Edward Thompson, The Communist Party and 1956

Abstract

The death of Edward Thompson on 28th August 1993 has inevitably pushed memories back to the early beginnings of the New Left, and it may be helpful at this stage to survey the documentation and suggest some of the problems that require further political discussion. The account that I wrote for the Socialist Register in 1976 set down the chronology that led to the publication of The Reasoner July-October 1956 and the general crisis in the Communist movement in Britain that produced its three issues. This 1976 article provides a useful account that is still acceptable but it had some omissions of emphasis and gaps in fact that require to be remedied.