CONVERSION
The influence of Mr
Hecht's ideas had certainly caused a change in my way of thinking
plus an incident that may seem trivial to some, but looking back on
it I am sure it had a profound effect on my understanding of how
religion affected the way we lived. It had been my custom to walk
home from work at lunchtime and as I passed a small sweet shop on the
way I would call in to buy a small bar of chocolate to munch as I
walked home. On this particular day, as I took the first bite of the
chocolate bar I suddenly realised that I had committed what any
religious Jew would consider a sin, an action that was considered to
be against the 'law of god.' To explain, it so happened that this
took place in the middle of the feast of Passover.
This is a festival that commemorates the release of the Jews from
slavery in Egypt during the reign of the Pharaohs. During the eight
days of Passover,
only food that had been passed by the Beth
Din (Rabbinical Court) as fit to be eaten during Pesach,
(Passover) may be
consumed. I stopped in my tracks, expecting a bolt of lightning to
strike me. Nothing happened. This seemingly trivial episode to me,
who had been taught that to contravene the laws of the Torah
(Sacred Jewish writings and traditions), was abhorrent, something
that would bring down the wrath of the "Lord", was a
watershed -- nothing happened. I stood amazed waiting for the
punishment I had been taught to expect. The fact that no such
punishment was administered acted as a catalyst. If I could eat the
'forbidden fruit' and survive, what else was possible? This meant
that all I had been given to understand as to the truth of religious
teaching was undermined. Taken together with the influence of my
political mentor, Mr Hecht, this set me on the road to discover more
about how we view the world we live in.
There was, at the
time, a branch of the Labour League of Youth in Cheetham with rooms
above a shop in Waterloo Road. I decided to join the League and took
part in the campaign in support of the Spanish
Republican Government. I had not been in the Youth league very
long before I realised that we were simply an arm of the Labour
Party. The League of Youth was not allowed to formulate its own
policy but had to follow the policy laid down by the Party. As the
official line of the Labour Party on Spain was to support the
Government in its policy of "non-intervention", and I saw
this as a betrayal of the Spanish people, I left the League and
joined the Young
Communist League, who also had a branch in the district.
I
soon found that the two youth organisations, despite both having the
aim of a Socialist Society as their raison d'etre, were
totally different in the way they were organised and their
relationship with the parent body. The Labour League of Youth was
treated by the Party in a very condescending way. Whereas the Young
Communist League acted independently from the Communist
Party of Great Britain. It had its own policy-making body and
carried on activity in its own way. Membership of the Young
Communist League was open to members up to the age of 30 and dual
membership of both Young
Communist League and Party was common. So the Young
Communist League got the experience and advice of the older
comrades without being dictated to by the Party. The other important
difference between the two youth organisations was the attitude to
political education. In the Young
Communist League education was the most important aspect of the
work. Without understanding the nature of capitalist society it was
seen as impossible to work for a revolutionary change to Socialism
and eventually Communism. The concept that action without theory is
futile, and theory without action is barren, typifies the way the
Young
Communist League looked at the subject of political
education.
So every possible opportunity to learn from the
Marxist classics
was taken. Usually a class was held once a week based on one of the
books suggested by the comrade in charge of education. Everyone would
have a copy and it would be agreed to read a particular section in
order that a discussion around it could be held. We found this a very
successful method and the discussion helped us understand the complex
issues involved. Everyone was encouraged to take part in the lesson
and question the concept under discussion.
This for me was a
new and exciting world, a world of new ideas, new friends and
involvement in activity around some of the important issues of the
day.
A most important part of the education process, if not
the most important part, dealt with the difference between the
materialist view and idealism which looks at the world from a totally
opposite viewpoint. I became convinced that as Marx
would probably say, 'If it can't be proved, it does not exist'.
Many books were used in the education classes we held. The
one that had the most influence on me was a book published in 1939 by
the Foreign Languages Publishing House in Moscow. Entitled History
of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks), it
was written as a short course on the history of the Party to be used
in the education of party members, to show how the party developed.
It deals with the period from 1883 to 1937, from the first steps
taken towards building a working-class movement in Tsarist
Russia, to the election of the Supreme
Soviet in December 1937.
The section that had a profound
affect on me was that dealing with the Marxist theory of Dialectical
and Historical Materialism. This is not the place to try and
explain that theory, suffice it to say that along with my rejection
of a religious explanation of the world, a rejection of idealism, it
was inevitable that I would look to the opposite of idealism,
materialism, for an explanation. Summed up, my belief in the theory
of Dialectical
and Historical Materialism can be said to be the acceptance of
the fact that "the world and its laws are fully knowable,
that our knowledge of the laws of nature, tested by experiment and
practice, is authentic knowledge having the validity of objective
truth, and that there are no things in the world which are
unknowable, but only things which are still not known, but which will
be disclosed and made known by the efforts of science and practice."
History
of the CPSU (B), p.113.
We were of course involved in
propagating the policy of the Young
Communist League on many questions such as Spain, unemployment,
housing, and so on. A number of our members joined the International
Brigade to fight fascism
in Spain.
Amongst them was Monty Rosenfield. When Monty came back from Spain he
applied to join the army in order to continue the fight against
fascism. He was turned down and we believed the reason was his
membership of the International
Brigade. He called on the then Communist MP Willie
Gallacher to see if he could help and eventually was called up
into the army. He immediately applied to be sent overseas. Again he
was refused. But that was not going to stop him and finally he got
his wish and was sent overseas. He was wounded in Italy but was soon
back in action and was killed in Italy in 1944.
On Waterloo
Road at the corner of Cluny Street there was a piece of spare ground
that we called Marshall Croft. It was ideal for use as a "speakers'
corner" and we used to hold public meetings there to put our
policy to the people of the area. It was a perfect training ground
for the young comrades to learn how to address a public meeting, how
to deal with hecklers, and some of the members became quite good
speakers. Outdoor meetings were used a lot both as a method of
putting to the people our ideas on the political situation and as a
way of getting the comrades used to public speaking. The experience
gained in these meetings was to prove invaluable as the members
played their part in the Trade Union and Labour Movement.
My
first attempt at speaking in public was when I addressed a small
open-air meeting held in the park in Elizabeth Street mentioned
earlier. There was a small stage, with a tiled roof and surrounded by
iron railings, very much like a small bandstand, though I don't
remember any musical performances in Elizabeth Street park. The Young
Communist League often used it. I don't recall the subject matter
of my first public speech, though as the
Spanish Civil War was a main priority at the time it is more than
likely that was my subject. I must have been about sixteen years old.
Now, nearly sixty years later, I am still at it. I have always found
it easy to convey my opinions to large groups, and have never been
constrained by the size of the audience.
In order to advertise
the meetings we used a method that was strictly illegal. We would go
out at night in teams of three or more equipped with a bucket of
whitewash and a brush. One comrade was delegated to paint the
pavement with the message advertising the forthcoming meeting
"Communist meeting Marshall Croft Sunday 2pm"; the others
would be keeping watch for the police.
The whole area would
be covered in whitewash slogans advertising the meeting.