Militarism and Anti-Militarism
Socialists, Communists and Conscription in France and Britain 1900-1940
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5119805 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Kevin Morgan (0000-0002-2933-2231, University of Manchester, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2009 |
| Volume | 202 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 207-244 |
| Publication date | 2009-02-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Past & Present (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0031-2746 • E-ISSN: 1477-464X |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/pastj/gtn020 |
| OpenAlex | W1988461871 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
As sole communist representative in the House of Commons, William Gallacher was used to defending the actions and pronouncements of communists internationally. Nevertheless, there was something unusual in the air when, on 27 April 1939, ‘National’ prime minister Neville Chamberlain countered Labour opposition to his new conscription bill by invoking the approval of the French communist journalist Gabriel Péri. Vice-president of the Commission for Foreign Affairs in the Chamber, Péri was foreign editor of the communist daily L’Humanité and his party's most authoritative commentator on international issues. In demanding that British workers shoulder their military responsibilities, it was clear he was not merely offering a personal opinion.1 Like all communist parties, both the British communist party (Communist Party of Great Britain, CPGB) and its French counterpart (Parti communiste français, PCF) were committed to stringent precepts of international discipline as sections of the ultra-centralized Communist International (Comintern). Gallacher's response to the mention of Péri — ‘I repudiate him right away’ — thus betrayed a surprising disregard for such protocols, which coverage in the communist Daily Worker and a note of protest to L’Humanité only reinforced.2 John Gollan, the secretary of the Young Communist League (YCL), singled out for criticism ‘newspapers and individuals on the left in France’, adding pointedly that the issue could ‘best be dealt with by Labour in this country’.3 This was not the modus operandi of the Comintern, least of all on issues bearing directly on Soviet security interests. The CPGB's representative in Moscow consequently returned home with a revised conscription line which effectively he bounced on the British party leadership. General secretary Harry Pollitt, having published a popular exposition of the anti-conscription case, indicated his willingness to stand down as party leader. Scottish organizer Peter Kerrigan condemned the intervention as a ‘contemptuous flouting of the whole of the leadership of the Party’.4 Though all was seemingly papered over, four months later Pollitt, supported by Gallacher, was removed as general secretary over the issue of war. Evidently more than just conjunctural issues were involved.
Communism · Economic history · Foreign policy · House of Commons · Internationalism (politics) · League · Militarism · Opposition (politics) · Parliament · Political science · Politics · Communism, Protests, Social Movements · French Historical and Cultural Studies · History · Law · World Wars: History, Literature, and Impact
| Citations per year | 0.33 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2017 - 2026 (10) |
| Highly cited | No |