The Communist
Source: The Communist, January 6, 1923.
Publisher: Communist Party of Great Britain
Transcription/Markup: Brian Reid
Public Domain: Marxists Internet Archive (2007). You may freely copy, distribute, display and perform this work; as well as make derivative and commercial works. Please credit “Marxists Internet Archive” as your source.
THE advent of the New Year witnesses considerable progress in the re-building of the Communist Party on the lines of the Theses of the Communist International.
The underlying basis was provided by the Report of the Party Commission and the new Statutes and Rules which were adopted by the Party Conference at Battersea on October 7-9th.
The Central Executive Committee elected at the Conference immediately formed itself into the two bureaux—Political and Organising. The political secretary (Comrade Thos. Bell) acts as secretary to the Political Bureau and the Organising Secretary (Comrade Albert Inkpin) acts in a similar capacity to the Organising Bureau.
In addition, all the principal departments at headquarters, with the necessary leading committees to carry out their work, have now been set up. Each department is under the charge of a member of the Central Committee, who is responsible to the particular executive bureau within whose jurisdiction the work of his department comes. These departments are:—
Industrial (under the charge of Harry Pollitt, during the absence of J. T. Murphy).
Parliamentary and Municipal (W. Gallacher).
Party Training (Geo. Deacon).
Unemployment (Thos. Bell), and
Distribution (H. Pollitt).
The establishment of the remaining departments will be proceeded with as rapidly as possible. In the meantime the work of each of these remaining departments is being conducted by the particular executive bureau concerned.
The task of initiating the re-organisation of Party structure in the country is in the care of a special Organising committee, which functions under the chairmanship of the Organising Secretary (Albert Inkpin) and works under the jurisdiction of the Organising Bureau of the Party Executive. The first principal task of this special organising committee has been the establishment of the new Party Districts.
Although this work has involved the collecting and sifting of an enormous mass of information, considerable progress has been made with the delimitation of the party districts and the establishment of the District Party Committees.
District Party Congresses have now been held in a number of the most important districts, and District Party Committees have been set up as follows:—
London. E. W. Cant, District Organiser, 36, Laugh’s Conduit Street, London, W.C.I. South Wales. J. R. Wilson, Right 29, 12, Road, Ely, Cardiff.
Manchester. Jas. Crossley, Socialist Hall, Margarot Street, Higher Openshaw, Manchester.
Liverpool. I. P. Hughes, 14, Marmaduke Street, Edgehill, Liverpool.
Sheffield. P. McGeeney, 134, South View Crescent, Sheffield.
Glasgow. A. Ferguson, 196, St. Vincent Street, Glasgow.
Further district party congresses for the inauguration of now districts and the election of district party committees have been arranged as follows:—
Bradford. Saturday, January 6th.
Birmingham. Saturday, January 13th.
Edinburgh. Saturday, January 20th.
Enquiries are still proceeding as regards the Nottingham, North East Coast and Fife Districts, whilst the position of outlying branches, like Plymouth, Bristol, Dundee, Perth, Aberdeen, Falkirk, Brighton Southend, Reading and Barrow-in-Furness will be determined as soon as- the necessary information is received and considered by the Organising Committee.
The Political and Organising Bureau, together with the various departments for the direction of Party activities within the districts, have been set up by the District Party Committees already established. These Committees are also turning their attention immediately to the question of the delineation of local areas and the establishment of the local party organisations. The setting up of the local Party Committees, as well as of all groups and nuclei, will be the task of the District Party Committees, acting under the guidance of the organising bureau of the Central Executive.
New groups of the C.P. have been formed at Workington and Barnoldswick. The secretary of the Workington group is Comrade Geo. Telford, 20, Findlay Place, Workington. The Barnoldswick secretary is Comrade J. Rushton, 27, Gisburn Street, Barnoldswick, Yorks.
Entirely new forms of application for membership of the Party have now been printed. This now form of application must be signed by all future applicants for membership, including those who have joined the Party since the registration cards were circulated through the branches. Supplies can be obtained on application to Headquarters.