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'Getting
the Balance Right'
The aim of this conference was to look at the CPGB's positive achievements. There was an opening overview by Eric Hobsbawm after which four morning workshops were devoted to the party's contribution to specific movements. Nina Fishman dealt with the role of communist activists in the trade unions, Richard Croucher with the National Unemployed Workers Movement and Noreen Branson with the CPGB's work with national Liberation movements. Bill Moore and Neil Barratt evaluated the party's role in the struggle against war and fascism. Bill Moore was concerned with the CPGB's national campaigns and Neil Barratt looked specifically at the communists' role in the anti fascist struggles in Lancashire during the thirties.
In the afternoon the focus was on the party's contribution in various academic and cultural fields. Stanley Forman looked at communist influence on film and film making, while Andy Croft examined the effect that communists had had on the literary scene. David Parker and Ron Bellamy surveyed the activities of the party's History and Economics groups respectively. Ron Bellamy was unable to attend the Conference but his paper was discussed in the economics workshop. Finally, Jim Mortimer in the closing session made an assessment of the CPGB's contribution to the labour movement, and in a critical appraisal examined both the party's successes and its failures.
The Conference was attended by a little over ninety people and it brought together both academics and many who were activists in the CPGB and had contributed to the various movements and campaigns that were discussed by the conference. The Socialist History Society is planning to publish all the papers. Those by Bill Moore, Neil Barrett, Noreen Branson, Stanley Forman, Ron Bellamy and Jim Mortimer will all be available within the next few months; details from the address below.
