In solidarity, under suspicion
The British far left from 1956
Evan Smith editor Daniel Frost editor
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Manchester University Press
Published:18th Nov '25
Should be back in stock very soon
In solidarity, under suspicion is the successor volume to Against the grain (2014) and Waiting for the revolution (2017), complementing analysis of the far left in Britain from 1956 until the present. In addition to new scholarship on hitherto under-researched groups and movements, the volume explores recent findings from the Undercover Policing Inquiry and provides historical context for developments in the British left during and after ‘Corbynism’. Chapters consider the far left’s relationship to the state as well as to the Labour Party, and highlights attempts by far-left groups and activists both to intervene internationally and to transform themselves. With a range of different perspectives – activist and academic – In solidarity, under suspicion draws out the distinct ways that different far left groups and movements have responded to problems which remain salient today.
'There’s a great deal here of interest – about claimants’ unions, trades councils, the early Women’s Liberation Movement and the Anti-Nazi League. Today’s activists shouldn’t dismiss these contributions as historical, academic exercises. On the contrary, there is a lot here that could teach us how to help build contemporary social movements. Many of the currents who made a mess of united front activity fifty years ago are still leading campaigns today – and if they are unable to learn from their mistakes, others should at least try.'
Labour Hub
'The history of the British non-Labour left is often portrayed as a bewildering series of splits over the ‘true’ legacy of the Russian Revolution and fealty to one or other esoteric analysis of the place of the party in relation to the working class... [This] collection, as the title suggests, attempts to go beyond just the traditional focus on Trotskyist-inspired groups to cover the mosaic of organisations and alliances in the post-war far left and their relationship to both the (UK) state and international liberation struggles, from Ireland to Malaysia and Chile in particular.'
Clive Hedges, The Left Lane
ISBN: 9781526179593
Dimensions: 234mm x 156mm x 27mm
Weight: 846g
480 pages