for the left book club founded 1936 founder victor gollancz country of origin united kingdom headquarters location london distribution pluto press publication types books nonfiction topics a full range of progressive traditions perspectives and ideas official website http www.leftbookclub.com the left book club was a publishing group that exerted a strong far left influence in great britain from 1936 to 1948 . historian michael newman says between 1936 and 1939 the lbc and provided hope for thousands of people who were seeking a solution to the burning moral issues of the era . despite its pro communist line the club s socialist propaganda and education probably ultimately strengthen the labor party and contributed to its victory in the postwar election . 1 pioneered by victor gollancz it offered a monthly book choice for sale to members only as well as a newsletter that acquired the status of a major political magazine . it also held an annual rally . membership peaked at 57 000 but after the soviet nazi non aggression pact of 1939 it disowned its large communist element and years of paper rationing led to further decline . it ceased publishing in 1948 . an attempt to relaunch the group in the early 2000s stalled but after some delays in 2015 the first publications under the new left book club name appeared . contents 1 formation and development 2 1936 1939 3 1940 1948 4 authors and titles 5 influence 6 2015 relaunch 7 references 8 bibliography 9 external links formation and development edit the left book club founded in may 1936 was a key left wing institution of the late 1930s and 1940s in the united kingdom set up by stafford cripps victor gollancz and john strachey to revitalise and educate the british left . 2 3 the club s aim was to help in the struggle for world peace and against fascism . aiming to break even with 2 500 members it had 40 000 within the first year 2 and by 1939 it was up to 57 000 . 3 the lbc was one of the first book clubs in the uk and as such played an important role in the evolution of the country s book trade . 4 the club supplied a book chosen every month by gollancz and his panel harold laski and john strachey to its members many of whom participated in one or other of the 1 500 or so left discussion groups scattered around the country . the books and pamphlets with their distinctive orange paperback 1936 38 or red hardback 38 48 covers with their legend not for sale to the public sold for 2s 6d to members . many titles were available for sale only in the lbc edition with monthly choices received by all members with additional optional titles reprinting current socialist and progressive classics . the volumes included history science reporting and fiction and covered a range of subjects but all with a left leaning slant . 1936 1939 edit until the molotov ribbentrop pact of 1939 the club s output included many authors who were members of the communist party of great britain or close to it and many of its books offered a positive portrayal of the soviet union and its international policies . the book world revolution 1917 1936 by c. l. r. james was written as a trotskyist critique of the lbc s coverage of the soviet union . 5 however as a member of the labour party gollancz was concerned to keep the club at a formal distance from campaigns of which the labour party disapproved . 6 1940 1948 edit by early 1940 however gollancz had broken with the cp a process documented in the articles collected in betrayal of the left in early 1941 and from then on the club took a strongly democratic socialist line until its demise in 1948 . despite its large membership and popular success the book club was always a huge financial drain on the publisher with the advent of paper rationing at the onset of the war the club was restricted to just one monthly title . to replace the book club s additional choices and augment the lbc selections gollancz launched the victory books series a series of shorter monographs available to the general public including two of the biggest sellers of the war guilty men by cato michael foot frank owen and peter howard and your m.p. by gracchus tom wintringham . in addition to books the lbc also produced a monthly newsletter which began as a simple club news sheet left book news but gradually developed into a key international political and social affairs paper as left news with lengthy editorials from gollancz . the lbc held its first annual lbc rally in february 1937 which were held until the late 40s . 7 gollancz was a notoriously interventionist editor . he published orwell s the road to wigan pier but insisted on prefacing its account of working class life in the north of england with an introduction disowning its criticisms of middle class socialists who had little understanding of working class life and later republished the book leaving out the second part of which he disapproved . authors and titles edit cripps stafford 1936 . the struggle for peace . malraux andr 1936 . days of contempt . noel baker philip 1936 . the private manufacture of armaments . olden rudolf 1936 . hitler the pawn . salvemini gaetano 1936 . under the axe of fascism . strachey john 1936 . the theory and practice of socialism . attlee c. r. 1937 . the labour party in perspective . brady robert a. 1937 . the spirit and structure of german fascism . cole g. d. h. ; cole m. i. 1937 . the condition of britain . cole g. d. h. 1937 . the people s front . collard dudley 1937 . soviet justice and the trial of radek and others . a defence of the first two moscow trials koestler arthur 1937 . spanish testament . odets clifford 1937 . waiting for lefty . orwell george 1937 . the road to wigan pier . sloan pat 1937 . soviet democracy . praising the 1936 soviet constitution snow edgar 1937 . red star over china . spender stephen 1937 . forward from liberalism . strachey john 1937 . the coming struggle for power . tawney r. h. 1937 . the acquisitive society . webb sidney ; webb beatrice 1937 . soviet communism a new civilisation . haldane j. b. s. 1938 . a. r. p. jones f. elwyn 1938 . the battle for peace . smedley agnes 1938 . china fights back an american woman with the eighth route army . strachey john 1938 . what are we to do . strachey john 1938 . why you should be a socialist . vigilantes 1938 . why the league has failed . addison lord 1939 . a policy for british agriculture . barnes leonard 1939 . empire or democracy . campbell j. r. 1939 . soviet policy and its critics . defending the popular front and criticizing trotsky cole g. d. h. 1939 . war aims . gedye g. e. r. 1939 . fallen bastions . the central european tragedy . kuczynski j rgen 1939 . the condition of the workers in great britain germany and the soviet union 1932 1938 . johnson hewlett 1939 . the socialist sixth of the world . swingler stephen 1939 . an outline of political thought since the french revolution . vigilantes 1939 . why we are losing the peace the national government s foreign policy its causes consequences and cure . wilkinson ellen 1939 . the town that was murdered the life story of jarrow . constantine murray 1940 . swastika night . strachey john 1940 . federalism or socialism . strachey john 1940 . a programme for progress . fr lich paul 1940 . rosa luxemburg . cole g. d. h. 1941 . europe russia and the future . edelman maurice 1941 . production for victory not profit . koestler arthur 1941 . scum of the earth . the pied piper 1941 . rats . snow edgar 1941 . scorched earth . strachey john 1941 . a faith to fight for . smith aubrey douglas 1942 . guilty germans . cole g. d. h. 1942 . great britain in the post war world . mallalieu j. p. w. 1942 . passed to you please britain s red tape machine at war . neumann franz 1942 . behemoth . the structure and practice of national socialism . cole g. d. h. 1943 . the means to full employment . braunthal julius 1943 . need germany survive . burger john 1943 . the black man s burden . hagen paul 1943 . will germany crack a factual report on germany from within . laski harold j. 1944 . faith reason and civilisation an essay in historical analysis . smedley agnes 1944 . battle hymn of china . sturmthal adolf 1944 . the tragedy of european labour 1918 1939 . zilliacus konni 1944 . the mirror of the past lest it reflect the future . anderson evelyn 1945 . hammer or anvil . the story of the german working class movement . braunthal julius 1945 . in search of the millenium . mosley leonard o. 1945 . report from germany . blum l on 1946 . for all mankind . brockway fenner 1946 . german diary . roth andrew 1946 . dilemma in japan . hill russell 1947 . struggle for germany . keppel jones arthur 1947 . when smuts goes . schlotterbeck friedrich 1947 . the darker the night the brighter the stars . schuschnigg kurt 1947 . austrian requiem . cole g. d. h. 1948 . the meaning of marxism . braunthal julius 1948 . the tragedy of austria . haag lina 1948 . how long the night . lingens reiner ella 1945 . prisoners of fear . walker oliver 1948 . kaffirs are lively . influence edit it can be argued that alongside the fabian society and transport house the lbc s popularising of socialist ideas was very influential on the labour victory in the general election of 1945 . many members acted as missionaries for the ideas espoused by the club such as full employment socialised medicine town planning and social equality . eight gollancz authors were part of the new government lord addison attlee bevan cripps philip noel baker shinwell strachey and wilkinson and six were mps maurice edelman michael foot elwyn jones j. p. w. mallalieu stephen swingler and konni zilliacus . this led victor gollancz s biographer to write for an individual without official position victor s gollancz s colossal influence on a vital election remains unmatched in twentieth century political history . 8 however gollancz was not rewarded with a position in the house of lords by clement attlee who was worried he would become a thorn in his side there . the success of the left book club caused other political movements to set up similar groupings . 9 a right book club was launched as a conservative response to the left book club in 1937 by edgar samuel who worked for the bookselling firm foyle s. 9 10 other political book clubs included the liberal book club and the pacifist peace book club . 9 in 2006 ed miliband mp started the left book club online as a successor to the original left book club with the aim of stimulating debate around left wing ideas and texts but not publishing new work . the website now appears to be defunct . a small group of booksellers in the uk are working on bringing back a publishing version of the left book club and established a limited company of the same name in 2002 their site leftbookclub.com was launched in 2007 after several years of