Walter Kendall – författare

Kendall’s classic work has been widely appreciated for its rich contextualisation of the events and forensic examination of both the national and international factors influencing the nativity of the British Communist Party. It imaginatively recuperates and critically evaluates the politics of the party’s predecessors, notably the British Socialist Party and the Socialist Labour Party, the radical upsurge of 1910–14, the wartime shop-stewards movement, the resonance of the Russian Revolution, and the role of the Comintern in moulding the form that British Communism took. Vivid portraits of the human actors — H M Hyndman, John Maclean, Arthur MacManus and Theodore Rothstein — illuminate the text. First published in 1969, The Revolutionary Movement in Britain has stood the test of time. It remains indispensable reading for everyone interested in understanding socialist history. John McIlroy has provided a detailed Introduction to this republication.

This Red Mole Guide gathers two foundational documents of the mid-1960s British workers'-control revival. The Nottingham 1966 Conference report (The Week / Centre for Socialist Education) collects seminar findings on industrial democracy across mining, docks, steel, buses, aircraft, and health and safety, alongside Ken Coates on definitions and a study of Poland's workers' councils. The Hull University Socialist Society symposium (Spring 1967, ed. Tom Fawthrop) argues the case in four parts: the needs of society; plans and problems in Britain (nationalised industries, steel, common-ownership firms, planning); the practice of industrial democracy abroad (Yugoslavia, Poland, Norway, the kibbutz, Algeria); and policy and prospects for the future. Contributors include Coates, Tony Topham, Walter Kendall, Roger Hadley, and Vic Allen. Together they press the socialist case for democratic control of industry by workers themselves—against mere "e;joint consultation"e; and reformist management.