Databases

This collection is derived from the personal papers of one of the titans of British communism, Harry Pollitt. Born in 1890, Pollitt embraced communism after witnessing the hardships inflicted on his family by poverty. He was a founding member of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) in 1920, before going on to assume the crucial role of General Secretary in 1929.

This collection contains documents relating to discrete campaigns and events organised by the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) during the period 1947-1991. The documents include minutes, correspondence, press releases, posters, and programmes. They provide an insight into the ways in which British communists sought to influence the opinions of members and the general public in the 20th century.

The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) spawned many different committees throughout its turbulent lifetime. This collection contains the papers of numerous different committees established to advise the Executive Committee on party policy and ongoing developments in their respective fields. The material is varied in scope and demonstrates the totality of the CPGB’s ambitions in developing policy for their political programme.

The so-called “Scramble for Africa” that occurred during the late nineteenth century involved European powers carving up the continent. The United Kingdom controlled the largest portion of territory. British colonial regulations required each colony to submit a “Blue Book” to the Colonial Office on an annual basis. The aim was to standardise statistical reports, primarily those relating to economic development, as well as demographic, ecclesiastical, and public records.

Ivor Montagu (1904-1984) was best known for his work as a filmmaker, scriptwriter, and producer. He was also a trained naturalist, the founder of the International Table Tennis Federation, president of the Southampton F.C. Supporters’ Club, and an active member of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB).

John Gollan (1911-1977) was a political leader and communist activist in Britain during the 20th century. Gollan joined the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) in 1926 following his involvement in the General Strike of the same year. A close apprentice and confidante of Harry Pollitt, he was seen as the most appropriate and able person to take over his crucial role of General Secretary in 1956

A black and white image of one man sat down and one man stood. They're speaking towards a room of people sat down. Behind them is a board that says 'Communist Party' and 'The English Utopia'.

This collection contains documents compiled by the Communist Party of Great Britain’s (CPGB) National Cultural Committee. The National Cultural Committee (NCC) was established in 1947 and functioned as an advisory panel for the Executive Committee. It aimed to develop policy related to the sphere of culture and the arts for the consideration of the Executive Committee.

This collection contains reports and other records compiled by the Communist Party of Great Britain's (CPGB) International Department between 1944 and 1986. This periodisation begins immediately after the dissolution of the Communist International (Comintern) and ends shortly before the collapse of the Soviet Union.

John Thomas (J.T.) Murphy and Molly Murphy (née Morris) were a married couple who were prominent members of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) during its formative years. J.T. was expelled from the party in 1932, while Molly resigned shortly thereafter

Modelled on the Soviet Union’s Central Committee, the Executive Committee (EC) functioned as one of the highest organs of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB). In line with the CPGB constitution, the EC met on a bi-monthly to carry out the decisions made by the annual National Congress. In practice, the EC functioned as a monolithic authority that enforced the rigid tenet of democratic centralism. This was a Leninist principle that stated that once a decision had been made collectively, party members were bound to accept and support it. The EC often used this tenet, as well as its influential position in appointing committee members, to maintain an iron-clad grip on the CPGB.

is a comprehensive full-text collection of Anglo-American legal treatises.

This collection contains records compiled by the Communist Party of Great Britain's (CPGB) Women's Department during the period 1944–1991. These records include minutes, agendas, and promotional materials from various women's campaigns, events, and conferences. They also include copies of Link, the party's women's magazine, and Red Rag, a controversial journal published by the party's more militant feminist members.

Ghana and Togo Under Colonial Rule, in Government Reports, 1843–1957 contains papers from the colonial governments in Ghana and Togo. They shed much light on British rule in these territories. Throughout the period covered by this collection Ghana and Togo were known as the Gold Coast and British Togoland. Their records are published together because Togoland included land which is part of modern-day Ghana.

provides trusted industry research on thousands of industries in the UK, USA, Australia, New Zealand & Canada.

This collection is composed of directories of Liverpool first established by John Gore in 1766. The directories contained lists of merchants, tradesmen, and principal inhabitants of Liverpool, initially being published sporadically but later taking on a biennial character. The directories demonstrate the changing face of the city of Liverpool over the 18th and 19th centuries. Thus, the collection offers a window into the blossoming of the Industrial Revolution, the rise and fall of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, and the establishment of the first social services in the city.

Dona Ruth Anne Torr (1883–1957) was a Marxist historian, translator, and activist. Despite being born into an aristocratic family, Torr became a founding member of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB). She went on to build a reputation not only as an adept historian, but also as a passionate activist who gave her life to communism. She has been cited as a major influence by E. P. Thompson and Eric Hobsbawm.

Dona Ruth Anne Torr (1883–1957) was a Marxist historian, translator, and activist. Despite being born into an aristocratic family, Torr became a founding member of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB). She went on to build a reputation not only as an adept historian, but also as a passionate activist who gave her life to communism. She has been cited as a major influence by E. P. Thompson and Eric Hobsbawm.

encompasses all major classical musical genres and time periods from the Middle Ages to the 21st century and includes full, study, piano, and vocal scores

Nkoda is a database of over 100,00 digital music scores and is an app-based product. Please follow the instructions on the link to access Nkoda

At its peak, the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) had tens of thousands of dedicated activists fighting to bring sweeping change across Britain. These activists penetrated nearly all areas of British society, from industry and trade unions to colonial administration and academia. Convinced of the righteousness of their cause, these activists showed great enthusiasm and fierce determination in advancing the struggle for socialism.

is an electronic version of the first edition of Jacques-Paul Migne's Patrologia Latina, published between 1844 and 1855, and the four volumes of indexes published between 1862 and 1865. Patrologia Latina comprises the works of the Church Fathers from Tertullian in 200 AD to the death of Pope Innocent III in 1216

The Political Committee of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was a subsidiary of the Executive Committee. It was responsible for determining the party’s policy positions. Due to the CPGB being unable to maintain a full time Executive Committee, the Political Committee emerged as the de facto leadership body of the party. This collection contains materials from the Political Bureau during the CPGB’s early years of great optimism and hope, to the Political Committee that helped toe-the-line for the Soviet Union during the Cold War and eventually collapsed with it.

The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) created several commissions that aimed to construct political programmes in response to social, political, and economic developments in Britain and the Soviet Union. This collection hosts the papers of several commissions that sought to redraft the Party’s flagship political manifesto: The British Road to Socialism. This was first published in 1951 with the personal approval of Joseph Stalin. It became a key battleground between various factions of the CPGB that sought to control the direction and agenda of the Party.

From its inception in 1920, the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was intimately involved in trade unionism in Britain. From entryism to election rigging and radical education of workers to support for legitimate industrial action, the CPGB took to trade unionism with particular zest and determination. This collection is comprised of material from the CPGB’s Industrial Department, which sought to organise the party’s strategy in relation to trade unions and industry

William Wainwright (1908–2000) was a British communist activist and member of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB). During his time in the party, Wainwright briefly served as the secretary of the British Soviet Society and was heavily involved in the peace movement of the 1950s and 1960s. He is perhaps most well-known, however, for his writings on the concept of scientific socialism.

This collection offers a window into one of the darkest episodes of Britain’s history. Over the course of the eighteenth century, Liverpool became Britain’s busiest and most profitable slave-trading port in the country. Britain's involvement in the transatlantic slave trade was abolished in 1807 but not before British merchants had gained unimaginable wealth at the expense of enslaved African people, who were sold to new markets in the Americas.

This collection explores and offers varying perspectives on the explosive debate around the Transatlantic Slave Trade during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. The documents, through a combination of correspondence, pamphlets, memoirs, and statistics, track both the proliferation of British power and the enslavement it was built upon, as well as the moral critiques that arose as a reaction to the horrific practice.

National Congress was the supreme decision-making body of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB). Congress delegates from across the Party’s districts and branches met bi-annually in order to elect members to key political bodies, to vote on resolutions and on other policy issues, and to fraternise with fellow members and representatives of international communist parties. Congress was a hive of activity and often the scene of high political drama as tensions frayed and factions fought over the direction of the Party.

This online collection provides access to the archives of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts

The ETU ballot-rigging trial was a case brought to the High Court by prominent union members John Thomas Byrne and Frank Chapple in 1961. They alleged that members of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) had engaged in "a conspiracy to defraud" in the most recent elections of the Electrical Trades Union (ETU), a relatively successful body that represented electricians, wire fitters, and telephone engineers. The judge ultimately ruled in the plaintiffs' favour.