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9-1-1971 Victor Gollancz and the Left Book Club Gordon B. Neavill Wayne State University, [email protected]

Recommended Citation Neavill, G. B. (1971). Victor Gollancz and the left book club. Library Quarterly, 41(3), 197-215. Available at: http://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/slisfrp/53

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Volume JULY 1971 Number3

VICTORGOLLANCZ AND THE LEFT BOOKCLUB

GORDON BARRICK NEAVILL

ABSTRACT The Left Book Club, which existed from 1936 to 1948, was the first modem book club in Britain. It distributedleft-wing political books aimed at the political educationof the mass public. It attemptedto mobilize British opinion against Hitler and agitated for a Popular Front and a collective security alliance.The Left Book Club was foundedand directedby the publisherVictor Gollancz,who remainedthe most importantinfluence on the club through- out its history. The Left Book Club was a highly successfulpublishing enterprise, and it de- veloped into the leading left-wing political movementof the 1930s in Britain. It attracted wide-rangingsupport, from Communiststo left-wingLabourites and many Liberals.Its selec- tions documentthe outlook of most of the British Left of the 1930s and indicate the range of its interests.The author outlines the history of the club. The club is placed in the context of the political events of the 1930s and in the context of Gollancz'spublishing career, his political beliefs, and his concern for political education.Its organizationas a book dub is descnrbed,and the rangeof its selectionsand activities is indicated.The last years of the Left Book Club, althoughof declininginfluence, illustrate the courseof the British Left from the disillusionmentfollowing the Nazi-Soviet Pact and the split with the Communiststo the concems of the non-CommunistLeft duringWorld War II and the election of the Labour governmentin 1945. Althoughit failed in its originalgoals, the Left Book Club helped shape the political thinkingof a generationof British leftists. The article is based on a variety of sources,especially detailed records of the club'sactivities in its monthlypublication Left News.

BEGINNINGS March, and the first month's books The Left Book Club was foundedin weredistributed in May. The plan was the springof 1936 by the Englishpub- to distributeone politicalbook a month lisher Victor Gollanczfor the purpose to membersat the bargainprice of two of "equippingpeople to fight against shillingsand sixpence.The books were war and Fascism."The club was in- to be publishedby Gollancz and se- tended as an educationalorganization. lected by a committee consisting of Gollanczhoped that, if enoughpeople Gollancz,John Strachey,and Harold could be awakenedto the danger of Laski. They hopedthe club would find fascism,the British governmentwould a membershipof 5,000. be forced to take strong measures The responsewas good. There were against Hitler in time to prevent a 9,000 members to receive the first second world war. The first advertise- month'sbooks. Within twelve months ment announcingthe club appearedin membershiphad passed 40,000, and at 197 198 THE LIBRARY QUARTERLY its peak in 1939 the membership stood a horror, the sort of horror that goes at 57,000. Starting as an ordinary book about with a man and never leaves him, club, the Left Book Club developed into of two abominations . . . poverty the leading left-wing movement of the and war" [3, p. 33]. Gollancz's back- 1930s in Britain. In 1939 David Lloyd ground was Liberal. He moved to the George called the Left Book Club "one Labour party early in life, and in the of the most remarkable movements in 1930s his socialism became strongly in- the political field in two generations" fluenced by Marxism. In the early years [1, no. 37 (May 1939), p. 1258]. At its of the Left Book Club he worked so peak there were 1,200 Left Book Club closely with the Communists that a discussion groups throughout Britain; favorite topic of debate among his asso- specialist groups for poets, scientists, ciates was whether he was actually a actors, and many others; and Left Book member of the party. Club organizations overseas. The club Gollancz held a passionate belief in sponsored mass rallies, summer schools, the need for political education. When political-education classes, speaking the Left Book Club was founded, he tours by Left Book Club authors, and later recalled, "our very salvation de- amateur left-wing theatrical produc- pended on the political education of the tions. It attempted to reach an even masses" [1, no. 110 (August 1945), p. larger audience through pamphlets and 3252]. For two years, during World leaflets. By the time it ceased activities War I, Gollancz taught at an English in October 1948, the Left Book Club public school. He found widespread had issued 257 books, ranging from political ignorance at the school, and in volumes filled with facts and analysis response he introduced political edu- to volumes of propaganda,with a num- cation and civics classes. Years later, ber of books of enduring merit. one of his students wrote that he had "The aim of the Club," announced an been "imbued by Gollancz with the early brochure, "is a simple one: it is liberal faith that the evils of the world to help in the terribly urgent struggle could best be set right by more and for World Peace and a better social and more liberal education" [4, p. 78]. It economic order and against Fascism, by was a faith that Gollancz would carry giving (to all who are determined to with him throughout his publishing play their part in the struggle) such career. knowledge as will immensely increase In 1928, after seven years as manag- their efficiency." Gollancz also hoped ing director of the firm of Ernest Benn, that the club would attract "the very Gollancz founded his own publishing many who, being fundamentally well firm. He was a daring and innovative disposed, hold aloof from the fight by publisher, and he was determined to reason of ignorance or apathy." reach and influence the mass audience. The driving force behind the Left His distinctive and economical house Book Club was Gollancz. Strachey has style, designed by Stanley Morison, was described him as "Capitalist and So- enormouslysuccessful. The typographic cialist: man of the world and latter day book jackets on cheap yellow paper in- saint: Jew and Christian: rationalist stantly identified a book as one of Gol- and theologian: rebel and traditionalist" lancz's and practically shrieked for at- [2, p. 217]. "I have lived . . . ," Gol- tention from the bookseller's table. lancz wrote in his autobiography,"with Gollancz issued many of his books in VICTOR GOLLANCZAND THE LEFT BOOK CLUB 199 huge editions at unusuallylow prices lisher and the reader,he said, lay "an and startledthe dignifiedbook world by invisible barrier across which it was promotingthem with spectacularadver- almost impossible to get progressive tising campaigns.Gollancz ensured fi- literatureinto the hands of the general nancialsecurity for his firmwith a gen- public" [1, no. 110 (August 1945), p. eral list based on popular fiction and 3252]. One incident in particularin- detective stories. But his central mis- furiatedhim. In 1934 he publisheda sion lay in publishingprogressive polit- book by R. D. Charquesand A. H. ical books. Ewen called Profits and Politics in tke The depressionstruck Britain shortly Post-War World. Gollancz had been after Victor Gollancz Limited was impressedby the book and hoped it founded. "I asked myself," Gollancz would be widely influential.But the has writen, "whatlittle could I do?- booksellerswere uninterestedand re- and answered. . . 'You can help to en- fused to acceptmore than a few copies, lightenpeople; you can showthem that, even after personalmessages from Gol- if capitalismpersists, this sort of crisis lanczstressing its importance. is inevitable,and the final result will Gollanczwas convincedthat a public be war.' That was the beginningof my existed for his political books, if only active politicalpublishing" [5, p. 351]. it couldbe reached.A bookclub was the WhenHitler came to powerin 1933, ideal solution to his dilemma.With a Gollancz'spolitical publishingacceler- book club he wouldhave a guaranteed. ated. "Before,it had been a questionof audience,and it would enable him to enlighteningpeople, in a general sort offer politicalbooks at the lowest pos- of way, about the causes of war: now sible price. In the United States the it was a questionof preventinga war Book-of-the-MonthClub had been op- that was just roundthe corner.Sense of eratingsince 1926, but in Britainthere urgencygave way to maddenedfever- wereas yet no bookclubs in the modern ishness: no more than a split second, sense.' The Left Book Club was to be now,in whichto pull up one's feet from the first. the quagmire!"[5, pp. 352-53]. In a The originalidea for the Left Book letterwritten at the time the Left Book Club did not come from Gollancz.In Club was founded,Gollancz declared, .935 the Workers'Bookshop, the lead- "I have spent very many hours a day ing Communistbooksellers in London, during the last five years thinking of had proposeda book club to offertitles nothing but how to use this business chosen from the lists of all publishers (a) for general Socialist propaganda, of left-wingbooks. Gollancz and several (b) to lead that propagandafurther other publisherswere interested, but and furtherto the Left" [6]. independentcapital was lacking and Some of Gollancz'spolitical books nothingcame of the plan [7, 8]. The werehighly successful. G. D. H. Cole's idea continuedto interestGollancz, and Intelligent Man's Guide through World earlv in 1936 he decidedto start a club Chaos(1932), for instance,sold 50,000 of his own. He asked Strachey and copies.But Gollanczwas far fromsatis- Laski to join him on the selectioncom- fied. Many of his political books sold mittee,and in May the Left Book Club poorly. Gollanczblamed the booksell- was launched. ers, who were sometimesreluctant to I The Book Soaety, foundedin 1929,distributed stockleft-wing books. Between the pub- regulartrade editions at the publishers'pnrces. 200 THE LIBRARY QUARTERLY The spring of 1936 was an auspicious six months. They were required to ac- time to start a book club catering to cept the club's monthly choice, for the Left. A sense of looming catastro- which they paid two shillings and six- phe was in the air. The depression had pence (62 cents in 1936). Nearly all of seriously challenged capitalism as a via- the selections were new books from Gol- ble system. Forebodings of war were lancz's own list. Many were commis- growing stronger. The train of events sioned especially for the club. The that would carry Europe into World books were distributed to members in War IT had already begun. Italy had special Left Book Club editions shortly invaded Abyssinia in the autumn of before they appeared, at two to four 1935, and in March 1936 Hitler reoccu- times the club price, in hardboundtrade pied the Rhineland. The Spanish Civil editions. Early in the club's history War would begin in July. The example optional books were made available in of France, where Leon Blum's Popu- addition to, but not in place of, the lar Front government had just been regular monthly choice. These appeared elected, raised hopes that a similar left- in five series: Additional Books, Supple- wing coalition could be forged in Brit- mentary Books, Topical Books, Edu- ain. cational Books, and Reprints of Clas- In Britain, recovery from the eco- sics.2 The optional books, of course, nomic crisis had been incomplete; large sold far fewer copies than the monthly areas of the country remained in acute choices. Their cost ranged from six- economic distress. The National govern- pence to seven shillings and sixpence in ment under Stanley Baldwin (who was their Left Book Club edition, but most succeeded as prime minister by Neville were just slightly more expensive than Chamberlain in May 1937) had no the monthly choice. effective program to combat poverty. The books were not posted directly to Its policies against the threat of Hitler the members but distributed through were nonexistent. Most people in Brit- local booksellers. This saved Gollancz ain did not take the threat of Hitler the burden of maintaining thousands of seriously. For those who did, the time small outstanding accounts and helped in which catastrophe might be averted retain the goodwill of the booksellers. seemed to be rapidly running out. The One London bookseller wrote, "It is task of awakening the majority from its simple . . . for the bookseller. All that complacency was undertaken with a he must do is pass on the names and sense of desperate urgency. The opposi- addresses of enrolling members to the of tion Labour party was in a state headquarters of the club, and post off confusion and gloom. The next oppor- the books to each memberonce a month. tunity to influence policy at the polls ... There is very little trouble for him might not come until 1940. A movement outside the arena of party politics in so simple a function in the scheme, seemed to offer the best hope for effec- and there is still a certain margin for tive action. expenses; and so he has raised no real objections" [9, p. 2546]. By the begin- HOW THE CLUB WORKED ning of 1938, Left Book Club members Membership in the Left Book Club 'Throughout this paper, monthly choices re- was simple. Members were required to ferredto will be identifiedby month and year, and subscribe to the club for a minimum of optional selectionsby seriesand year. VICTOR GOLLANCZAND THE LEFT BOOK CLUB 201 wereregistered with 4,000 Britishbook- some of the choices too difficult,Gol- sellersand newsagents. lancz providedan alternative,the "B" Membersalso receiveda copy of the membershipscheme. Members of the club's monthly periodicalLeft News.' "B" schemewere only requiredto buy This was much broaderin scope than a book every other month.Choices for the ordinary book club journal, and the "B" months were those with the subscriptionswere available to non- widest appeal,and "B" memberspaid members.Ranging from 32 to 48 pages sixpence more for them than regular a month,it includedan editorialabout members.Other potential members in- the club by Gollancz,reviews of the sisted on the right to choose for them- selections, and news and announce- selves whichbooks they wouldbuy. In ments of club activities.A regularfea- 1938 Gollancz announced the "C" ture was the "Topic of the Month,"a membershipscheme. These members longarticle usually written by Strachey. had to accept a minimum of four In the first year there was a monthly choicesa year and paid three shillings article on the Soviet Union by Ivor and sixpenceper volume. Montagu.Occasionally there were spe- By the club'ssecond month Gollancz cial features,such as a reprintof the was talkingof what could be achieved draftof the SovietConstitution of 1936. when the membershipreached 100,000. From time to time an entire issue was He repeatedlyexhorted the member- devotedto a specialtopic such as Spain ship to recruit new membersfor the or China. club. Yellowenrollment forms were in- Muchof the club'ssuccess was due to cluded with each book. One month, it the dedicationof Victor Gollanczand was calculated, 140,000 enrollment the missionaryzeal of the members. formswent out to membersand 86,500 From the time of its foundingto the more to booksellers.Gollancz provided outbreakof war, Gollanczdevoted the Left Book Clubposters, streamers, and majorpart of his energy,business acu- gummedcorrespondence labels to assist men,and organizationalskill to the Left members in publicity and recruiting. Book Club. He wrote all of the club's Membersdistributed Left Book Club advertisingand brochureshimself. He circularsat public meetings and out- retained control over every aspect of side cinemas.Members were urged to the club, to such an extent that discon- place piles of enrollmentforms in pub- tented members sometimes criticized lic libraries and, if the librarians him as its dictator. frownedon this, memberswere told to Gollanczconstantly sought ways of slip the formsinside books and periodi- increasingthe club'sappeal. After four cals likely to attract readerswith left- months the familiarorange, limp-cloth wing sympathies. bindings of the Left Book Club re- placed paper covers becausehe feared POLITICAL ORIENTATION that prospectivemembers might con- The club's leadership (Gollancz, sider paperboundeditions an insuffi- Strachey,and Laski), while sharinga cient bargain. For potential members generallyMarxist outlook, represented who could not afford to buy a book differentpositions on the British Left. every month,and for those who found Gollanczwas a memberof the Labour party. His strong ethical and spiritual Icft Book News for its first 7 issues. beliefs formedthe foundationof his so- 202 THE LIBRARY QUARTERLY cialism. In the early years of the Left the politically committed and the politi- Book Club he workedclosely with the cally uncertain. Labourites, Commu- Communists,attracted by their anti- nists, Liberals, unattached progressives, fascism,their energy, and theirwilling- and even a few antifascist Conserva- ness to cooperatewith the non-Commu- tives joined the club. Many of the nist Left. He did not know until later members had never been active in poli- that the Communists,who in the late tics before. The events of the 1930s had 1920s and early 1930shad consistently left a large number of people confused attacked other left-wing parties, had and deeply concerned. The Left Book ever had any other policy than the Club offered them explanations and PopularFront [ 10, p. 529]. In his auto- guidance and provided its memberswith biographyGollancz wrote, "I personal- a sense of direction and action. It quick- ly allowed myself . . . to get into a false ly acquired the characteristicsof a cru- position, intellectually,with the com- sade. munist movementitself: which I can The membership was predominantly expressperhaps by saying that for fif- middle class. It was estimated that 75 teen monthsI was as close to the com- percent of the members were white-col- munistsas one hair to anotherand that lared workers, black-coated profession- for every minuteof thosemonths I was als, and newly converted Left intellec- billionsof light years away fromthem" tuals [11, p. 75]. The club failed to [5, p. 357]. attract widespread working-class sup- In the 1930s Strachey considered port. Its attempts to gain a foothold himselfa Communist,but he was never in the trade union movement were lim- formally a memberof the party. He ited and largely unsuccessful. was an economistand a writer.4From Gollancz emphasized the club's func- 1929 to 1931 he had been a Labour tion of developing political awareness M.P. He movedleftward under the im- and understanding. Stressing that the pact of the economiccrisis, and eco- club was not a political party, he was nomicsremained at the core of his com- careful not to commit the club formally munism. During the war Strachey to a platform of particular policies. returnedto the Labourparty. He served Even socialism, Gollancz said, could not as a cabinetminister in ClementAttlee's be considered the official policy of an postwargovernment. organization that welcomed Liberals Harold Laski, the well-knownpro- and antifascist Conservatives. Gollancz fessorof politicialscience at the London hoped that Left Book Club members School of Economics,was one of the would use the knowledge they gained leading intellectualspokesmen of the from the club to become politically ac- Labourparty's left wing. Throughout tive as individuals. He encouraged them the existenceof the Left Book Clubhe to play an active role in the established served on the Labour.party's National political parties, and both the Labour ExecutiveCommittee. and Communist parties gained many The Left Book Club attractedboth new members from the ranks of the club. In Left News Gollancz wrote, ' Strachey's The Coming Struggk for Power, which Gollanczpublished in 1932, was one of the "Thought is the most revolutionary most influentialbooks of the decade.It appearedin thing in the world, and the more des- a Left Book Club edition (Reprints of Classics, perate the situation, the greater becomes 1937), and six other books of his had their first publicationby the club. the necessity for it. It must, of course, VICTOR GOLLANCZAND THE LEFT BOOK CLUB 203 be unitedwith action-the actionbeing ity of the Labourparty's left-wing mem- part of the process of education:but bers favored Popular Front coopera- the pointis that the memberof the Left tion with the Communists,the Labour Book Club thinks as a memberof the party repeatedly rejected Communist club and acts as a memberof his orga- applicationsfor affiliation.Some Left nization"[1, no. 31 (November1938), Book Club membersjoined the Labour pp. 1033-34]. partyspecifically to agitatefor a change Gollanczwas convincedthat the best in its policies. One memberwrote, "A chance for preventing war lay in a 'natural' Socialist . . . a trade unionist strong defensivealliance between Brit- fromthe age of 16 yet not a memberof ain, France,and the Soviet Union. Be- the LabourParty becauseI felt critical fore the National governmentcould be of them.Strachey's Theory and Practice forcedto adoptcollective security, Gol- of Socialismwas my first book,and im- lanczbelieved, all antifascistsin Britain mediatelymy outlook changed.I soon would have to be united in a Popular saw my place to criticise the Labour Front. In practice both the Popular Party was from within not out, and in Front and collectivesecurity were Left a few weekswas in the ranks"[1, no. 40 Book Club policies.As Gollanczput it, (August1939), p. 1353]. "The Popular Front is not the policy In 1937 the club offeredto put two of the Left Book Club, but the very double-sizedissues of Left News at the existenceof the Left Book Club tends disposal of the Labour party for its towards a Popular Front" [1, no. 9 autumn publicity campaign.The club (January1937), p. 195]. The club agi- also offered the Labour leadershipa tated constantlybefore the war to de- monthlycolumn in Left News to run velopsupport for collectivesecurity and side by side with Strachey's"Topic of a Popular Front. Nearly all of the the Month."Both offerswere refused. club's membersfavored these policies. At the end of 1938 Ernest Bevin and Only one selection, Clement Attlee's Herbert Morrison attacked the Left The Labour Party in Perspective (Au- BookClub [ 12, 13]. In 1939the Labour gust 1937), argued against a Popular party warned its constituencyparties Front. against cooperationwith Left Book Although the Left Book Club was Club groups. The same year, the La- critical of many of the Labourparty's bour party started its own book club, policies,in generalit viewedthe Labour the Labour Book Service, to compete party favorably.The club had close re- with the Left Book Club. lations with the Labour party's left Communistinfluence was strong in wing, and almost certainly the largest the Left Book Club before the war. single group of Left Book Club mem- The Communistswere amongthe most bers came fromthe Labourparty. Con- energeticantifascists, and they set the stituencyLabour parties often cooper- pace in Popular Front movements ated with local Left Book Clubgroups, everywhere.When the club was in the and some dormantconstituency parties planning stages, Gollancz hinted that were revitalized by Left Book Club he might considera formal link with members.The club'ssupport for a Pop- the Communists.In a letter written ular Front,however, led to increasingly in April 1936 he said, "As Harry [Pol- strainedrelations with the Labourpar- litt, the leader of the British Commu- ty's leadership.Although a largeminor- nist party] also knows,I am extremely 204 THE LIBRARY QUARTERLY sympathetic to the idea, once the Club monthly choices before the war, and a is thoroughly and firmly established, of smaller percentage of the optional broadening its basis, if a really practi- books, were written by Communist au- cable and workable method can be thors. Many Left Book Club authors, found of doing so-though I have been such as Attlee, Sir Stafford Cripps, careful not to commit myself in this Philip Noel-Baker, Ellen Wilkinson, matter" [6]. No such formal "broaden- Konni Zilliacus, and G. D. H. Cole, ing" took place, but the Communists were prominent membersof the Labour were among the club's most active sup- party. Most of these represented the porters. Communist members set up Labour party's left wing. Gollancz tried many of the local groups, and Commu- to obtain more manuscriptsfrom Liber- nist intellectuals dominated the scien- als, but only a few, such as Richard tists, poets, and readers and writers Acland and Sir Ernest Simon, wrote for groups. In his autobiography Gollancz the club. Many of the authors had no wrote, "It is clear now . . . that the party affiliation. A surprising number communists were far more influential were Americans. "We have excluded," in the Club than they ought to have Laski told the members, "only one type been, if indeed this could have been of book that some people consider, we avoided" [5, p. 357]. But Gollancz re- think erroneously,to fall within the pur- tained control. When he broke with the view of the Left Book Club-viz., Communists in 1940, most of the Com- Trotskyite attacks on the Soviet Union" munist members resigned; and the club [1, no. 16 (August 1937), p. 456]. The went on without them. Trotskyites could not have participated in any organizationcontaining the Com- THE BOOKS munists, and they found their publisher As it developed into a political move- in Gollancz's rival Frederic Warburg. ment, the Left Book Club gained a wide Many Left Book Club selections were range of associated activities. But the designed to mobilize opinion against fas- books themselves remainedat the center cism. Most of these were not crudely of its existence.' Some of the books, propagandisticbut informative and un- Cole and Raymond Postgate have writ- sensational. The choice for the club's ten, "may have been shallow, some no second month was Rudolf Olden's bi- doubt were sold but unread, some were ography Hitler the Pawn (June 1936), criticized as following blindly official written, as Strachey complained in his Communist policy; but the majority review in Left News, from a liberal, were books of value and depth, likely non-Marxist point of view. The liberal not to cause momentary excitement so historian Gaetano Salvemini analyzed much as to make solid converts" [15, Mussolini's Italy in Under the Axe of p. 602]. Fascism (October 1936). Robert A. Left Book Club authors represented, Brady subjected Nazi Germany to sim- in unequal proportions, nearly the en- ilar treatment in The Spirit and Struc- tire range of the British Left. Gollancz ture of German Fascism (September had no difficulty in securing books from 1937). Aurel Kolnai's The War against Communists. Nearly a third of the the West (Additional, 1938), which Gollancz considered one of the club's 8A completelist of Left Book Club selectionsis most important selections, provided an includedin John Lewis, The Left Book Club [14, pp. 139-56]. influential analysis of Nazi philosophy. VICTOR GOLLANCZAND THE LEFT BOOK CLUB 205 Andre Malraux's Days of Contempt The club's first optional book was (August 1936), one of the few novels G. C. M. M'Gonigleand J. Kirby'sin- issued by the club, described the fate fluential Poverty and Public Health of a political prisoner in Germany. (Additional, 1936). Wal Hannington, Many other selections concernedgov- the leaderof the NationalUnemployed ernment policy and internationalaffairs. Workers' Movement, discussed The Cole, the club's most prolific author, ar- Problem of the Distressed Areas (No- gued the case for a Popular Front in vember 1937). Wilkinson'sThe Town The People's Front (July 1937), and That Was Murdered (September 1939) Acland advocated it from a Liberal exposedconditions in the Tynesideship- point of view in Only One Battle (Top- building town of Jarrow, where two- ical, 1937). Zilliacus, writing under the thirdsof the populationwas permanent- name "Vigilantes,"provided a series of ly unemployed.George Orwell's The books on foreign policy. Eleanor Rath- Road to Wigan Pier (March 1937), bone, the Independent M.P., argued for probablythe best book the club ever collective security in War Can Be issued, described life among the un- Averted (Topical, 1938). Max Werner employedin northernEngland. presented military arguments for col- Between 1936 and 1939 the Left lective security in The Military Strength Book Club issued 15 books on the So- of the Powers (April 1939). Several se- viet Union.Many socialistsin the 1930s lections were devoted to Czechoslovakia regarded the Soviet Union, then the and Central Europe. Simon Haxey's only socialistnation, as the hope of the Tory M.P. (July 1939) examined the future.Socialists followed events in the records of Conservatives in Parliament. Soviet Union with great interest.Some A Communist interpretation of recent assumedthat the inevitablealternative history was provided in R. Palme Dutt's WorldPolitics, 1918-1936 (July 1936); to the apparentlyimpotent democracies Cripps wrote The Struggle for Peace would be either fascist or communist (Additional, 1936); Noel-Baker con- totalitarianism and preferred, with tributed The Private Manufacture of varyingdegrees of enthusiasm,the lat- Armaments (Additional, 1936); and ter. Gollanczbelieved that greaterun- J. B. S. Haldane criticized the govern- derstandingof the Soviet Union was ment's provisions for air raid precau- needed before a collective security tions in A.R.P. (September 1938). agreementcould be achieved.The Left A series of influentialLeft Book Club Book Clubsponsored Russian-language selections and the activities of the classes and tours to the Soviet Union. groups focused attention on poverty in No Left Book Club selectionseriously Britain. A Left Book Club distressed- areas group was formed to study and 6 Gollancz commissioned The Road to Wigan Pier for the Left Book Club, but Orwel thought publicize conditions in South Wales, its chances of being a selection were small [10, where unemployment in many of the p. 256]. The first part of the book was ideal for the mining towns lingered at more than 50 club's purposes, but in the second part Orwell, although writing from a left-wing point of view, percent. The Stepney group conducted was strongly critical of doctrinairesocalsm. Gol- tours of the slums of East London. lancz publishedthe book with a long forewordin G. D. H. Cole and Margaret Cole as- which he indicatedhis profounddisagreement with Orwell'sviews. Later the club issued a specialedi- sembled a mass of data in The Con- tion of the book for propagandapurposes which dition of Britain (Additional, 1937). omitted part 2 altogether. 206 THE LIBRARY QUARTERLY criticized the Soviet Union until after cist aggression.A massive campaignwas the Nazi-Soviet Pact. launched in behalf of the Spanish gov- Some of the books, such as Lion ernment. The Left Book Club sponsored Feuchtwanger'sMoscow 1937 (Topical, rallies for Spain, the club stocked and 1937) and Seema Rynin Allan's Com- launched a food ship for Spain, and rades and Citizens (November 1938), Left Book Club women knitted sweaters were informal accounts of Russian life. for volunteers in the International Bri- Others were more serious and informa- gade. The club's first selection on the tive works. There were valuable studies conflict, Spain in Revolt (December on Soviet education and the position of 1936), was a shallow propagandistic women in the USSR. Henry E. Sigerist, account by two American Communists, a professor of the history of medicine Harry Gannes and Theodore Repard. at Johns Hopkins University, wrote Seven other books followed. These in- Socialised Medicine in the Soviet Union cluded Arthur Koestler's Spanish Testa- (Additional, 1937). There was a special ment (December 1937);7 The Nazi Left Book Club edition of Sidney and Conspiracy in Spain (Topical, 1937), Beatrice Webb's Soviet Communism: a book of documents edited by Otto A New Civilisation (Additional, 1937), Katz which established German assist- which was reviewed in Left News by ance to Franco; and Frank Jellinek's George Bernard Shaw. The Webbs's The Spanish Civil War (Additional, book was one of the most detailed and 1938), a historical account which re- comprehensive studies of the Soviet mains of some use today. Union published in the 1930s. It was The club issued only a few books also one of the least critical: the Webbs on socialist theory. The 1930s was not imagined that Soviet society worked in a notable decade for the development practice as it was supposed to work of socialist thought: most socialists on paper. By special arrangementwith were writing polemical books in re- Longmans, Green, who published the sponse to conditions of pressing urgen- trade edition at thirty-five shillings, cy. Strachey's The Theory and Practice Gollancz offered the 1,200-page book to of Socialism (November 1936) was a Left Book Club members for five shil- widely studied choice. John Lewis edited lings and sold more than 10,000 copies. A Textbook of Marxist Philosophy (Ad- Some selections were of more dubious ditional, 1937), and there was a Left value. Pat Sloan's Soviet Democracy Book Club edition of Emile Burns's an- (May 1937) explained how the Soviet thology of the basic Marxist classics, Union, lacking the "bourgeois free- A Handbook of Marxism (Reprints of doms," was in fact more democratic Classics, 1937). Members who wished than any Western nation. Two books to make a more thorough study of the supported the official Soviet version of works of Marx and Lenin could take the Moscow purge trials. advantage of a special arrangementwith The Spanish Civil War, which broke the British Communistpublishers Law- out in the third month of the club's 'Koestler was still a Communistwhen he wrote existence, became the most electrifying Spanish Testament.He has never allowed the first issue of the 1930s. The conflict was part of the book, which containeda certainamount seen as a confrontation between democ- of fabricatedatrocity propaganda,to be reprinted. The second part, Dialogue with Death, which de- racy and fascism, in which a Republi- scribedKoestler's confinement in a Franco prison, can victory might stem the tide of fas- remainsin print. VICTOR GOLLANCZAND THE LEFT BOOK CLUB 207 rence and Wishart, who offered their 1939) by Hannahand AbrahamStone. publicationsto Left Book Club mem- Gollancz'sinterest in religionwas re- bersat a discountof one-third. flected in several selections of Chris- To fill gaps in the generaleducation tianityand socialism.9Christianity and of the members,the club offered the the Social Revolution(Supplementary, highly popularoptional series Educa- 1937), edited by John Lewis, Karl Po- tional Books. Gollancz described the lanyi, and DonaldKitchin, included es- Educational series, which ran to 25 says by W. H. Auden,John Cornford, volumes,as a kind of Left Home Uni- John Macmurray,Needham, Reinhold versity Library.The books were short Niebuhr,Conrad Noel, and others. introductionsto various subjects, and AlthoughGollancz often pointed to the 96-page volumessold for sixpence the rangeof opinionrepresented in the in their Left Book Club editions.The Left Book Club, he would have pre- topics ranged from The Civilisation of ferred more points of view in order Greece and Rome to Understandingthe for the club to be better balanced.In Atom, and the authorsincluded H. N. a self-criticalmood followingthe Mu- Brailsford,Benjamin Farrington,and nich agreement,Gollancz wrote: "Pas- JosephNeedham. Members bought be- sionately believing in certain ideas, I tween 5,000 and 7,000 copies each have allowed myself, I think . . ., to month.8 becometoo muchof a propagandistand Other Left Book Club selections too little of an educator.I would go ranged from Edgar Snow's Red Star furtherand say that my eagernessto over China (October 1937) to David expresscertain ideas has, in the rushof Daiches's Literature and Society (Ad- day-to-day work, tended to overlay ditional,1938). Leo Huberman'sMan's what I hope I have never forgotten: WorldlyGoods (April 1937) and Allen namely,that only by the clash of ideas Hutt's The Post-War History of the does a mind becometruly free.... In British Working Class (June 1937) my view the publicationsof the Club were two outstandingchoices. Stephen have tendedto concentrateto too great Spendercontributed his political auto- a degree (though by no means exclu- biography, Forward from Liberalism sively) on two or threepoints of view" (January1937). Oneof the mostpopu- [1, no. 31 (November1938), p. 1035]. lar early choices was Wilfrid Macart- ney's Walls Have Mouths (September THE CLUB AS A POLITICAL MOVEMENT 1936), a firsthandaccount of life in an Almost at once the Left Book Club Englishprison. There were a few histor- began to develop from a simple book ical works,such as Jellinek'sThe Paris club into a politicalmovement."' In the Commune of 1871 (February 1937) club's first month memberssuggested and A. L. Morton's A People's History that local discussiongroups should be of England (May 1938). Two popular formed. Gollancz welcomed the idea, optionalselections were ModernMar- ' In 1938Gollancz tried to start a ChristianBook riage and Birth Control (Supplemen- Club to complementthe work of the Left Book tary, 1937) by EdwardF. Griffithand Club, but only one slection, A. S. Duncan-Jones's A Marriage Manual (Supplementary, The Struggle for Religious Freedom in Germany, was issued. ' Figures supplied by John Bush, chairmanand " The club is discussedas a political movement joint managing director of Victor Gollancz Lim- in Samuels [11]. A detailed account of the cdub's ited. activities may be found in Lewis [14]. 208 THE LIBRARY QUARTERLY delighted at the enthusiastic response the club to direct the activities of the to the club and glad that the books groups. Lewis was an able organizer, might be discussed as well as read. Dis- and under his direction the groups blos- cussion would reinforce the knowledge somed with a wide range of activities- gained from the books, and local groups lectures, film shows, theatrical produc- could reach out in their communities tions, political-education classes, and with the club's message, helping to con- social gatherings. Some groups issued vert more people and recruiting new their own bulletins, many of the larger members for the club. By August 1936 groups acquiredtheir own premises,and nearly 100 groups had been formed. area committees were set up to coordi- By April 1939 there would be 1,200 nate the activities of groups in nearby of them, in every part of Great Britain. towns. The groups became the means "The whole success of the groups," throughwhich the Left Book Club could members were told, "really depends on launch a nationwide campaign at a mo- one thing, the conduct of regular dis- ment's notice. In an emergency mem- cussions of the books" [1, no. 13 (May bers stood ready to blanket a town with 1937), p. 351]. Participation in the pamphlets and leaflets. groups was entirely voluntary. The local Between 1937 and the outbreak of groups met fortnightly or monthly, and war a Left Book Club speakers' circuit their membership ranged from half a developed. Appearancesby many of the dozen to over 100. Gollancz tried to best-knownLeft Book Club authors and ensure that no point of view was ex- supporters stimulated great interest in cluded from the groups, and the con- the groups. Among those who undertook veners were instructed to devote the extensive tours were Koestler who spoke first part of each meeting to soliciting on Spain, Zilliacus on foreign policy, all opinions and raising questions. Syl- Haldane and J. D. Bernal on air raid labi were prepared for most of the precautions, Hannington on poverty, choices to assist group leaders in their and Hyman Levy on his Left Book discussions. Occasionally Communist Club choice A Philosophy for a Modern conveners used groups for their own Man (January 1938). For these meet- purposes, and Gollancz once strongly ings the groups usually hired a local rebuked a group that disregarded dis- hall and invited nonmembers. cussion to chalk slogans in the streets. "We should take every opportunity," It was observed that the syllabi for John Lewis told the groups, "to develop non-Marxist books presented contrast- our cultural contacts through the the- ing points of view for discussion, while atre, the film, and literature, and to the syllabi for Marxist books commonly get our point of view across not only did not [16]. Koestler compared Left by lectures and study but through the Book Club group meetings to those of medium of art" [ 1, no. 26 (June 1938), the Pickwick Club, and Orwell referred p. 851]. As an example of how persons to the members as "the West Bletchley whose primary interest was not politics revolutionaries" [ 17, p. 382; 18, p. could be attracted, John Lewis pointed 146]. But on the whole the groups ful- to a public lecture by C. Day Lewis, filled their intended function with great "Byron, the Poet of Freedom," spon- success. sored by the Wolverhampton group. In December 1936 Gollancz appoint- Left Book Club groups presented films ed John Lewis as a full-time officer of on poverty in Britain, the Spanish Civil VICTOR GOLLANCZAND THE LEFT BOOK CLUB 209 War, China,and the Soviet Union. In come to the factory yards- the springof 1937 the Left Book Club there, where the hungrymasses are, Theatre Guild hungryfor beauty as well as bread. was formed to assist Where the rough and tumble, groups in the productionof left-wing crude and able, plays. The play most frequentlyper- boss-beggared, formedby local theaterguilds was Clif- soul-sucked ford Odets's Waitingfor Lefty. Other masses are. popularplays includedBertolt Brecht's Fire bullet-wordsat the presskings. SenoraCarrar's Rifles and Jack Lind- Hurl bomb-poemsat class. say's mass declamationOn Guardfor Riddle illusionswith syllables. Spain. Shrapnelcheap boss-songswith rhythms. A wide range of specialist groups Batter-ram-scatter with rhymes. were organized for Left Book Club [19, pp. 8-9] membersin differentprofessions. Cen- Left Book Club rallies in London teredprimarily in London,these includ- became the annual high point of the ed groups for poets, actors, scientists, club's existenceas a nationalpolitical readers and writers, musicians, film movement.The club'sfirst rally in 1937 workers,teachers, doctors, lawyers, civil filled the Albert Hall. For the 1938 servants, journalists,clerical workers, rally the 2,500-seat Queen'sHall was accountants,and commercial travelers." taken in addition to the Albert Hall, The poets group, which had branches and the speakerswere shuttled back and in over twenty cities, sponsoredpoetry forth by automobile.The 1939 rally readings,operated a poetry workshop was stagedin the giganticEmpress Hall to which its memberscould send their at Earl'sCourt. The ralliesfeatured the poemsfor criticism,and offeredtraining best-knownand most influentialsup- in mass declamation.The group pub- portersof the club, and Gollancztried lisheda little magazine,Poetry and the to ensurea broadlyrepresentative plat- People. First in duplicatedand then in form. At the 1939 rally Gollanczwas printedform, it ranto 20 issuesbetween in the chair,and the speakersincluded 1938 and 1940. Its dedicationto pro- Strachey; Cripps; Harry Pollitt, the letarianliterature and politicalcommit- leader of the Communistparty; Ac- ment among artists was expressedin land,the club'sleading Liberal support- one of the poems that appearedin its er; Hewlett Johnson,the "Red" Dean pages: of Canterbury;the veteranpeace cru- So come, you private poets, sader Sir Norman Angell; and Lloyd out of select saloons, George.Paul Robesonsang. out of your mountainlairs, After the success of the first Albert into the publicbars, Hall rally, Gollanczscheduled smaller into the marketsquares. Come to the Labourexchange, ralliesat the largest halls of cities and towns throughout Britain. Gollancz ' The actors group included Michael Redgrve, spoke at nearly all of them. He ap- Sybil Thorndike, Lewis Casson, and Miles Mal- peared most frequentlywith Strachey, leson; the sdentists included J. B. S. Haldane, J. D. Bernal, and P. M. S. Blackett; the readers Pollitt, and Acland. Among the many and writers included Stephen Spender, Sylvia otherswho spoke at someof theserallies TownsendWarner, Mulk Raj Anand,Edgeil Rick- were Laski, Hewlett Johnson,Aneurin word, and Alick West and sponsoredlectures by C. Day Lewis, John Lehmann, Rex Warner,Ar- Bevan, Jennie Lee, Kingsley Martin, thur Calder-Marshall,and LangstonHughes. and A. S. Neill of Summerhill.In the 210 THE LIBRARY QUARTERLY autumn of 1937 there were forty rallies, tralia, New Zealand, South Africa, and at the grueling pace of three per week- Canada. Nehru supported the club, but end. In the following year's autumn Left News was placed on the prohibited series there were twice as many. list by Indian censorship. Since many The club also ran summer schools, Left Book Club titles were also issued which combined intensive political edu- by American publishers, copyright re- cation with recreation.'2 And it spon- strictions prevented the club from sell- sored several smaller London rallies and ing its books in the United States. But conferences. There were conferences for the New Republic suggested that its teachers and religious leaders, one-man readers could have friends in England lectures in Queen's Hall by Hewlett send over the books privately [20]. The Johnson on the Soviet Union and Jawa- strongest overseas support came from harlal Nehru on India, and a rally Australia, which had its own Left Book in 1938 for nonmembers only. At the Club summerschools and issued its own beginning of 1939, when the Spanish bimonthly journal. New South Wales Civil War was nearing its end, Gollancz alone had 1,550 members and thirty called an emergency "Act for Spain" groups. But the club never had the same meeting. With less than a week's notice, impact abroad that it had at home. An an impressive platform of speakers was Australian writer noted at the end of assembled's and the membership noti- 1938, "The Left Book Club in this coun- fied through the group conveners. try does not seem yet properly to have Queen's Hall was packed, and Kings- 'come alive.' It has not touched the pub- way Hall was nearly filled with the over- lic consciousness as it has done in Brit- flow. But Barcelona fell to Franco's ain. It has not attracted to its very troops the following day. broad platform any of the outstanding Shortly after the Left Book Club was figures in the religious, cultural, edu- founded, inquiries about membership cational and political spheres in this came from overseas. Eventually the club country" [ 2 1, p. 25 ].14 had members throughout the world, As time grew shorter, the urgency of with its strongest overseas ties in Aus- the club's mission increased. Gollancz sought out ways of spreading the club's "The club providedsome outstandinglecturers. message to more and more people. But Among the thirty lecturers at the 1938 summer school, when there were three one-week sessions, he never conceived of the club itself whereRichard Acland, Sir NormanAngell, R. Page as a true mass movement. "If the Left Arnot,J. D. Bernal,Maurice Dobb, BenjaminFar- Book Club choices were to consist ex- rington, Wal Hannington, Allen Hutt, Hyman Levy, Dr. Joseph Needham,and BarbaraWootton. clusively of books palatable to the mil- Victor Gollanczand John Stracheyalso attended. lions," Gollancz wrote, "it would mean 21Gollanczwas in the chair, and the speakers that the Left Book Club had become includedJ. B. Priestley,the cartoonistDavid Low, a propagandist and agitational body and Sir StaffordCripps, who had just beenexpelled from the Labour party. AneurinBevan and Ellen rather than a serious educational move- Wilkinsonrepresented the Labour party, and Wil- ment. The whole conception is that it frid Roberts and Lady Violet Bonham Carterthe should produce a (politically) highly Liberals. Other speakers included Alfred Barnes, the chairmanof the Co-operativeparty; Will Law- educated corps of men and women, pre- ther of the Mineworkers'Federation; and Vernon pared to dedicate themselves to the Bartlett, the popular journalist and broadcaster whose election to Parliamentthe year beforeas an "' I am gratefulto Ronald Gray of the Hammer- Independentwith Labourand Liberalsupport had smith Bookshop, London, for drawing my atten- partly been inspiredby the Left Book Club. tion to this article. VICTOR GOLLANCZAND THE LEFT BOOK CLUB 211 work of spreadingthe knowledgethat leafletswere distributedon the Spanish they have acquired and of awaken- situation. In April 1939, after Hitler ing the political consciousnessof the had occupiedall of Czechoslovakia,the indifferent and apathetic. . . . It is the club issued a "Save Peace!" leaflet millions that the Club membersmust calling for a collective security agree- themselvesreach" [1, no. 31 (Novem- ment. Gollanczwrote the leaflet on a ber 1938), p. 1034]. To assist its mem- Wednesdayafternoon; by the following bers in reachingthe millions,the Left evening the first half-millionwere on Book Club provided pamphlets and theirway to the groupconveners. leaflets. Afterthe Munichagreement Gollancz The club issued its first twopenny was spurred to a frenzy of activity. pamphlet,Strachey's Why You Should "Between Munich and the outbreak Be a Socialist, in May 1938. Gollancz of war eleven months later," he has told the membersthat he wantedto sell written, "I must have spoken almost a millioncopies. Memberspressed the everynight in cities and villagesup and "twopennyStrachey" upon their friends down the country, and sometimes in and distributedit on street corners. severalon a singlenight. A sort of fever The groupsformed mobile units to sell had got hold of me. I would travel it from door to door. The club sold by trainto whereverit was,have the car 250,000 copies. Four other pamphlets sent up, and leave in it near midnight. followed: The Truth about Spain ... I would normally arrive home be- (1938) by H. R. G. Greavesand David tween threeand six, have a bath, get as Thomson; How to Be Safe from Air much rest as possible,read a huge pile Raids (1938) by Haldane; Act Now: of newspapers,and leave for the office An Appeal to the Mind and Heart of at a quarter past eight. When I got Britain (1939) by Hewlett Johnson; there I would preparefor more meet- and Gollancz'sIs Mr. ChamberlainSav- ings" [5, p. 375]. ing Peace? (1939). On August 23, 1939 the Nazi-Soviet Althoughthe pamphletswere highly Pact was signed. WorldWar II began successful,at times of crisis Gollancz elevendays later. wantedto reachpeople by the millions, in simple,compelling form. During the THE CLUB IN WARTIME Munich crisis in September1938. the The news of the Nazi-Soviet Pact club rushedinto printa one-pageleaflet came as a profoundshock to the Left. pleadingagainst appeasement of Hitler. "Nothing," Strachey had proclaimed "If we stand firm,"it concluded,"we, earlierin 1939, "is so certainamid the the French,and the Russians,even at shifting sands of politics today as the this eleventhhour, and say we will not absolute knowledge that the Soviet let Hitler destroy Czechoslovakiaby Union will never yield an inch to Nazi armed might, will he fight? Most im- Germany"[23, quotedp. 207]. Disillu- probable,for the superiorityof the three sionment with the Communists,how- of us now is enormous.And if he were ever, did not develop into a real split mad enough to challengeus, he would until severalweeks after the beginning certainly be defeated" [22]. Within of the war. At first BritishCommunists a few days Left Book Club members endorsed the war. They were soon had distributedmore than 2 million remindedof the Soviet Union's non- copies. In November 1938, 8 million aggressionpact with Germanyand in- 212 THE LIBRARY QUARTERLY structed to reverse their position. The The December choice was Hewlett British Communist party executed one Johnson's The Socialist Sixth of the of its disconcerting ideological somer- World, a rapturous celebration of life saults. Instead of as a struggle against in the Soviet Union. The book would fascism, the Communist party now in- have been a popular choice if it had ap- terpreted the war as a shabby conflict peared a few months earlier. Now, between capitalists, an imperialist war many members no longer shared the that did not deserve socialist support. Dean of Canterbury'sadulation for the The leadership of the Left Book Club Soviet Union, and the book had the was itself divided. Gollancz and Laski additional disadvantage of being re- supported the war from the beginning. ceived just as Soviet troops were in- Strachey opposed it. The membership vading Finland. More angry letters was also deeply split. Many members arrived at Henrietta Street. did not know what to think and looked In the spring of 1940 Strachey broke to the club for guidance. At a time when with the Communists and began sup- firm leadership was desperately sought, porting the war. With the club's leader- all Gollancz could do was offer the ex- ship again united, the strains with the cuse that the club itself should not Communists increased. Gollancz at- take an official position. tacked Communist influence in the The confusion was reflected in the groups, some of which were agitating club's choices in the autumn of 1939. for Communist policy in the name of For the first time the club was serving the Left Book Club. In May Gollancz as a forum for genuine debate. The wrote and published the pamphlet November choice was Leonard Woolf's Where Are You Going? An Open Letter Barbarians at the Gate. Woolf leveled to Communists, but it was not a Left his attack against Soviet as well as fas- Book Club selection. In the summer of cist barbarians. It was the first book 1940 John Lewis was dismissed. Early issued by the club to criticize the Soviet the followng year, the club issued The Union. (Gollancz had commissioned Betrayal of the Left (Additional, 1941), Woolf to write a book on the values of an important examination of Commu- Western civilization.) He published it nist policy edited by Gollancz and with only after some hesitation. After read- contributions by Gollancz, Strachey, ing the manuscript, Gollancz, Strachey, Laski, and Orwell. Most of the remain- and Laski summonedWoolf to a two- or ing Communist members resigned. No three-hour meeting, during which they more selections were written by Com- made various suggestions to Woolf for munist authors. At the end of 1940 a toning down his criticism of the Soviet Daily Worker columnist declared that Union. Woolf refused to modify his text, the title of a forthcoming Left Book and in the end the book was published Club selection, J. P. W. Mallalieu's without alterations [24; 25, pp. 11-13]. Rats! (February 1941), would be an Before the Nazi-Soviet Pact Gollancz appropriate comment about the club might not have published the book at all. [26]. Some Left Book Club members were so With the outbreak of war, the central outraged that they refused even to read purpose which had motivated the Left the book. Angry letters flooded the Left Book Club throughout its prewar exis- Book Club offices, and some members tence was gone. The club's strength was resigned in protest. much reduced. Some members resigned VICTOR GOLLANCZAND THE LEFT BOOK CLUB 213 for ideological reasons, and others were Book Clubenjoyed an increasein mem- forced to resign because of disruptions bership,and therewas even an attempt caused by the war. The club curtailed to revive the groups.15By the end of its activities to the publication of the the warLeft Book Clubselections were monthly choice; only three more op- being printed in editions of nearly tional books were issued. With John 18,000 (see n. 8, above). Lewis's departure, the groups declined, Beginning in 1941, Left News in- and the club's existence as an organized cluded a monthly supplement,the In- national political movement came to an ternational Socialist Forum, edited by end. the distinguished Austrian Socialist But the club did not expire. Gollancz Julius Braunthal.16British, American, turned his attention in new directions. and exiled continental Socialists, all The Left Book Club's principal wartime non-Communist,conducted wide-rang- objectives became the defense of tolera- ing discussionsin its pages. The con- tion and democratic values at home and tributorsdescribed conditions in their the planning of the postwar world. own countriesand devotedmuch atten- Among the monthly choices were Stra- tion to the future of Europeafter the chey's A Faith to Fight For (January war. 1941), Laski's Faith, Reason and Civi- One of the club's major wartime lisation (February 1944), and Gol- campaignswas to work for a more lancz's Our Threatened Values (July charitableattitude toward the enemy. 1946). A series of articles on ethics In the heat of war it was easy to con- appeared in Left News; another regular demn the Germanpeople as naturally wartime feature ws the column "From warlikeand barbaric.The leading ex- the Christian Left." Selections on the ponent of this view was Sir Robert postwar world included Acland's What Vansittart,whose enormouslypopular It Will Be Like in the New Britain (De- pamphletof 1941, Black Record,char- cember 1941); Simon's Rebuilding acterizedGermans as "butcherbirds." Britain-a Twenty Year Plan (Decem- This attitudestruck Gollancz as essen- ber 1944); and three books by G. D. H. tially fascist. Gollancz's own book, the Future Cole: Europe, Russia, and Shall Our Children Live or Die? A (October 1941), Great Britain in the Reply to Lord Vansittart on the Ger- Post-War World (November 1942),and was serialized in The Means to Full Employment (Oc- man Problem (1942), tober 1943). Left News. Braunthal defended the When war was declared, Gollancz German people in Need Germany Sur- said that he expected the club's mem- vive? (May 1943). Articleschallenging bership to drop by half [27]. By April I Among those who offered their services as 1940 it had declined from its prewar group convenerswas Isaac Deutscher. peak of 57,000 to 36,000, and it con- ' The advisory committee of the Internationd tinued to decline. By the end of 1941 SocialistForum includedLouis de Broucklre (Bel- Left Book Club selections were being gium), Lydia Ciolkosz (Poland), Karel Kriz (Czechoslovakia),Louis LUvy (France), Hakoon printed in editions of 10,000-11,000. Lie (Norway), Richard LBwenthal (Germany), After the Soviet Union entered the war, Pietro Nenni (Italy), A. Ramos Oliveira (Spain), and especially after the defense of Oscar Pollak (Austria), Kurt Schumacher(Ger- many), Paolo Treves (Italy), Hans Vogel (Ger- Stalingrad at the end of 1942, the Left many), and three British representatives:Mildred regained much of its appeal. The Left Bamford,Jim Middleton,and Harold laski. 214 THE LIBRARY QUARTERLY the Vansittartist position appeared in had had on the British labor movement Left News and in the International So- nearly 150 years before. But the cumu- cialist Forum. lative effect of the books was not insig- After the defeat of Germany and the nificant. The club deserves much of the election of the Labour government in credit for focusing attention on poverty 1945, the issues which had sustained the in Britain. The club helped shape the Left Book Club no longer existed. The view that the country's prewar Conser- intellectual climate of its most active vative leaders were guilty of the neglect and significant years had been colored of Britain's genuine interests. The ma- by the economic crisis, the rise of fas- jority of the British people emerged cism, the Spanish Civil War, and the from World War II with the ambition agitation for collective security and a of creating a better society. Few Popular Front. The momentumbuilt up yearned for a return to prewar con- by these issues helped carry the club ditions. Gollancz and Strachey both be- through the war, as did its concerns of lieved that the Left Book Club had preserving democratic values at home contributed significantly to the climate and of planning for the postwar world. that made the election of the Labour During the war Gollancz's interest in government possible. In 1945 eleven the club declined. After the war his Left Book Club authors sat on the attention turned away from the Left Labour benches in Parliament, and six Book Club to other campaigns, such as of them, including the prime minister, relief for defeated Germany and, later, were members of the government. nuclear disarmament. Throughout the twelve and a half The Left Book Club survived for years of its existence, the most impor- three more years. Membership was fall- tant influence on the Left Book Club ing sharply. The price of monthly was always Gollancz himself. Gollancz choices remained at two shillings and never doubted that the majority of the sixpence, while the costs of book pro- population was well meaning and, if it duction were rising. In March 1947 could be reached,would listen and could Left News was discontinued. When the be convinced to think and act different- membership fell below 8,000 Gollancz ly. It is primarily to Gollancz's credit disbanded the club. Its last selection, in that the Left Book Club remained, on October 1948, was G. D. H. Cole's The the whole, a serious educational move- Meaning of Marxism. ment and did not degenerateinto a sim- The Left Book Club had enjoyed an ple propaganda machine. The club extraordinarysuccess in its early years, could not have achieved its remarkable but it failed to sway a nation from its success without Gollancz's energetic apathy, and it failed to prevent the war. leadership or the backing of his pub- Most of the causes for which it strug- lishing firm. Gollancz kept strict per- gled were lost. The closest the Popular sonal control of the club. Some of his Front came to being achieved in Britain personal interests, such as Christian was within the ranks of the Left Book socialism, were reflected in the club. Club itself. The alliance with the Soviet When Gollancz lost interest in the club Union was achieved only in the midst it quickly came to an end. It was once of the war which it had first been con- suggested to Gollancz that he should ceived to prevent. None of the club's hire someone to run the Left Book Club selections had the impact or influence for him. "But," he protested, "the Club that Tom Paine's The Rights of Man is myself!" VICTOR GOLLANCZAND THE LEFT BOOK CLUB 215

REFERENCES 1. Left News, nos. 1-128 (May 1936-March 14. Lewis, John. The Left Book Club: An 1947). Historical Record. London: Victor Gol- 2. Strachey, John. The Strangled Cry and lancz, 1970. Other UnparliamentaryPapers. London: 15. Cole, G. D. H., and Postgate, Raymond. Bodley Head, 1962. The CommonPeople, 1746-1946.London: 3. Gollancz,Victor. My Dear Timothy: An Methuen,1956. AutobiographicalLetter to His Grandson. 16. Freedman,Frank I. "Letterto the Editor." London: Victor Gollancz,1952. New Statesman, September 4, 1937, p. 4. Darlin, JamesRalph. The Educationof a 334. Civilized Man: A Selection of Speeches 17. Koestler, Arthur. The Invisible Writing: and Sermons. Edited by Michael Persse. An Autobiography.London: Collins, with Melbourne:F. W. Cheshire,1962. HamishHamilton, 1954. More Timothy:Being 5. Gollancz,Victor. for Orwell,George. Coming Up for Air. Har- Instalment of an Autobio- 18. the Second Books, 1962. graphicalLetter to His Grandson.Lon- mondsworth:Penguin don: Victor Gollancz,1953. 19. Marshall,Herbert. "Listen You." Poetry 6. Letter from Gollanczto Allen Hutt, April and the People, no. 16 (January 1940), 4, 1936. In possessionof Hutt. pp. 6-9. 7. Strachey, John. "Letter to the Editor." 20. Moore, Harry Thornton."The Left Book New Statesman,May 15, 1937,p. 808. Club."New Republic,December 8, 1937, 8. Peck, J. "Letter to the Editor." New pp. 150.-S1. Statesman,May 29, 1937, p. 880. 21. Crane,Gordon. "L.B.C. and LaborMove- 9. Dobson, J. [G. ChristopherDarton]. "The ment." Communist Review (Australia) Right and Left in the English Book (December 1938), pp. 23-26. World." Publisher's Weekly, June 26, 22. "The Hitler Menace." Left Book Club 1937, pp. 2546-47. leaflet. Reproducedin the Tribune (Lon- 10. Orwell, George. The Collected Essays, don), September23, 1938, p. 11. Journalismand Letters of GeorgeOrwell. 23. Martin, Kingsley.Editor: A Second Vol- Vol. 1. An Age Like This, 1920-1940. ume of Autobiography.London: Hutchin- Edited by Sonia Orwell and Ian Angus. son, 1968. London: Secker& Warburg,1968. 11. Samuels, Stuart. "The Left Book Club." 24. Letter from LeonardWoolf to GordonB. Journal of ContemporaryHistory 1, no. Neavill, March6, 1969. 2 (1966): 65-86. 25. Woolf, Leonard. The lourney Not the 12. Bevin, Ernest. "Labour Stands Firm." ArrivalMatters: An Autobiographyof the Record, Journal of the Transport and Years1939-1969. London: Hogarth Press, GeneralWorkers Union (December1938), 1969. pp. 128-29. 26. Holmes, Walter. "A Worker'sNotebook." 13. Morrison,Herbert. "This Talk about the Daily Worker (London), November 27, Popular Front." London News, Monthly 1940. publicationof the London Labour party 27. Letter from Gollanczto Allen Hutt, Sep- (January1939), pp. 1, 8. tember 13, 1939. In possessionof Hutt.