Constant Reader Labour History

A MEETING was held recently of workers in the field of working-class history, with a view to forming a society to encourage and facilitate such work. Historians of many points of view were present, belonging to several generations and including both univers- ity and non-university researchers. It would be improper for me to anticipate with details the official announcement which will appear in due course, but

‘aiid -fite’ wadies: and those ‘of ‘organizations 4 ‘in the. margins of Monthly.’

the maiff movémént.: For instance, tan anybody tell: me where ¥ art find: a ‘complete set Of *Busman’s Punch’, the monthly journal of the London busmen’s rank-and-file movement of 1932-1937? Not long ago I thought I had tracked one down, only to learn that it had been destroyed in the course of a domestic spring-cleaning shortly before. Again, in spite of kindly help by a number of old-timers, I have been unable to assemble a complete set of ‘Controversy’ for the period when it was a duplicated publication, the internal discussion bulletin of the Independent Labour Party in 1933-1936.

Invaluable material for the history of the working class is every day lost without trace either because those in control of it do not realize its value or because they have no space to keep it and do not know where it could be sent. It is hoped that the new society will prove able to improve this situation.

Honest Injun ?

Last week I referred to a speech of Stalin’s in 1925 on questions of foreign policy, published in the official ‘Works’. Those volumes (will they ever be continued beyond the beginning of 1934?) are well worthy of some study by comrades who wish to see how Stalinism has evolved to its present form, the various phases through which it has passed since 1924 (volumes 6 to 13).

In using these volumes, however, it is necessary to appreciate that the editors (or perhaps Himself in person?) were unable to resist the temptation occasionally to ‘improve’ a speech or an article years after it had been delivered or published. Thus, Stalin’s address on ‘The Political Complexion of the Russian Opposition’, as it originally appeared in the journal ‘Communist International’ of November 15, 1927, opened like this: ‘Comrades, previous speakers have spoken so well and so soundly, especially Comrade Bukharin, that little remains for me to say.’ But in the version given in volume 10 of the ‘Works’ (English edition, 1954), the words ‘especially Comrade Bukharin’ have disappeared... .

Again, in Stalin’s interview with the German writer Emil Ludwig, in December, 1931, he said that the Soviet people had a special liking for the Germans. When Ludwig asked the reason for this, Stalin replied: ‘I simply mention it as a fact.’

_At any rate, that is how he was reported in the pamphlet version of the interview published in 1932; and there was no special encouragement -to the socialist and communist workers of Germany in such a statement. But in volume 13 of the ‘Works’ (English edition, 1955), Stalin appears as attributing on this occasion Soviet fondness for Germany to the fact that ‘it gave the world such men as Marx and Engels.’

Many other instances could be quoted. The translation of the ‘Works’ into English is a great advance on previous versions, but this real improvement is accompanied by too much ‘improvement’ of the sort one puts in quotation marks. I understand that the chief translator was Clemens Dutt, brother of the more famous ‘Raji’. This is, alas, the same -C. P. Dutt who wrote in the ‘Communist Review’ of Febru_ ary, 1935, criticizing some unsatisfactory edition of one of Marx’s writings: ‘We shall always be vigilant to see that dis‘-tortions are not allowed to appear.’ Without Comment It appears that in the film ‘The Angry Silence’ you see an A.J.S. motor-cycle, a bottle of H.P. sauce and a jar of Robertson’s jam. The makers of these three articles have arranged with the makers of the film to produce showcards for shops in which the glamour of the stars in the film is associated with their products. Presumably they expect that this will have an effect on sales; and I’m sure we all hope it may.

Douglas Goldring The May issue of the Stalinist publication Labour Monthly contains a note on the recent death of Douglas Goldring, whom it describes as ‘a friend and supporter of Labour I have before me a iettér’ dated “April Ul, 1959, ‘written by a : PRE a Goldring to the then editor of .The ‘Newsletter, commenting on R. P. Dutt’s allegation in the Labour Monthly that; we were financed by Wall Street. ‘If I were you,’ wrote Goldring, ‘T’d treat the matter as a huge joke and have a roar of laughter at his expense. . . . As an alternative, I should ‘have thought the best reply to ‘Dutt’s notes of the month -was completely to ignore them.’

So let the great man put that in his pipe and smoke it.

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