Date: Wed, 6 Mar 96 19:53 GMT
From: jplant-AT-cix.compulink.co.uk (Jj Plant)
Subject: John Maclean and the CPGB


John Maclean and the CPGB : by Bob Pitt
Published by the author at 92 Castlehaven Rd, London, NW1 8PL, price 1.50 
ukp.

Bob Pitt's pamphlet deals with the question of Maclean's response to the 
formation of the CPGB. This may seem an obscure and limited topic, but it 
has been the subject of considerable discussion and controversy. Maclean 
was without doubt one of the finest proletarian leaders and fighters ever 
to emerge from the Scottish working class, (Lenin appointed him Russian 
Consul in Glasgow) and his refusal to support Lenin's initiative to 
create a united CP in 1921has been used in a number of attempts to 
discredit the entire history of communism in Britain. (see for example 
Walter Kendall's "The Revolutionary Movement in Britain 1900 - 21").

According to Kendall at al, Maclean's hostility to the CPGB was based on 
three factors
        Macleans Scottish nationalism
        His view that the CPGB was nothing but a tool of the Russians
        His hostility to people like William Gallacher who, much later, 
came to epitomise the bureaucratisation of the CPGB

The opposing view, supported by Pitt, is that Maclean had been made 
mentally unbalanced by his terms in prison. Pitt reviews the evidence 
presented at the time in diaries, memoirs and records of meetings, and 
makes a convincing case that Maclean emerged from prison profoundly 
affected by the belief that he was surrounded by spies and secret 
enemies. He argues that Maclean's opposition to communist unity, and his 
determination to create his own Scottish communist party was a tragic 
loss on both sides. 

Bob Pitt presents a number of useful original documents appended to his 
essay, including Maclean's "Open letter to Lenin", and the CPGB's 
obituary for Maclean (which several authors have denied was ever 
published).

_________________________________
jplant-AT-cix.compulink.co.uk




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