One consequence of LSE being shut down was a new student demand to be taught Marxian economics. They had only the vaguest notion of what it...
One consequence of LSE being shut down was a new student demand to be taught Marxian economics. They had only the vaguest notion of what it entailed, but they knew it stood against everything they loathed – America, the Labour government, the Vietnam War and capitalism. In the UK, in those days, there were several left-wing groups.
The orthodox Communist Party was on the decline, but there were still prominent academics – Eric Hobsbawm, Christopher Hill and Maurice Dobb – who were known to be communists. The more popular groups, as I’ve mentioned earlier, were the Trostkyist groups, especially the intellectual International Socialists.
Their leader went under the pseudonym of Tony Cliff. He had written a trenchant critique of Stalinism and described the USSR as a state- capitalist rather than a socialist nation. Michael Kidron – who had written a very good book on foreign investment in India – and Nigel Harris, who was a prolific writer, were also in the IS, as the group was known.
There was another group led by Gerry Healy – the Workers Revolutionary Party; it was said to be much more dogmatic. Gerry Healy was an authoritarian but charismatic leader and attracted famous people such as Vanessa...
