From Library Journal
In 1936 British publisher Victor Gollancz founded the Left Book Club to promote socialism and to educate the masses on the growing threat of fascism. A senior editor at the London Review of Books, Laity presents excerpts from influential club selections, including George Orwell's The Road to Wigan Pier, Clifford Odets's Waiting for Lefty, and Edgar Snow's Red Star over China. He also provides brief introductions to these works, as well as a 22-page introduction outlining the club's history. At its height, the club boasted nearly 60,000 members. Despite its popularity, however, Gollancz was frequently criticized for his blind acceptance of the Communist Party line and his uncritical support of the Soviet Union. As a result of the party's opposition to British intervention in World War II, Gollancz, like Arthur Koestler and many other British intellectuals, abandoned communism. Their subsequent embrace of liberalism is generally credited with the rising fortunes of the Labour Party in 1945. Recommended for academic libraries, especially those with strong collections in the history of publishing. William Gargan, Brooklyn Coll. Lib., CUNYCopyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The Left Book Club, started by Victor Gollancz, was the most powerful force ever seen in this country for the dissemination of left-wing thought. Gollancz set out to publish cheap books that would invigorate, inform and convert. Subscribers were sent a book - bound in a distinctive bright orange jacket - once a month, the choice of the selection committee which included Gollancz himself, John Strachey and Harold Laski. The club became a spectacular success, growing from a simple book scheme into a large political movement which held mass rallies. In 1939, three years after its launch, it had 57,000 members, 1200 local reading groups, and had put two million books into circulation. It changed the outlook of a generation, and played an important role in preparing the ground for the Labour victory of 1945.
This anthology reflects this range, and seeks to recapture the vigour, optimism and naivety of the Far Left in the late 1930s. It includes an extract from the Club's most famous selection, Orwell's "The Road to Wigan Pier", and from a range of other gems, including Stephen Spender's highly influential "Forward from Liberalism"; Arthur Koestler's vivid account of his imprisonment by the fascists in Seville, "Spanish Testament"; and a sensationalist account of life inside Parkhurst, "Walls Have Mouths", by the rakish Russian spy Wilfred Macartney. It ranges across political reportage, autobiography, science, history, fiction and even theatre, with an extract from "Waiting for Lefty" by Clifford Odets. Paul Laity's introduction explains the political and cultural context.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal