Bert Ramelson papers

Catalogue record

Notes

CP/IND/RAM. Of Russian birth, Canadian-Jewish upbringing, a legal training, and principal work experience as a trainee manager for Marks & Spencer, Bert Ramelson seems an unlikely figure to have headed the CPGB's famous industrial machinery. Nevertheless, by the time he arrived in Britain having fought against fascism in the International Brigades, Ramelson was a dedicated communist of unusual capability. After wartime experiences including an active involvement in the forces' parliaments, he was sent to Yorkshire as a full-time party worker and eventually Yorkshire district secretary. It was in this capacity that he was confronted with the crisis year of 1956, and notably the unofficial paper The Reasoner published by the Yorkshire-based historians and party rebels, John Saville and Edward Thompson. Subsequently Ramelson succeeded Peter Kerrigan as the CPGB's industrial organiser and it was here that he attained legendary status as industrial strategist or wirepuller, depending on one's political perspective. The Ramelson papers deposited in the CPGB archives include personal and miscellaneous correspondence, mainly from the 1980s and with much relating to the internal party strife so characteristic of the decade. There are also EC and Yorkshire district papers dating from the 1950s onwards.