A Rebel, not a Rabbi: Jewish Membership of the Communist Party of Great Britain

This paper explores the relationship between Jews and communismin the twentieth century through a case study of the Jewishmembership of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB). Itexplains in particular why large numbers of Jews were attractedto the CPGB. The dynamics of integration into British societyof second-generation Anglo-Jewry provides an answer and offersan insight into the issues of Jewish identity and its relationshipwith extreme left-wing politics. The study of the personal reflectswider changes in the historiography of communism as the endof the communist bloc has led to new avenues of research notleast due to the opening of previously closed archives. Indeed,the sources used here have only recently been made availablefollowing the demise of the CPGB. This article concentrateson the one of the most important parts of this archive: thebiographical collection, a unique source providing an unparalleledopportunity to examine the lives of party members. This articlerepresents one of the first to be based on this material, andwith additional supporting research it also represents probablythe largest and most detailed biographical study of Anglo-Jewryto date.