Gender, Feminism, and the British Left, 1944-1991

This collection contains records compiled by the Communist Party of Great Britain's (CPGB) Women's Department during the period 1944–1991. These records include minutes, agendas, and promotional materials from various women's campaigns, events, and conferences. They also include copies of Link, the party's women's magazine, and Red Rag, a controversial journal published by the party's more militant feminist members.

Together, these items provide a unique insight into the relationship between Western communism and the women's liberation movement during the post-war era.

The collection is accompanied by three contextual essays written by Professor Kevin Morgan, a senior academic at the University of Manchester.

This archive shows how certain segments of the CPGB came to embrace some of the concerns of the women's liberation movement, highlighting communist involvement in campaigns related to abortion law, employment rights, and the whole gamut of feminist politics.

Professor Kevin Morgan, University of Manchester

Insights

Karl Marx’s analysis of the gendered division of labour under capitalism suggested that women faced a unique oppression — a specific economic exploitation linked to unpaid labour in the domestic sphere.

In spite of this, as well as the involvement of prominent suffragettes such as Sylvia Pankhurst in the formation of the CPGB, "[early] communists were usually hostile to anything smacking of 'bourgeois feminism' or a separate women's agenda.”

That said, the CPGB of the inter-war years was arguably more enlightened on women's issues than wider British society, arguing for equal pay, better education, and an end to workplace discrimination in all its forms.

It was not until 1944, however, that the party established its National Women’s Advisory Committee. The committee's purpose was to coordinate women’s activities and attract more female members.

Although seemingly natural allies, the women’s liberation movement did not always sit comfortably with the men who dominated the CPGB bureaucracy. Many took their cue from Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin who once observed that "free love" was a sign of "bourgeois decay". In the 1970s, this attitude was challenged by a group of young, radical feminists inspired by the counter-culture of the previous decade — a development which caused a great deal of tension and division within the party.

The CPGB’s last General Secretary, Nina Temple, was the only woman to ever lead the party, pledging to make it "feminist and green, as well as democratically socialist." She eventually oversaw its dissolution in 1991.

Highlights

Document

Women in Action bulletins, 1964–1969

Document

Papers from Maggie Bowden relating to abortion, 1970–1979

Document

Red Rag: official volumes, 1971–1977

Document

The Women for World Disarmament campaign, 1983–1984

The Archives of the Communist Party Of Great Britain: An Introduction

The Departments of the Communist Party of Great Britain: A Detailed Guide

Notable Individuals of the Communist Party of Great Britain

Editorial Board

Professor Kevin Morgan Professor of Politics and Contemporary History https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/kevin.morgan.html Kevin Morgan is the Professor of Politics and Contemporary History at the University of Manchester and recipient of an AHRC Fellowship for the project ‘Communism and the cult of the leader’. Professor Morgan is also the editor of the journal 'Twentieth Century Communism' and a trustee of the Communist Party of Great Britain Archives Trust and the Working Class Movement Library.