Communist Party of Great Britain Biographical Project - Reuben Falber interviewed by Francis Beckett
TitleCommunist Party of Great Britain Biographical Project - Reuben Falber interviewed by Francis Beckett
ReferenceTAPE/608
Date
n.d.
Scope and ContentThis is a copy of a tape held by the British Library, in their Sound Archives, as part of their CPGB Biographical Project.
Details about the tape may be obtained from the British Library web site.
Reuben joined the Communist Party because he was concerned about Spain, the rise of fascism (perhaps particularly because he was Jewish) and the danger of war. He had been persuaded to join the Labour Party, but felt it was the Communist Party which actually did things, such as solidarity work with Spain and mobilising people against fascism.
He was working in a shop at that time. He became a full-time Party official in 1941, firstly local full-time branch secretary in Hendon, then in similar positions in Yorkshire, then back in London at King Street in the organisation department. Later on he became Assistant General Secretary to the CPGB, with John Gollan then Gordon McLennan as General Secretary. He retired in 1979.
When Czechoslovakia was invaded in 1968, Reuben and the other members of the Political Committee put out press releases on the stand adopted by the CPGB. This had already been decided by the Executive Committee which was actually responsible for the policy and had met a few weeks before and had produced a report which expressed their support for the Dubcek reforms and their solidarity with the Czechoslovak Communists.
Reuben speaks about John Gollan, whom he admired very much, and Gordon McLennan.with whom he got on very well both personally and politically, and other well-known figures of the CPGB such as Palme Dutt and Harry Pollitt.
Reuben describes his main responsibilities, as Assistant General Secretary. He speaks about the Commercial Branch of the CPGB – this was a group of businessmen mainly Jewish, who raised large sums of money for the Party. After this money dried up, the funding from the Soviet Union, negotiated by John Gollan, became more important. Reuben speaks, very reluctantly, of his involvement in handling the Soviet funds. He suggests that too much had been made of this.
Although Reuben was no longer a member of the CPGB at the time of the interview, he still looked upon himself as being a Communist. He had been a member for 55 years, and could not shake it off, just like that. He felt that the structure of society should be completely changed in order to provide a fairer society, both in Britain and internationally. Reuben was not in either in the Communist Party of Britain or the Democratic Left.
Francis Beckett appears to have used some of the material in his book “The Enemy Within”, which is in the WCML collection.
A fuller synopsis of this interview is available as a Word Document. There are several books by both Reuben and Francis Beckett in the WCML collection.
See also tape 651.
Details about the tape may be obtained from the British Library web site.
Reuben joined the Communist Party because he was concerned about Spain, the rise of fascism (perhaps particularly because he was Jewish) and the danger of war. He had been persuaded to join the Labour Party, but felt it was the Communist Party which actually did things, such as solidarity work with Spain and mobilising people against fascism.
He was working in a shop at that time. He became a full-time Party official in 1941, firstly local full-time branch secretary in Hendon, then in similar positions in Yorkshire, then back in London at King Street in the organisation department. Later on he became Assistant General Secretary to the CPGB, with John Gollan then Gordon McLennan as General Secretary. He retired in 1979.
When Czechoslovakia was invaded in 1968, Reuben and the other members of the Political Committee put out press releases on the stand adopted by the CPGB. This had already been decided by the Executive Committee which was actually responsible for the policy and had met a few weeks before and had produced a report which expressed their support for the Dubcek reforms and their solidarity with the Czechoslovak Communists.
Reuben speaks about John Gollan, whom he admired very much, and Gordon McLennan.with whom he got on very well both personally and politically, and other well-known figures of the CPGB such as Palme Dutt and Harry Pollitt.
Reuben describes his main responsibilities, as Assistant General Secretary. He speaks about the Commercial Branch of the CPGB – this was a group of businessmen mainly Jewish, who raised large sums of money for the Party. After this money dried up, the funding from the Soviet Union, negotiated by John Gollan, became more important. Reuben speaks, very reluctantly, of his involvement in handling the Soviet funds. He suggests that too much had been made of this.
Although Reuben was no longer a member of the CPGB at the time of the interview, he still looked upon himself as being a Communist. He had been a member for 55 years, and could not shake it off, just like that. He felt that the structure of society should be completely changed in order to provide a fairer society, both in Britain and internationally. Reuben was not in either in the Communist Party of Britain or the Democratic Left.
Francis Beckett appears to have used some of the material in his book “The Enemy Within”, which is in the WCML collection.
A fuller synopsis of this interview is available as a Word Document. There are several books by both Reuben and Francis Beckett in the WCML collection.
See also tape 651.
Extent1 Cassette tape
Physical descriptionNWA copy
LanguageEnglish
Archival historyThe Communist Party of Great Britain Biographical Project, part-funded by the Economic and Social Research Council covers the full period of the party's existence (1920-1991) and deals with all aspects of its work including industrial work, educational and cultural activities as well as local and international campaigns. The audio recordings of more than 150 interviews with members and former members of the Communist Party of Great Britain, conducted between October 1999 and September 2001 by a group of historians based at Manchester University have now been deposited in the British Library Sound Archive.
Related object
Persons keywordFalber, Reuben, Beckett, Francis, Communist Party of Great Britain, British Library National Sound Archive
SubjectCommunism
Conditions governing accessOpen
Levelfile
Normal locationZ (Room 24)