Correspondence with Palme Dutt regarding the Charter Campaign and Third Period, 1931

This collection is derived from the personal papers of one of the titans of British communism, Harry Pollitt. Born in 1890, Pollitt embraced communism after witnessing the hardships inflicted on his family by poverty. He was a founding member of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) in 1920, before going on to assume the crucial role of General Secretary in 1929. 

His role as leader of the CPGB is remembered for his unwavering support of Stalin and the Soviet Union, as well as overseeing the CPGB’s most successful years in terms of influence and mass appeal around the time of the Second World War. As such, this collection offers a vivid insight into Pollitt’s personal and political thought, and the complex machinations of being premier of the CPGB.

This collection is accompanied by three contextual essays written by Professor Kevin Morgan.

Palme Dutt was a high ranking CPGB official and the de facto theorist of the party. He and Pollitt worked closely together over a number of years, and together they largely oversaw the CPGB’s most successful period. Correspondence between Pollitt and Dutt illuminates the early work and internal disputes of the CPGB, as well as detailed discussions of the Third Period with related reports. The Third Period was an era in which Stalin and, by extension, Comintern, advocated the policy of non-cooperation between communists and social democrats in pursuit of full class revolution.

Contains discussions of the Charter Campaign and disputes over the ‘correct’ party line between Dutt and Pollitt in relation to the ‘united front’.