Growing Up Communist in the Netherlands and Britain: Childhood, Political Activism, and Identity Formation

Elke Weesjes

Published by Amsterdam University Press 2021

Growing Up Communist in the Netherlands and Britain

Childhood, Political Activism, and Identity Formation

Elke Weesjes

Volume 14 in the series Heritage and Memory Studies

https://doi.org/10.1515/9789048551859

Overview
Contents

About this book

Growing Up Communist in the Netherlands and Britain: Childhood, Political Activism, and Identity Formation documents communists’ attempts, successful and otherwise, to overcome their isolation and to connect with the major social and political movements of the twentieth century. Communist parties in Britain and the Netherlands emerged from the Second World War expecting to play a significant role in post-war society, due to their domestic anti-fascist activities and to the part played by the Soviet Union in defeating fascism. The Cold War shattered these hopes, and isolated communist parties and their members. By analysing the accounts of communist children, Weesjes highlights their struggle to establish communities and define their identities within the specific cultural, social, and political frameworks of their countries.

Author / Editor information

Weesjes Elke :

Elke Weesjes is a visiting research fellow at the International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam, and an adjunct assistant professor at the City University of New York in Brooklyn, where she teaches courses in modern European and U.S. history, and women’s and gender studies.

Reviews

“Excellent – well researched, convincing in its argument, and a valuable contribution to communist (and wider social) history.”
– Matthew Worley, Professor of Modern History, University of Reading; Co-founder and editor of Twentieth Century Communism

“Elke Weesjes has built on the work of the historians of communism who have charted the study of daily communist lives as they were lived, not as simply an expression of Soviet policies. She skillfully compares the British and Dutch communist movements, specifically the experiences of children growing up in “red” families. Breaking new methodological and historiographical ground, this book captures the subjective experience of mid-twentieth century communist life in these two countries and how this influenced the forms of radicalism that emerged in the 1960s and beyond.”
– Paul C. Mishler, Associate Professor of Labor Studies, Indiana University; author of Raising Reds: Young Pioneers, Radical Summer Camps, and Communist Political Culture in the United States 1922-1956 (Columbia University Press, 1999)

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	1
Table of Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	7
Acknowledgements Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	9
1 Introduction: Cradle Communists and Oral History Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	11
Part I
2 Under the Party’s Wing: Communist Youth Organisations 1920-1956 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	29
3 Out of the Shadows: Communist Youth Organisations 1957-1968 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	65
4 Fragmentation and Demise: Communist Youth Organisations 1969-1991 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	107
Part II
5 From Heroes to Villains: The Second World War and ‘1956’ Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	159
6 Private Spheres: Communist Home Life Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	187
7 Public Spheres: Neighbourhood, School and Work Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	215
8 Epilogue: Looking Back Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	259
9 Afterword Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	267
List of Abbreviations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	273
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	275
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	287

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Amsterdam University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 294
Keywords: CPN (Communistische Partij van Nederland); CPGB (Communist Party of Great Britain); identity; childhood; Cold War

eBook

Published: October 25, 2021
ISBN: 9789048551859