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The '''Communist Party of Great Britain''' (CPGB) was founded in 1920 and dissolved in 1991. It was founded at the behest of V.I. [[Lenin]] and was formed by the merger of the British Socialist Party, the Socialist Labour Party (based on 'Red Clydeside') and the Workers' Socialist Federation, run by [[Sylvia Pankhurst]]. From the start it received support and orders from the [[Soviet Union]], directed through the [[Moscow]]-based standing organisation of the Third Communist International, better known as [[Comintern]].

The '''Communist Party of Great Britain''' (CPGB) was founded in 1920 and dissolved in 1991. It was founded at the behest of V.I. [[Lenin]] and was formed by the merger of the British Socialist Party, the Socialist Labour Party (based on 'Red Clydeside') and the Workers' Socialist Federation, run by [[Sylvia Pankhurst]]. From the start it received support and orders from the [[Soviet Union]], directed through the [[Moscow]]-based standing organisation of the Third Communist International, better known as [[Comintern]].

In the years between its foundation and the outbreak of the [[Second World War]] the CPGB was successful in building up membership and support. It was able to benefit from the seeming inability of more mainstream parties to succesfully act against rising unemployment and economic crisis, and against the rise of [[Fascism]]. It alternated between policies (decided in Moscow and applied worldwide, even if contradicting local political circumstances) of sectarian opposition to other left-of-centre parties, and attempts to build up a 'popular front' with socialists and social democrats. It also attracted the support of many intellectuals and was able to pose as a revolutionary artistic vanguard. Communists contributed much of the manpower (and most of the political control) to the Clement Attlee Brigade of British volunteers in the [[International Brigades]] during the [[Spanish Civil War]].

In the years between its foundation and the outbreak of the [[Second World War]] the CPGB was successful in building up membership and support. It was able to benefit from the seeming inability of more mainstream parties to succesfully act against rising unemployment and economic crisis, and against the rise of [[Fascism]]. It alternated between policies (decided in Moscow and applied worldwide, even if contradicting local political circumstances) of sectarian opposition to other left-of-centre parties, and attempts to build up a 'popular front' with socialists and social democrats. It also attracted the support of many intellectuals and was able to pose as a revolutionary artistic vanguard. Communists contributed much of the manpower (and most of the political control) to the Clement Attlee Brigade of British volunteers in the [[International Brigades]] during the [[Spanish Civil War]].

The Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact of 1939 led Comintern to instruct the CPGB to oppose the war (which it had been supporting as an anti-Fascist war). This caused much internal dissent and defection, as well as the dropping of its long-time General Secretary, Harry Pollitt (1890-1960). The CPGB newspaper, the [[Daily Worker]], was for a time suppressed by the British Government. However, following the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941 Pollitt was recalled, the party threw itself into the war effort, and Communist officials were active in attempts to prevent strikes.

The Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact of 1939 led Comintern to instruct the CPGB to oppose the war (which it had been supporting as an anti-Fascist war). This caused much internal dissent and defection, as well as the dropping of its long-time General Secretary, Harry Pollitt (1890-1960). The CPGB newspaper, the [[Daily Worker]], was for a time suppressed by the British Government. However, following the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941 Pollitt was recalled, the party threw itself into the war effort, and Communist officials were active in attempts to prevent strikes.