The Coventry branch of the minority movement

This article presents two important minutebooks discovered in the home of the ex-secretary of the Coventry, England branch which will allow historians to tread thorough account of the national development of the Communist Party's work in the trade union movement in the 1920s. The minutes of the Coventry branch are extant from November 1925 to August 1930, and those of the Midland Bureau of the Minority Movement from its inception in September 1929 to February 1931. They are available in photocopied form in the Modern Records Centre at the University of Warwick. These sources trace in some detail the development of the branch of Minority Movement and in particular debates over the implementation of national policy and its application in the trade union branches and workplaces. Capitalism was supposed to be entering a potential revolutionary crisis, and it was therefore necessary to abandon the slogan force the leaders to fight, and to lead worker struggles independently. Where possible, revolutionary trade unions were to be set up, separate from and in opposition to the reformist unions. During 1928 the Minority Movement was in a state of confusion, with leading members like Arthur Horner and A. J. Cook voicing criticisms of the new strategy.

Journal now called: Labour history review