Acknowledgements
This book has been a long time in the making; many people, too many to list by name, have helped me to formulate my ideas and extend my knowledge.
In the early 1960s I worked for a year in a French secondary school, and began to discover something about the importance of laïcité [the closest translation is secularism] in the French education system. Then for nearly thirty years I taught French at Middlesex Polytechnic [previously Enfield College of Technology and subsequently Middlesex University]. My teaching included topics from French history and intellectual life; often I learned as much from students’ questions and disagreements as I taught them. Although I am not a historian by training, I worked alongside historians and social scientists and I learned a lot about approaches to history from discussions and arguments with Norah Carlin and other colleagues.
For some fifty years I was a member of the Socialist Workers Party [earlier the International Socialists]. Among my activities was speaking to large numbers of meetings on topics from the history of the socialist and working-class movement. I also spoke most years over four decades to the SWP’s annual Marxism event. Audience responses were extremely valuable to me. Another of my responsibilities at certain times was dealing with the party’s international contacts. In the course of such work I met a number of activists from different currents of the French far left, including such veterans as Alain Krivine, Denis Berger, Jean-René Chauvin, Daniel Mothé and Jakob Moneta, who are mentioned in these pages. In its earlier years I learned from the IS/SWP – from Tony Cliff, Mike Kidron, Peter Sedgwick, Alasdair MacIntyre, Chris Harman and others – an undogmatic, critical Marxism which has provided a framework for my historical writing.
For over twenty years I was a member of the editorial board of the journal Revolutionary History. I helped to edit two issues – on Alfred and Marguerite Rosmer and on the Algerian War – and have written and translated a good deal of material. Contact with my fellow board members has given me access to a vast amount of knowledge about the international revolutionary movement.
Over a similar period of time I have been a member of the London Socialist Historians Group; I have given a number of papers to its seminars and conferences, and have written for its Newsletter. I have also learned much from regular contact with other members of the group with their wide range of specialisms.
I have given papers on historical topics at a number of conferences where I enjoyed an exchange of views with historians concerned with the socialist movement. In particular I have taken part in a number of the London Historical Materialism conferences, three conferences at Norwich organised by the Socialist History Society, the University of East Anglia and the Chicago Institute of Working-Class History, a conference on Daniel Guérin at Loughborough and one on Blanqui at Kingston University, and two conferences of Penser l’Émancipation at Lausanne and Nanterre.
I have written articles and reviews on topics related to the themes of this book for a wide range of publications: International Socialism, Socialist Review, Socialist Worker, Historical Materialism, New Left Review, Jacobin, Contretemps, International Socialist Review, RS21, Weekly Worker, Country Standard and other academic and political journals. Parts of such articles have been adapted and incorporated into the present volume.
In London I have researched at the British Library [including the old newspaper library at Colindale] and at the London Library. In Paris I have worked in the Bibliothèque Nationale, the Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal, the BDIC and the CERMTRI. I am most grateful to staff who have helped me to locate material. There have been many other spoken or written exchanges with comrades, friends and colleagues who have helped me to track down information or refine my arguments.
There are a number of references in the text to J. Maitron and C. Pennetier, Dictionnaire biographique du mouvement ouvrier français [
Translations from the French are my own except where otherwise stated.
In writing this book I have been constantly reminded that so many of those whom I have discussed lived in circumstances that were harsh and dangerous to an extent that is, for one born in more fortunate times, almost impossible to imagine, and that they displayed a degree of physical and moral courage which I have never been required to show. I have made critical judgements – that is what historians are for, if we are to learn from our past – but I hope I have done so with appropriate humility.
In recent years I have suffered from health problems which have made it impossible for me to visit libraries and pursue research. As a result the book is less comprehensive than I had originally intended, but I hope it will still serve some purpose. My thanks to Andrew Wright and others who have helped me get access to published material. Sebastian Budgen has given me both practical assistance and encouragement. My son Danny Birchall has helped in many ways, notably in dealing with my inadequate computing skills. I could not have finished the book without the assistance of various carers who have enabled me to live something approaching a normal life.
A number of people have read drafts at various stages and made valuable comments; these include Carolyn Cahalane, Steve Cushion, David Drake, Jean-Numa Ducange, Annie Nehmad, Selim Nadi, George Paizis, Jim Wolfreys and Leo Zeilig.
Finally there was Bel Druce. Bel and I only met late in life – we were both in our seventies – but we became ‘soulmates’ in the true sense of that cliché. Bel read much that I wrote, including early drafts of some sections of this book, and gave me what a writer needs – sharp criticism combined with unreserved encouragement. I called her my Muse; she knew of my plans for this book, and I promised that it would be dedicated to her. She will never read it, but it is her book.
Ian Birchall