The Political Trajectory of J T Murphy

by Darlington, Ralph

• ISBN13: 9780853237334
• ISBN10: 0853237336
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1998-07-01
• Publisher: Liverpool University Press

Summary

J. T. Murphy was one of the most important worker-intellectual figures of early twentieth-century British labor history. Using completely new and previously unpublished material (from the British Communist Party's archives and the Russian Centre for the Preservation and Study of Recent History in Moscow), this book not only tells the fascinating story of Murphy's political trajectory, but also provides a critical re-examination of the historical and social significance of the early British revolutionary movement in which he played such a prominent role. "Darlington adeptly details the formation and intricacies of Murphy's political thought... and rightly acknowledges Murphy's contribution to the British Labour movement."Labour History Review

Author Biography

Ralph Darlington is a lecturer in Industrial Relations at the University of Salford.

Table of Contents

Abbreviations	p. vi
Chronology	p. vii
Preface and Acknowledgments	p. xviii
Photographs	p. xxvii
The Early Years in Sheffield, 1888-1917: Murphy's early years as a militant engineering shop steward in Sheffield during the First World War	p. 1
The Shop Stewards' Movement, 1917-1919: Assessment of Murphy's theoretical contribution to the National Shop Stewards' and Workers Committee Movement	p. 30
Towards Bolshevism, 1919-1920: Murphy's political evolution from syndicalism to communism and towards the need for a Bolshevik-type revolutionary party	p. 54
The Communist Party and the Labour Movement, 1920-1926: Murphy's involvement with the Red International of Labour Unions and his influential role directing the British Communist Party's industrial work and relationship with the Labour Party	p. 87
The Comintern and Stalinism, 1926-1928: Murphy's close links with the Comintern in Moscow and the impact of the rise of Stalinism inside the USSR on his political development	p. 133
The 'New Line', 1928-1932: Murphy's role in pushing the CPGB towards acceptance of the Comintern's ultra-left 'new line'	p. 163
Towards Left Reformism, 1932-1936: The factors underlying Murphy's expulsion from the CPGB and his subsequent involvement with the Socialist League inside the Labour Party	p. 201
Popular Frontism and Re-appraisal, 1936-1965: Murphy's embrace of Popular Frontism during the Second World War and the re-evaluation of his political convictions made in later life	p. 234
Conclusion: Drawing together some of the central themes of the book and the course of Murphy's political trajectory	p. 261
Notes	p. 269
Index	p. 311
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