Friends of Russian Freedom, London, Pamphlet Library of London School of Economics and Political Science.

page 361 note 1 As above.

page 361 note 2 Rocker, R., The London Years, pp. 172174.Google Scholar

page 361 note 3 Peter Petroff would seem to be an exception. The matter was obviously affected by age, education and general social and cultural background.

page 361 note 4 Zelda Kahan, J. Fineberg and in a sense Theodore Rothstein are examples.

page 361 note 5 See preface to Theodore Rothstein, From Chartism to Labourism, London 1929.Google Scholar

page 361 note 6 Rothstein worked for the Manchester Guardian and the (Liberal)Daily News amongst other journals. He was author of Egypt's Ruin, London 1910.Google Scholar

page 362 note 1 Social Democrat, London, June 1900.Google Scholar

page 362 note 2 Social Democrat, July 1900.Google Scholar

page 362 note 3 Bell, Thomas, Pioneering Days, London 1941, pp. 58–41Google Scholar, 178 et seq.

page 362 note 4 Hyndman, H. M., Further Reminiscences, London 1912, p. 199.Google Scholar

page 362 note 5 Gould, F. J., Hyndman–Prophet of Socialism, London 1928, p. 129.Google Scholar

page 362 note 6 Justice, 11.8.1900.Google Scholar

page 363 note 1 Justice, 5.8.1911Google Scholar; Eddy, J. P., The Mystery of Peter the Painter, London 1946.Google Scholar

page 363 note 2 Justice, 12.8.1911.Google Scholar

page 363 note 3 Thus Morton and Tate, The British Labour Movement, Lawrence & Wishart, London 1956, p. 165Google Scholar, describe Hyndman as “at bottom a bourgeois political boss”, although by comparison with the British Communist Party the SDF was a veritable paragon of honesty, socialist principles and internal democracy.

page 363 note 4 Hyndman, H. M., England for All, London 1881, pp. 169171.Google Scholar

page 363 note 5 SDF Conference Report, London 1906.Google Scholar

page 363 note 6 Morning Post, London 6.7.1910.Google Scholar

page 364 note 1 Justice, 30.7.1910.Google Scholar B. Kahan's daughter, Zelda Kahan, was a member.

page 364 note 2 Justice, 20.8.1910.Google Scholar Grown from the Democratic Federation founded in 1881Google Scholar, the Social Democratic Federation founded in 1884Google Scholar, became the Social Democratic Party in 1908Google Scholar, merged into the British Socialist Party in 1912Google Scholar and finally dissolved itself as the largest single contingent into the Communist Party of Great Britain in 1920.Google Scholar

page 364 note 3 Justice, 22.4.1911.Google Scholar

page 364 note 4 Lenin, on Britain, pp. 113115.Google ScholarArticle dated 29.4.1911.Google Scholar

page 365 note 1 Justice, 15.7.1911.Google ScholarCoates, William Peyton, USSR and Disarmament, Anglo Russian Parliamentary Committee, London 1928Google Scholar etc. Peyton, William and Coates, Zelda, Armed Intervention in Russia 1918–1922, London 1935.Google Scholar

page 365 note 2 British Socialist Party Conference Report, London 1912, pp. 2022.Google Scholar The vote was 83 to 65.

page 365 note 3 British Socialist Party Conference Report, London 1912, p. 31.Google Scholar

page 365 note 4 Lee, H. W. and Archbold, E., Social Democracy in Britain, London 1936, pp. 212213.Google ScholarBritish Socialist Party Conference Report, London 1913, pp. 3638.Google Scholar

page 366 note 1 British Socialist Party Conference Report 1913, p. 17.Google Scholar

page 366 note 2 British Socialist Party Conference Report 1915, p. 18.Google Scholar

page 366 note 3 Lenin, on Britain, pp. 115117.Google Scholar

page 366 note 4 Testimony of MacDougall, James, Glasgow, a prominent participant in these events.Google Scholar

page 366 note 5 British Socialist Party Conference Report, London 1914, p. 9.Google Scholar

page 367 note 1 British Socialist Party Conference Report 1913, p. 19.Google Scholar

page 367 note 2 Lee, and Archbold, , Social Democracy in Britain, pp. 225226.Google Scholar

page 367 note 3 British Socialist Party Conference Report 1915, p. 18.Google Scholar

page 367 note 4 Justice, 24.9.1914Google Scholar, 1.10.1914, 22.10.1914.

page 368 note 1 Justice, 8.10.1914.Google Scholar

page 368 note 2 Justice, 5.11.1914.Google Scholar

page 368 note 3 Justice, 3.12.1914.Google Scholar

page 368 note 4 Irma Petroff in a letter to the author. The votes cast were collated and totalled at the National Office in London. Lee, and Archbold, , Social Democracy in Britain, pp. 223235Google Scholar; Justice 4.3.1915.Google Scholar

page 368 note 5 Lee, and Archbold, , Social Democracy in Britain, pp. 232233.Google Scholar

page 368 note 6 Pope, A. U., Maxim Litvinov, pp. 103110.Google Scholar Litvinov's report of the proceedings was first published in Trotsky's Nashe Slovo on 27.12.1915. A fuller version, unmutilated by French censorship, appeared in the Zurich Sozialdemokrat 29.3.1915.Google Scholar 7 Justice, 15.4.1915.Google Scholar

page 369 note 1 When the Italian Deputy Ordino Morgari visited Vandervelde, Chairman of the International Socialist Bureau, he was notified “As long as German soldiers are billeted in the homes of Belgian workers there can be no talk of convening the Executive.”—“Is the International then a hostage in the hands of the Entente?” asked Morgari pointedly. “Yes, a hostage”, came the blunt reply. Deutscher, , The Prophet Armed, p. 225.Google Scholar

page 369 note 2 British Socialist Party Conference Report 1913, pp. 3940.Google Scholar

page 369 note 3 Central Hackney in East London was one of the more militant BSP branches. BSP Conference Report 1913, p. 40.Google Scholar

page 369 note 4 Lee, and Archbold, , Social Democracy in Britain, p. 235Google Scholar; British Socialist Party Conference Report 1913, p. 40.Google Scholar

page 369 note 5 Justice, 30.9.1915.Google Scholar

page 369 note 6 British Socialist Party Conference Report 1916, pp. 1314Google Scholar; British Socialist Party Conference Report 1917, p. 11.Google Scholar

page 369 note 7 Quelch, had resigned his post as editor in 1913Google Scholar and been replaced by Lee. Lee, and Archbold, , Social Democracy in Britain, p. 211.Google Scholar

page 370 note 1 Justice, 8.7.1915.Google Scholar

page 370 note 2 Bell, Tom, Maclean, John, Glasgow 1944, p. 39.Google Scholar

page 370 note 3 Vanguard, , December 1915.Google Scholar

page 370 note 4 Testimony of MacDougall, James, Glasgow in conversation with the author.Google Scholar

page 370 note 5 Forward, , Glasgow 8.5.1915.Google Scholar

page 370 note 6 Who and What is Peter Petroff, Justice 25.12.1915.Google Scholar

page 370 note 7 British Socialist Party Conference Report 1916, pp. 2021.Google Scholar Trotsky's Nashe Slovo also protested; see Vanguard, , December 1915.Google ScholarThe Call, 30.3.1916.Google Scholar

page 371 note 1 George, Lloyd, then Minister of Munitions, visited Clydeside in December 1915Google Scholar, with a view to winning support for government policies amongst the industrial workers. Gallacher, William, Revolt on the Clyde, London 1949, p. 31Google Scholar et seq., p. 78 et seq.

page 371 note 2 Doran, Edward, former Glasgow member of the British Socialist Party, in conversation with the author.Google Scholar

page 371 note 3 The Worker, Glasgow, , 29.1.1916.Google Scholar

page 371 note 4 Gallacher, W., Revolt on the Clyde, p. 115Google Scholar et seq. Bell, T., Maclean, John, pp. 5759.Google Scholar

page 371 note 5 The shop stewards leaders were arrested on 51.1.1916Google Scholar, John Maclean one day later.

page 371 note 6 Bell, T., Maclean, John, pp. 5762.Google Scholar

page 371 note 7 In January 1916. Bell, T., Maclean, John, p. 40.Google Scholar

page 371 note 8 Gallacher, for example. Revolt on the Clyde, pp. 6, 205–207.Google Scholar

page 371 note 9 Justice, 27.5.1915Google Scholar, 5.6.1915.

page 372 note 1 The first issue of The Call appeared on 24.2.1916.Google Scholar

page 372 note 2 British Socialist Party Conference Report 1916, p. 3Google Scholar; Lee, and Archbold, , Social Democracy in Britain, pp. 236237.Google Scholar

page 372 note 3 Lee, and Archbold, , Social Democracy in Britain, p. 239Google Scholar; British Socialist Party Conference Report 1917, p. 2324.Google Scholar

page 372 note 4 Deutscher, Isaac, The Prophet Armed, p. 221.Google Scholar

page 372 note 5 Deutscher, Isaac, The Prophet Armed, pp. 222223.Google Scholar Author's conversation with James Macdougall.

page 372 note 6 Deutscher, Isaac, The Prophet Armed, pp. 221222.Google Scholar

page 372 note 7 Deutscher, Isaac, The Prophet Armed, p. 238Google Scholar; The Call, 21.9.1916.Google ScholarSlovo, Nashe was banned on 15.9.1916.Google Scholar

page 373 note 1 The Call, 23.11.1916.Google Scholar

page 373 note 2 The Call, 26.4.1917.Google Scholar On May Day 1918 The Scottish Socialist Labour Party was selling in Glasgow a secretly printed edition of Trotsky's War and Revolution.

page 373 note 3 The Call, 21.6.1917.Google Scholar

page 373 note 4 The Call, 21.6.1917.Google Scholar

page 373 note 5 The Call, 26.7.1917.Google Scholar

page 373 note 6 SirThomson, Basil, The Scene Changes, New York 1937, p. 383Google Scholar et seq. Thomson, was appointed in June 1913Google Scholar; Ibid., p. 242.

page 374 note 1 British Socialist Party Conference Reports 1916, 1917, 1918.Google Scholar

page 374 note 2 Maclean's, John personal papers in possession of his daughter, Nan Milton.Google Scholar

page 374 note 3 Magazine, Plebs, Oxford, August 1917Google Scholar; Bryan, John, The Struggle of Classes in Russia, p. 147.Google Scholar

page 374 note 4 The Manifesto of 24.1.1919Google Scholar, from which the establishment of the Communist International dates, invited “The left elements in the British Socialist Party, in particular the groups represented by Maclean.”

page 375 note 1 Pope, A. U., Litvinov, Maxim, p. 130.Google Scholar

page 375 note 2 Bell, Tom, Maclean, John, p. 69 et seq.Google Scholar

page 375 note 3 The Call, 24.1.1918.Google ScholarLitvinov's, appeal “To the Workers of Great Britain” appeared in the issue of 10.1.1918.Google ScholarThe British Socialist Party Manifesto on 17.1.1918.Google Scholar The combined leaflet apparently never left the printshop.

page 375 note 4 The Call, 7.2.1918.Google Scholar

page 375 note 5 The Call, 7.2.1918Google Scholar; Thomson, , Queer People, p. 283.Google Scholar

page 376 note 1 The Call, 10.1.1918.Google Scholar

page 376 note 2 Trotsky had threatened reprisals if they were not released, George, David Lloyd, War Memoirs, p. 2566Google Scholar; Pope, A. U., Litvinov, Maxim, p. 130Google Scholar; The Call, 10.1.1918.Google Scholar

page 376 note 3 British Socialist Party Conference 1918, p. 23.Google Scholar Macdougall in conversation with the author.

page 376 note 4 The Call, 13.6.1918Google Scholar, 27.6.1918.

page 376 note 5 Lockhart, Robert Bruce, Memoirs of a British Agent, London 1932, pp. 201204.Google ScholarPope, A. U., Litvinov, Maxim, p. 130.Google Scholar

page 376 note 6 SirThomson, Basil, Queer People, London 1922, pp. 287288Google Scholar; George, David Lloyd, Memoirs, War, p. 2567Google Scholar; Murphy, J. T., New Horizons, London 1941, p. 69.Google ScholarMacManus, and Bell, , two important shop steward leaders, had travelled specially to London to meet Litvinov in February 1917.Google ScholarBell, T., Pioneering Days, pp. 169, 151.Google Scholar

page 377 note 1 SirThomson, Basil, Queer People, p. 290.Google Scholar

page 377 note 2 The Call, 17.4.1919.Google Scholar The same issue contained the first report of the Founding Congress of the Communist International which had begun in Moscow on 2nd March, 1919.

page 377 note 3 The Call, 30.10.1919.Google Scholar