BRITISH COMMUNISM AND THE POLITICS OF EDUCATION, 1926-1968 A thesis submitted to The University of Manchester for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Humanities 2015 MATTHEW R. KAVANAGH SCHOOL OF ARTS, LANGUAGES AND CULTURES Contents Abbreviations 3 Abstract 5 Declaration 6 Copyright Statement 7 Acknowledgements 8 Introduction 9 Chapter One: A Long and Difficult Third Period , 1926-1934 25 Chapter Two: Against Fascism, War and Economies, 1935-1939 62 Chapter Three: Unwelcome Allies? 1939-1941 93 Chapter Four: The ‘People’s War’ and Educational Reconstruction, 1941-1944 108 Chapter Five: ‘A Focal Point in the Struggle’, 1945-1956 134 Chapter Six: Crisis, Democratic Centralism and Dissent, 1956-1957 171 Chapter Seven: New Trends and New Schisms, 1957-1968 187 Conclusion 212 Bibliography 221 Final Word Count: 87, 893. 2 Abbreviations ACE Advisory Committee on Education ARP Air Raid Protection AMA Assistant Masters’ Association BCRGT British Committee for the Relief of German Teachers BCTA Buckinghamshire County Teachers’ Association CACE Central Advisory Council on Education CCCS Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (University of Birmingham) CEA Council for Educational Advance CND Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament Comintern Communist International CPGB Communist Party of Great Britain CPSU Communist Party of the Soviet Union EWI Educational Workers’ International EWL Educational Workers’ League IAAM Incorporated Association of Assistant Masters LBC Left Book Club LCC London County Council LEA Local Education Authority LTA London Teachers’ Association LW Lawrence and Wishart NALT National Association of Labour Teachers NAS National Association of Schoolmasters NCC National Cultural Committee (Communist Party of Great Britain) NCCL National Council for Civil Liberties NCLC National Council of Labour Colleges NEAC National Education Advisory Committee (Communist Party of Great Britain) NMM National Minority Movement NUT National Union of Teachers NUWT National Union of Women Teachers 3 RILU Red International of Labour Unions TAWM Teachers’ Anti-War Movement TCND Teachers’ Committee for Nuclear Disarmament TLL Teachers’ Labour League TUC Trade Union Congress USSR Union of Soviet Socialist Republics 4 Abstract This thesis provides an analysis of British communist attitudes to education in English schools between 1926 and 1968. Although the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) in many ways remained a marginal force in British politics throughout its life (1920-1991), historians have acknowledged that it made a contribution to cultural and industrial politics in Britain which far exceeded its membership figures and electoral success. Surprisingly, given that the Party produced several teacher trade union presidents and Britain’s foremost post-war educationalist, scholars have largely overlooked British communism’s role in the politics of education in schools – a field which straddles both areas in which the Party is widely regarded to have punched above its weight. Researchers into the Party’s internal life have also paid little attention to its schoolteachers’ group, despite the fact that it was one of the CPGB’s largest occupational groups, and the fact that leading communist teachers and educationalists also took up prominent positions inside the Party. Although some existing work has discussed CPGB attitudes to the education of children during the 1920s, 1940s and 1950s, to date there has been no PhD-length study which covers the period between 1926 and 1968 and has British communism and the politics of education as its sole focus. This study fills this gap by identifying individuals and institutions central to CPGB discussions and policy-making on education in schools, namely the leading figures in and around the Party schoolteachers’ group, and exploring how they anticipated, reflected or resisted the wider Party line in their work throughout several pivotal shifts in the CPGB’s position. Drawing upon source material unused by or unavailable to previous researchers, the thesis complicates existing arguments about the extent to which Party teachers and educationalists subordinated questions of educational content, method and theory to trade union work between 1926 and 1968. Furthermore the study also contextualises and illuminates the notable communist contribution to broader educational politics on the Left in Britain, particularly during World War Two and in the campaign for comprehensive education in the two decades which followed. 5 Declaration No portion of the work referred to in this thesis has been submitted in support of an application for a degree or qualification of this or any other university or other institute of learning. 6 Copyright Statement i. The author of this thesis (including any appendices and/or schedules to this thesis) owns certain copyright or related rights in it (the “Copyright”) and he has given the University of Manchester certain rights to use such Copyright, including for administrative purposes. ii. Copies of this thesis, either in full or in extracts and whether in hard or electronic copy, may be made only in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (as amended) and regulations issued under it or, where appropriate, in accordance with licensing agreements which the University has from time to time. This page must form part of any such copies made. iii. The ownership of certain Copyright, patents, designs, trade marks and other intellectual property (the “Intellectual Property”) and any reproductions of copyright works in the thesis, for example graphs and tables (“Reproductions”), which may be described in the thesis, may not be owned by the author and may be owned by third parties. Such Intellectual Property and Reproductions cannot and must not be made available for use without the prior written permission of the owner(s) of the relevant Intellectual Property and/or Reproductions. iv. Further information on the conditions under which disclosure, publication and commercialisation of this thesis, the Copyright and any Intellectual Property and/or Reproductions described in it may take place is available in the University IP Policy (see http://documents.manchester.ac.uk/DocuInfo.aspx?DocID=487), in any relevant Thesis restriction declarations deposited in the University Library, the University Library’s regulations (see http://www.manchester.ac.uk/library/aboutus/regulations) and in the University’s Policy on Presentation of Theses. 7 Acknowledgements I am grateful to the Arts and Humanities Research Council for the Collaborative Doctoral Award which funded this PhD. I would not have been able to embark upon a doctorate without it. To that end I must also thank Professor John Callaghan, Lynette Cawthra, and Dr Ben Harker for selecting me for the Award. Lynette and the whole team at Salford’s Working Class Movement Library also get my gratitude for their assistance, encouragement, knowledge and cups of tea during my many hours spent there. Ben too gets a second round of thanks for supervising this thesis to its completion. Without his expertise, encouragement, patience, kindness and understanding I am certain I would not have lasted the distance. Nor would I have made it without my wife, Fiona. She may have frequently rued the day that she told me “just do it” when I kept prevaricating over whether or not to do a PhD, but from the moment she uttered those words to the moment I am writing these, her love for, belief in, and patience with, me has sustained me in a way I do not have not the words to describe. I owe a huge amount also to my family and friends (too numerous to mention by name) whose advice, company, kindness, love and good humour has made a highly challenging period that bit more comfortable. Finally, I would like to dedicate this thesis to the memory of David McKendrick, who taught me what it means to be a socialist, a teacher and a father. 8 Introduction Brian Simon (1915-2002) is acknowledged as Britain’s foremost post-war educationalist for his contribution to the history, theory and practice of education.1 Yet when he published the third volume in his Studies in the History of Education series in 1974,2 a “major criticism” of the book came from one quarter: [O]ne would have liked more of the history behind the history (as it were) of the TUC and NUT and other public top-level reactions ... The political ‘left’ for example, appears nowhere apart from the Labour Party ... Did no-one else, for example the Communist Party, play any part in the politics of educational reform in this period?3 The question was nakedly rhetorical, for by 1974 Brian Simon had been a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) for nearly four decades. Indeed, Simon’s reviewer had been in the CPGB for the same amount of time,4 and in that time had risen, alongside Simon, to its Executive Committee. He was also a head teacher and had recently finished his term as President of the National Union of Teachers (NUT). His name was Max Morris, and the point he made in the posing of his question was a relevant one. Almost half a century on, its relevance has only increased, since the absence of communist teachers and educationalists from the historiography of the politics of educational reform – and, indeed, the historiography of the CPGB itself – remains.5 That was the initial spur to this inquiry, but the choice requires further justification. Rationale Admittedly the CPGB remained but a marginal force in British politics throughout its 70 year existence (1920-1991). The high water mark of its electoral achievements was the return of 2 MPs and 215 1 Clyde Chitty, in ‘Book Reviews’, History of Education, 21, 2 (1992), p. 219. See also D. Reeder, ‘Brian Simon: A Tribute’, History of Education, 31, 4 (2002), pp. 307-310. 2 Brian Simon, The Politics of Educational Reform 1920-1940 (London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1974). 3 Max Morris, in ‘Books’, Labour Monthly, 57, 2 (February 1975), p.