October Club (Oxford University)
| Founded | 1931 (originally) 2022 (officially reconstituted) |
|---|---|
| Type | Student political society |
| Location | |
| Website | https://theoctober.club/ |
The October Club is an independent communist organisation made up of students at University of Oxford, founded in December 1931.[1][2]
Its stated aim is to 'be a political home for radical students at the university and channel enthusiasm into building a long-term base of student-worker-community power at Oxford'. Alongside communism, it also stresses its commitment to abolition, trans-liberatory feminism, and anti-imperialism.
History[edit]
1930s[edit]
Founded with the object of ‘the study of communism in its world social, economic and cultural aspects’,[1] within its first year it gained some 300 members[1] out of a total population of approximately 5000[3][4] undergraduates.
Amongst its founders were Noel Carritt,[5] Frank Meyer[6] and Dick Freeman.[7] Key early members were drawn from the university's small population of Indian students such as Sajjad Zaheer,[8] B.P.L. Bedi[6] and C.S. Subramanyam,[9] who would go onto play notable roles in Indian radical politics (along with fellow Club member Freda Bedi).[6]
Initially, the Club was highly critical of the British Communist Party, but by the Spring of 1932, the Club's core activists (approximately ten) had joined the party.[6]
According to some contemporaries, it was largely a discussion group, attracting speakers such as H. G. Wells, Bernard Shaw, Ivor Montagu, and Shapurji Saklatvala.[1] However, the Club did take part in a number of political actions including organising a delegation to meet hunger marchers passing through Oxford on their journey from Lancashire to London, and participating in violent protests in 1933 against the rise of fascism in Oxford, both in the university and the city.[1][10]
Such was the violence of this period, that, in 1933, communist and socialist students from Ruskin College founded the anti-fascist Red Shirts and volunteered to act as stewards to defend events held by the October Club.[11] Nonetheless, by the autumn of 1993, the Club was the largest student organisation at the university.[10]
Later in 1933, the Club was banned by the university, ostensibly for its criticism of the Officers' Training Corps, leading to student protests against the decision.[12] The Club remained independently active until 1935, when it was officially dissolved itself into the Labour Club, forming a 'popular front'.[3][4]
2020s[edit]
In Trinity Term 2022, the Club officially re-formed and was recognised by the Student Union with the stated aim to 'be a political home for radical students at the university and channel enthusiasm into building a long-term base of student-worker-community power at Oxford'.[2]
Upon its refounding, it had no affiliation with any national communist or socialist organisation.[2]
Notable alumni[edit]
- Heinz Arndt (economist)[13]
- Freda Bedi (Indian nationalist)[6]
- B.P.L. Bedi (major contributor to the Naya Kashmir constitution)[6]
- Noel Carritt (International Brigades volunteer and member of the Carritt family)[5]
- Jack Dunman (writer and farm-worker unionist)[14][15]
- Bernard Floud (Labour Party politician, alleged spy)[16]
- Christopher Hill (historian)[17]
- Denis Healey (Labour Party politician)[18]
- Diana Hopkinson (memoirist)[15]
- François Lafitte (social researcher and abortion lobbyist)[19]
- Freya Marshall Payne (writer)[20]
- Frank Meyer (conservative political philosopher)[6]
- Thora Silverthorne (co-founder of the rank-and-file nurses' union, the National Nurses Association)[21]
- Olive Shapley (radio producer and broadcaster)[6]
- R. W. Southern (historian) (non-member, but in regular attendance)[17]
- C.S. Subramanyam (founding member of the Communist Party of India in India's south)[9]
- Gywn Thomas (novelist)[10]
- Philip Toynbee (writer, and first communist president of the Oxford Union)[22]
- Donald Wheeler (alleged spy)[23]
- Sajjad Zaheer (writer and founding member of the Communist Party of Pakistan) (graduated a few months prior to the founding of the Club and attended meetings as a non-student)[8]
See also[edit]
- Battle of Carfax
- Oxford University Labour Club
- Oxford University Liberal Democrats
- Oxford University Conservative Association
- Oxford Union
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d e Bowie, Duncan (2018). Reform and revolt in the city of dreaming spires : radical, Socialist and Communist politics in the city of Oxford 1830-1980. London: University of Westminster Press. p. 307. ISBN 9781912656127.
- ^ a b c "the October Club". Oxford Student Union. n.d. Retrieved 16 June 2022.
- ^ a b Smith, Cameron (1989). Unfinished Journey: The Lewis Family. Toronto: Summerhill Press. p. 197. ISBN 0-929091-04-3.
- ^ a b Smith, Cameron (1989). Unfinished Journey: The Lewis Family. Toronto: Summerhill Press. p. 554. ISBN 0-929091-04-3.
- ^ a b Communist Party of Britain (2020). Red Lives Communists and the struggle for socialism. Croydon: Manifesto Press Cooperative Limited. p. 30. ISBN 9781907464454.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Whitehead, Andrew (2019). The lives of Freda: the political, spiritual and personal journeys of Freda Bedi. New Delhi: Speaking Tiger. ISBN 978-9388070751.
- ^ Hertford College (1997). "The Hertford College Magazine". The Hertford College Magazine (82): 188.
- ^ a b Noorani, A.G. (10 August 2012). "A versatile communist". Frontline.
- ^ a b Venkatachalapathy, A R (2013). "C S Subramanyam: Communist Chronicler". Economic and Political Weekly. 48 (3): 23–26. ISSN 0012-9976.
- ^ a b c Leeworthy, Daryl (2022). Fury of past time: a life of Gwyn Thomas. Modern Wales. Cardigan: Parthian. ISBN 978-1-914595-19-6.
- ^ Renton, Dave (1996). Red Shirts and Black: Fascists and Anti-Fascists in Oxford in the 1930s. Oxford: Ruskin College Library. p. 18. ISBN 0900183-19-5.
- ^ Wood, Neal (1959). Communism and British intellectuals. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 51. ISBN 9780231880053.
- ^ Coleman, Peter; Cornish, Selwyn; Drake, P. J. (2007). Arndt's story: the life of an Australian economist. Canberra, ACT: Australian National University E Press. ISBN 978-0-7315-3810-2.
- ^ Graham, Stevenson (19 September 2008). "Jack Dunman". GrahamStevenson.me.uk.
- ^ a b "Papers of Adam von Trott". Balliol College Archives & Manuscripts. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
- ^ Andrews, Geoff (2015). The shadow man: at the heart of the Cambridge spy circle. London New York: I.B. Tauris. ISBN 978-1-78453-166-9.
- ^ a b Palmer, William (1998). "Sir Richard Southern Looks Back: A Portrait of the Medievalist as a Young Man". Virginia Quarterly Review (Winter). Retrieved 26 January 2022.
- ^ Star, Morning (4 October 2015). "Denis Healey: August 30 1917 – October 3 2015". Morning Star. Retrieved 8 March 2024.
- ^ Saville, John (5 December 2002). "François Lafitte Analyst who highlighted the 1940 refugee scandal". TheGuardian.com.
- ^ "the October Club". Oxford Student Union. 22 March 2023. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
- ^ Meddick, Simon; Payne, Liz; Katz, Phil (2020). Red Lives: Communists and the Struggle for Socialism. London: Manifesto Press Cooperative Limited. p. 185. ISBN 978-1-907464-45-4.
- ^ Duncan, Alistair (24 February 2010). "The Thirties: An Intimate History". Oxford Mail. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
- ^ Haynes, John Earl; Klehr, Harvey E.; Vassiliev, Alexander (2009). Spies: the rise and fall of the KGB in America. New Haven (Conn.): Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-12390-6.