An Analysis of the Historical Evolution and Causes of Decline of the Century-Old British Communist Party

I. Raising the Question

一、问题的提出

Britain is the birthplace of modern party politics, and the study of its party politics has always been a focus of academic attention both domestically and internationally. Compared with the mainstream parties in the British political system—the Conservative Party and the Labour Party—academic research on the British Communist Party is relatively weak. However, as an important component of the international communist movement and the development of world socialism, and particularly as a window for observing the development trends of communist parties in advanced Western capitalist countries, the British Communist Party holds significant research value. Therefore, exploring the century-long development process of the British Communist Party and analyzing its rise and fall can both deepen our understanding of the laws governing the growth and development of communist parties and provide a useful comparative perspective for deepening our understanding of the long-term governance laws of the Communist Party of China.

英国是现代政党政治的发源地，其政党政治研究始终是国内外学术界关注的重点。与英国政治体系中的主流政党保守党和工党相比，关于英国共产主义政党的学术研究相对薄弱。但是，英国共产主义政党作为国际共产主义运动和世界社会主义发展的重要组成部分，特别是作为观察西方发达资本主义国家共产主义政党发展趋势的窗口，具有重要的研究意义。因此，探讨英国共产主义政党的百年发展历程，分析其中的兴衰得失，既能够深化对共产主义政党成长和发展规律的认识，也能为深化认识中国共产党长期执政规律提供有益的比较视角。

Existing Chinese-language literature on the British Communist Party focuses mainly on two aspects. First, it concentrates on the historical development and causes of decline of the British Communist Party. For example, Wang Wei, using the objective existence of class struggle in Britain and the close integration of Marxism-Leninism with the British workers' movement as arguments, demonstrates the historical inevitability of the founding of the Communist Party of Great Britain; Shang Wenbin systematically and comprehensively sorts out the British communist movement and analyzes the reasons for its decline; Yan Jiefeng and Zu Jinyu analyze from a historical perspective the reasons for the multiple splits in the Communist Party of Great Britain, mainly including the twists and turns of the international communist movement, the opposition between the Eurocommunist faction and the traditionalist faction, and serious deficiencies in the Party's internal ideological and theoretical construction; Zhang Yang and Xu Yuan offer a philosophical reflection and evaluation of the process of the Communist Party of Great Britain's alliances and united fronts with other parties. Second, it concentrates on the theoretical development and line changes of the British Communist Party. For instance, Liu Jian, from the perspective of party theory, dissects the reasons for the decline of the Communist Party of Great Britain, categorizing them into international, domestic, and intra-party causes; Dai Jinping and Zhong Lianfa analyze why the Communist Party of Great Britain split and adopted a reformist line, examining its political goals, founding conditions, and struggle line; Zhao Ting and Ding Guanghao introduce the new communist theory of the "alternative political and economic strategy" formed by the Communist Party of Britain after the 2008 financial crisis, along with the corresponding practical work.

现有中文文献对英国共产主义政党的研究主要集中在两个方面。一是集中研究英国共产主义政党的历史发展和衰败原因。比如，王维以英国阶级斗争客观存在、马列主义与英国工人运动结合紧密为论据，论证了大不列颠共产党成立的历史必然性；商文斌对英国共产主义运动进行了系统而全面的梳理，分析了其衰败的原因；颜杰峰、祖金玉从历史的角度分析了大不列颠共产党数次分裂的原因，主要包括国际共产主义运动波折、欧共派与传统派对立，以及党内思想理论建设存在严重缺陷等；张杨、徐源对大不列颠共产党与其他党派联盟和统战的历程进行了哲学层面的思考和评析。二是集中研究英国共产主义政党的理论发展和路线变化。比如，刘健从政党理论视角剖析了大不列颠共产党衰落的原因，并将这些原因归为国际原因、国内原因和党内原因三大类；代金平、钟连发从大不列颠共产党的政治目标、成立条件和斗争路线等方面对其为何产生分裂并走上改良主义路线进行了分析；赵婷、丁广昊介绍了英国共产党在2008年金融危机后形成的“替代性政治经济战略”这一共产主义新理论，以及与之相应的实践工作。

Overall, existing research has two shortcomings. First, it fails to clarify the development trajectory and inter-party relations of the British Communist Party. Some studies are partial, taking one branch of the British Communist Party as a representative of the "British Communist Party" for analysis, thus failing to accurately grasp the evolutionary process and developmental characteristics of the British Communist Party at different stages over the past century. For example, some scholars regard the Communist Party of Britain as the orthodox successor of the Communist Party of Great Britain, while ignoring that several other existing British communist parties also split from the Communist Party of Great Britain; other scholars more vaguely take the "British Communist Party" as their research object, without clearly defining in the text which specific communist party "British Communist Party" refers to, let alone explaining the main viewpoints of other British communist party branches. In short, we cannot ignore the fact that there are many communist parties and organizations in Britain, each with its own distinct constitution, organizational structure, and leadership. Second, although the existing literature analyzes to some extent the development process and related characteristics of the British Communist Party, and discusses the facts and causes of its decline, it relatively emphasizes external factors, primarily attributing the long-term fragmentation and decline of the British Communist Party to the shaken convictions caused by the dissolution of the Comintern, dissatisfaction arising from the Soviet invasion of Poland, the shock of Khrushchev's secret report at the 20th Congress of the CPSU, and the impact of the Sino-Soviet split, while the analysis of internal causes is insufficient. Therefore, it is necessary to further delve into why the British Communist Party has long been in a state of division and weakness, especially which internal factors led to this change, thereby deepening our understanding of the development and changes of the British Communist Party.

总体来讲，现有研究存在两点缺憾。一是没有理清英国共产主义政党的发展脉络和党派关系。部分研究以偏概全，将英国共产主义政党的某个分支视作“英国共产主义政党”的代表进行分析，无法准确把握百年来英国共产主义政党在不同阶段的演化进程与发展特点。比如，有学者将英国共产党视为大不列颠共产党的正统继承者，而忽视了其他几个现存的英国共产主义政党也是从大不列颠共产党中分裂出来的；有学者则更为笼统地将“英共”作为研究对象，在文中没有明确定义“英共”具体是指哪个共产主义政党，更没有说明其他英国共产主义政党分支的主要观点。总之，我们不能忽视在英国存在着许多共产主义的政党和组织，它们有各自不同的章程、组织结构和领导班子这一事实。二是现有文献虽然在一定程度上分析了英国共产主义政党的发展历程和相关特征，并对其衰败的事实和原因进行了一定的探讨，但是相对较为重视外部因素，将英国共产主义政党长期撕裂和衰败主要归因于共产国际解散造成的信念动摇、苏联入侵波兰引起的不满、苏共20大秘密报告的冲击以及中苏分裂产生的影响等，对内部原因的分析不够。因此，我们有必要进一步深入分析英国共产主义政党为什么长期处于分裂和衰弱的状态，尤其是哪些内部因素导致了这一变化，从而加深对英国共产主义政党的发展变化的认识。

II. The Historical Evolution of the British Communist Party

二、英国共产主义政党的历史演变

As shown in Figure 1, the Communist Party of Great Britain holds a special historical position among British communist parties. It was not only the first unified communist party in British history but also, at its peak, possessed the largest membership, the greatest scale, and the most significant influence. The multiple major splits in the history of the Communist Party of Great Britain, along with changes in its membership numbers and scale, are important indicators reflecting the degree of decline of the British Communist Party. While primarily analyzing the Communist Party of Great Britain, this article also introduces other British communist parties and organizations. On the eve of the October Revolution in 1917, multiple communist organizations in Britain began difficult negotiations aimed at "merging and reorganizing" these scattered communist groups to establish Britain's first unified communist party, which would operate as the British section of the Communist International. After more than two years of negotiations, in August 1920, Britain's first unified communist party—the Communist Party of Great Britain—was founded in London. In its early days, the Communist Party of Great Britain had between 3,000 and 5,000 members. During the 1926 British general strike, membership rapidly exceeded 10,000, but it quickly fell back after the strike ended, dropping to just over 2,000 members by 1930.

如图1所示，大不列颠共产党在英国共产主义政党中具有特殊的历史地位。它不仅是英国历史上第一个统一组织的共产党，而且在其鼎盛时期拥有最多的党员、最大的规模和最显著的影响力。大不列颠共产党历史上的多次重大分裂以及党员人数和规模的变化，是反映英国共产主义政党衰败程度的重要指标。本文在主要分析大不列颠共产党的基础上，也介绍其他一些英国共产主义政党和组织。1917年十月革命前夕，英国的多个共产主义组织开始了艰难的谈判，其目的是将这些零散的共产主义组织“合并改组”，成立英国第一个统一组织的共产主义政党，以作为共产国际的英国支部开展活动。在经历了两年多的谈判后，1920年8月，英国第一个统一的共产主义政党——大不列颠共产党——在伦敦宣告成立。成立初期，大不列颠共产党的党员在3000至5000人之间。1926年英国大罢工期间，党员人数迅速突破万人，但是罢工结束后又迅速回落，到1930年仅存2000余名党员。

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After the outbreak of the Second World War, the Communist Party of Great Britain followed the instructions of the Comintern and opposed British participation in the war. However, with the rapid fall of France and the expansion of Nazi Germany, the Comintern’s stance shifted, and the Communist Party of Great Britain turned to follow the Soviet Union in opposing Nazi Germany; at this time, Party membership quickly rebounded to 17,000. In 1942, Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union, and after the Battle of Stalingrad, pro-Soviet sentiment surged in Britain, with Party membership rapidly increasing to over 56,000. At the beginning of the Cold War, Britain chose to follow the United States in opposing the Soviet Union. After Churchill’s Iron Curtain speech, the British communist party began to be excluded and hostilely treated by mainstream British politics. British non-communist parties, leveraging the power of capital and the advantages of the media, continuously promoted anti-communist propaganda at the ideological level, smearing communism as a threat to British democracy and freedom, sparing no effort to undermine the legitimacy of communism in Britain and shaping a negative impression of communism among the general public. The British Labour Party began to purge communists from within its ranks, and, encouraged by Vic Feather and other officials, trade unions also began to find ways to limit the power of communists. Under the combined effect of these multiple factors, the Communist Party of Great Britain struggled to develop, and its membership numbers continued to decline. Furthermore, with the dissolution of the Comintern and growing doubts about Stalinism, ideological wavering began to emerge within the Communist Party of Great Britain. The majority of Communist Party of Great Britain members, represented by Harry Pollitt, believed that the capitalist system would not come to an end in the short term, and that the line and policy of abolishing parliament and replacing it with workers’ councils and a Soviet system was unworkable, thus giving rise to the idea of seeking legitimate struggle within the existing political system. In contrast, Trotskyist organizations, represented by the Revolutionary Communist Party (founded in 1944 through the merger of the Revolutionary Socialist League and the International Workers’ Union), advocated the theory of permanent revolution. A considerable number of Revolutionary Communist Party members, disagreeing with the revisionist tendencies of the Communist Party of Great Britain, chose to leave the Party and join Trotskyist organizations. However, the Trotskyist organizations were themselves unstable. After the Attlee Labour government proposed the welfare state plan in 1945, some senior Revolutionary Communist Party figures, represented by Gerry Healy, believed that since a welfare society could already be seen under Labour’s governance, there was no further need for socialist, Marxist, or Trotskyist organizations. In 1950, the Revolutionary Communist Party dissolved, and subsequently, in the 1950s, more than 70 Trotskyist organizations of various sizes, represented by the Socialist Labour League and the Militant tendency, formed, becoming competitors to the Communist Party of Great Britain.

第二次世界大战爆发后，大不列颠共产党遵循共产国际的指示，反对英国参战。但随着法国迅速沦陷和纳粹德国的扩张，共产国际的态度发生了转变，大不列颠共产党转而追随苏联反对纳粹德国，此时党员迅速回升至17000人。1942年，纳粹德国入侵苏联，在斯大林格勒保卫战之后，英国国内亲苏情绪高涨，党员迅速增加至56000余人。冷战开始之初，英国选择追随美国反对苏联。在丘吉尔的铁幕演说后，英国共产主义政党开始遭到英国主流政治的排斥和敌视。英国非共产主义政党借助资本力量和媒体优势，不断在意识形态层面广泛推动反共宣传，将共产主义抹黑为对英国民主和自由的威胁，不遗余力地削弱共产主义在英国的合法性，塑造社会大众对共产主义的负面印象。英国工党开始清除党内的共产主义者，在维克·费瑟（Vic Feather）和其他官员的鼓励下，工会内部也开始设法限制共产主义者的权力。在上述多种因素的综合作用下，大不列颠共产党发展举步维艰，党员数量持续下降。此外，随着共产国际解散和对斯大林主义产生怀疑，大不列颠共产党内部开始出现思想上的动摇。以哈利·波利特（Harry Pollitt）为代表的大部分大不列颠共产党党员认为，资本主义制度暂时不会终结，废除议会、用工人委员会和苏维埃制度取而代之的路线方针走不通，并由此产生了寻求在现有政治体制内进行合法斗争的思想。与之相反，以共产主义革命党（共产主义革命党于1944年成立，由革命社会主义联盟和国际工人联盟合并而成）为代表的托派组织主张“不断革命论”。相当一部分共产主义革命党成员不认同大不列颠共产党的修正主义倾向，选择脱党，转而加入托派组织。然而，托派组织内部也并不稳定。在1945年艾德礼工党政府提出福利国家计划后，以加里·希利（Gerry Healy）为代表的部分共产主义革命党高层认为，既然在工党的执政下已经能够看到福利社会的未来，那么社会主义、马克思主义和托洛茨基主义组织就没有继续存在的必要。1950年共产主义革命党解散，随后在20世纪50年代形成了以社会主义劳工联盟和激进派为代表的70多个大大小小的托派组织，它们成为大不列颠共产党的竞争者。

In February 1956, after the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Khrushchev delivered a “secret speech” criticizing Stalin. This report caused great shock within the Communist Party of Great Britain, producing supporters and opponents with irreconcilable positions. In the same year, the Poznań events broke out, as Poland attempted to break free from Soviet control. Subsequently, the Soviet Union invaded Hungary, and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Great Britain chose to publicly support the Soviet invasion. This blind subservience to the CPSU caused dissatisfaction among many Party members, leading to demoralization within the Communist Party of Great Britain and a further decline in membership. In the autumn of 1956 alone, over 7,000 members left the Party, accounting for about 20% of the total membership at the time. In 1963, due to supporting China in the Sino-Soviet split, Michael McCreery led a small group of members to break away from the Communist Party of Great Britain and form the Anti-Revisionist Committee. In 1965, the Anti-Revisionist Committee merged with the “Maoist” faction led by Bill Bland to form the Marxist-Leninist Unity Action Centre. This organization was renamed the British Marxist-Leninist Organization in 1967, and again renamed the Communist League of Great Britain in 1975.

1956年2月，苏共20大闭幕后，赫鲁晓夫发表了批判斯大林的“秘密报告”。这份报告在大不列颠共产党内部引起了极大的震动，产生了彼此立场无法调和的支持者与反对者。同年，波兹南事件爆发，波兰试图脱离苏联的掌控。随后，苏联入侵匈牙利，大不列颠共产党中央选择公开支持苏联的入侵行为。这种对苏共的一味盲从引起党内很多党员不满，大不列颠共产党党内人心涣散，党员人数进一步下降。仅1956年秋季，就有7000余名党员脱党，占当时党员总数的20%左右。1963年，由于在中苏论战中支持中国，迈克尔·麦克里（Michael McCreery）带领一小批党员脱离大不列颠共产党，成立了反修正主义委员会。1965年，反修正主义委员会又与比尔·布兰德（Bill Bland）领导的“毛派”合并，成立了马列主义团结行动中心。该组织于1967年更名为英国马列主义组织，又于1975年再次更名为大不列颠共产主义联盟。

In 1968, also due to supporting China in the Sino-Soviet split, Reg Birch led some members to break away from the Communist Party of Great Britain and form the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Britain. The Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Britain subsequently underwent several further splits, producing organizations such as the Nottingham Communist Group and the Communist Workers’ Movement. Shortly after its independence, the Communist Workers’ Movement collectively joined the British Revolutionary Communist League. The British Revolutionary Communist League, founded in 1977, developed from the Marxist-Leninist Communist League of Britain, which was founded in 1969. The Marxist-Leninist Communist League of Britain and the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Britain had highly similar names, were founded only a year apart, and were in competition with each other. In 1977, the Marxist-Leninist Communist League of Britain absorbed the Communist Workers’ Movement and the Birmingham Communist Association to form the British Revolutionary Communist League, which later dissolved in 1988. Furthermore, the founding of the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of England in 1972 was also influenced by the Sino-Soviet split; this party was renamed the Marxist-Leninist British Revolutionary Communist Party in 1979.

1968年，同样由于在中苏论战中支持中国，瑞格·伯齐（Reg Birch）带领部分党员脱离大不列颠共产党，成立了马列主义英国共产党。马列主义英国共产党在随后的发展中又发生数次分裂，产生了诺丁汉共产主义小组与共产主义工人运动等组织。共产主义工人运动在独立后不久，集体加入了英国共产主义革命联盟。1977年成立的英国共产主义革命联盟，是由1969年成立的马列主义英国共产主义联盟发展而来的。马列主义英国共产主义联盟与马列主义英国共产党名称高度相似，成立时间仅间隔一年，是相互竞争的关系。1977年，马列主义英国共产主义联盟吸收了共产主义工人运动和伯明翰共产主义协会，成立了英国共产主义革命联盟，后于1988年解散。此外，1972年马列主义英格兰共产党的成立也与中苏论战的影响有关，该党于1979年再次改名为马列主义英国共产主义革命党。

In 1977, due to opposing the Eurocommunist line of the Communist Party of Great Britain, Sid French founded the New Communist Party of Britain. In 1988, some members, led by the Morning Star faction, split from the Communist Party of Great Britain to form the Communist Party of Britain. Amidst continuous splits, the Communist Party of Great Britain grew increasingly weak. In November 1991, the Communist Party of Great Britain was formally restructured into Democratic Left, which was again restructured into the New Policy Network in 1999. In 1995, a small number of members who identified with neither the Communist Party of Britain nor Democratic Left formed the Communist Liaison Office, with fewer than a hundred members. Similar organizations include the Communist Party of Great Britain (Provisional Central Committee), founded between 1990 and 1991, and the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Great Britain, founded in 2004.

1977年，由于反对大不列颠共产党的欧洲共产主义方针，希德·弗伦奇（Sid French）成立了新英国共产党。1988年，以晨星报系为首的部分党员从大不列颠共产党中分裂，成立了英国共产党。在不断的分裂中，大不列颠共产党日渐衰弱。1991年11月，大不列颠共产党正式改组成为民主左翼，并于1999年再次改组为新政策网络。1995年，小部分既不认同英国共产党也不认同民主左翼的党员，成立了共产主义联络处，成员不足百人。类似的还有成立于1990—1991年间的大不列颠共产党-临时中央委员会，成立于2004年的马列主义大不列颠共产党等。

Since entering the 21st century, almost all British communist parties have degenerated into typical marginal parties. Taking the Communist Party of Britain as an example, although it has continuously attempted to enhance its party influence through parliamentary elections, media propaganda, and strengthening Party building, the results have been minimal. In the 2010 UK general election, the Communist Party of Britain fielded six candidates but received only 947 votes. In 2015, it fielded nine candidates and received only 1,229 votes, with a vote share of less than 0.01%. In addition, some parties chose to operate by supporting the left wing of the Labour Party. In the 2017 UK general election, with the support of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, members of the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Great Britain were able to stand for election under the banner of the British Labour Party, thereby entering the British Parliament, but this was unsuccessful. Similar attempts were made in the 2019 UK general election, but again failed to produce significant results.

进入21世纪以来，几乎所有英国共产主义政党都已经沦为典型的边缘性党派。以英国共产党为例，虽然不断尝试以议会选举、媒体宣传、加强党的建设等方式提升政党影响力，但收效甚微。2010年英国大选，英国共产党派出6位候选人参选，但仅获得947张选票。2015年派出9位候选人参选，仅获得1229张选票，得票率不到0.01%。除此之外，还有部分党派选择以支持工党左翼的方式开展活动。2017年英国大选中，在工党领袖科尔宾的支持下，马列主义大不列颠共产党的党员可以以英国工党的名义参加竞选，从而进入英国议会活动，但并未获得成功。类似的尝试在2019年英国大选中也有发生，但同样未能产生显著成效。

III. Analysis of the Internal Causes of the Long-Term Splits and Decline of British Communist Parties

三、英国共产主义政党长期分裂衰败的内部原因分析

1. Severe Ideological Divergence at the Founding Stage, Failure to Form a Unified Political Goal

1．创始阶段思想分歧严重，未形成统一的政治目标

As communist organizations guided by Marxism, whether they supported the line of armed revolutionary struggle or the line of peaceful parliamentary struggle, they should all have taken the realization of communism as their ultimate political goal. However, the various early British communist parties and organizations had significant differences in their understanding of Marxism and the goal of communist struggle, leading to ideological confusion and difficulty in uniting, which in turn caused great difficulties in the process of merger. In the subsequent course of development, the Communist Party of Great Britain failed to digest and resolve these historical legacies in a timely manner. Instead, under the influence of external factors (the Soviet Union), it forcibly merged and restructured, gradually transforming historical legacies into profound internal contradictions, thereby creating the soil for fission at the ideological foundation.

作为以马克思主义为指导思想的共产主义组织，无论是支持武装革命斗争的路线，还是支持议会和平斗争的路线，都应将实现共产主义作为最终政治目标。但英国早期的多个共产主义政党和组织，对马克思主义和共产主义奋斗目标的理解存在较大差异，思想混乱，难以团结，进而在合并的过程中遇到了很大的困难。在后续的发展历程中，大不列颠共产党未能及时消化和解决这些历史遗留问题，而是在外部因素（苏联）的作用下强行合并改组，使历史遗留问题逐渐转化为深刻的内部矛盾，在思想基础方面形成了裂变的土壤。

The organizations that accepted the Comintern’s suggestion to participate in the reorganization negotiations mainly included the Left Wing Committee of the Independent Labour Party, the Shop Stewards’ Committee, the Workers’ Socialist Federation, the British Socialist Party, the South Wales Socialist Society, the Communist Group of the Socialist Labour Party, and several other smaller British communist organizations. The core objective was to establish a unified communist party in Britain that would serve as the British section of the Comintern and carry out revolutionary activities. During the negotiations, the most difficult issue on which to reach consensus was whether the Communist Party of Great Britain, after unification, should participate in British parliamentary politics. Organizations represented by the British Socialist Party, the Communist Group of the Socialist Labour Party, and the Left Wing Committee of the Independent Labour Party, which opposed participation in parliamentary politics, refused to join parliament, arguing that parliament was a tool for the bourgeoisie to rule the people and fearing that once communist members entered the parliamentary system, they would become corrupt and degenerate into appendages of the bourgeoisie. Other communist organizations, however, believed that rejecting the peaceful struggle line was a “Left” deviationist thought, arguing that the parliamentary platform should be fully utilized to legally carry out revolutionary struggle, and they explicitly supported participation in parliamentary politics.

接受共产国际的建议参与改组谈判的组织主要包括独立工党左翼委员会、车间代表委员会、工人社会主义联盟、英国社会主义党、南威尔士社会主义社团、社会主义劳工党的共产主义小组，以及其他几个更小的英国共产主义组织。核心目标是在英国成立一个具有统一组织并作为共产国际英国支部的共产主义政党，开展革命活动。谈判期间，最难达成共识的议题是统一组织后的大不列颠共产党是否应该参与英国的议会政治。以英国社会主义党、社会主义劳工党的共产主义小组，以及独立工党左翼委员会为代表的反对参与议会政治的组织拒绝加入议会，并认为议会是资产阶级统治人民的工具，担心共产党员一旦进入议会体制，就会腐败变质，成为资产阶级的附庸。而其他一些共产主义组织认为，拒绝和平斗争路线是“左”倾思想，应该充分利用议会的平台，合法地开展革命斗争，明确支持参与议会政治。

In the early stages of the merger and reorganization negotiations, Lenin’s guiding opinion was that the difference in struggle lines was a secondary contradiction rather than the principal contradiction, and that establishing a unified communist party in Britain was the overriding important matter. However, by July 1920, the opposing sides still held their own views and failed to reach agreement. Considering the influence of the Comintern over communist organizations in various countries at that time, the issue of the struggle line alone was no longer sufficient to explain the enormous differences among British communist organizations. This article argues that the root of the divergence was a deep-seated ideological problem, and the difference in struggle lines was merely its manifestation. The Communist Party of Great Britain formed after lengthy negotiations was not the result of British communist organizations setting aside their differences and unifying their thinking; external pressure from the Soviet Union played a greater role. Three foreign scholars—L.J. Macfarlane, Roderick Martin, and Francis Beckett—have demonstrated the influence of the Soviet Union on British communist parties from the perspectives of pressure from Soviet Russia, meeting the Soviet Union’s need to launch a world revolution and defend the Bolshevik regime, and Soviet financial support for Britain. The Communist Party of Great Britain failed to properly resolve its line differences at its founding stage, was unable to unify thinking and form a common goal of struggle, and this laid the ideological foundation for the split and decline of the British communist party.

在合并改组谈判早期，列宁的指导意见是，斗争路线的差异性是次要矛盾而非主要矛盾，在英国成立统一组织的共产党是压倒一切的重要事务。然而，直到1920年7月，对立的双方依然各执己见，未能达成一致。考虑到当时共产国际对各国共产主义组织的影响力，单纯的斗争路线问题已经不足以解释英国共产主义政党之间的巨大分歧。本文认为，分歧的根源是根深蒂固的思想问题，斗争路线的差异性只是其表现形式。经过漫长谈判后形成的大不列颠共产党，并不是英国共产主义政党组织放下分歧、统一思想的结果，苏联的外部压力在其中起到了更大的作用。麦克法兰（L.J.Macfarlane）、罗德里克·马丁（Roderick Martin）和弗朗西斯·贝克特（Francis Beckett）三位国外学者，分别从苏俄的压力、满足苏联发动世界革命和保卫布尔什维克政权，以及苏联对于英国的资金支持等方面，论证了苏联对于英国共产主义政党的影响。大不列颠共产党未能在创始阶段妥善地解决路线分歧，无法统一思想、形成共同的奋斗目标，这就从思想根基上形成了英国共产主义政党分裂和衰败的土壤。

2. Gradual Deviation from the Guidance of Marxism-Leninism, Ideological Confusion

2.逐步偏离马克思列宁主义的指导，意识形态混乱

From the perspective of collective memory, a political party is a “memory community.” The collective memory of a political party is closely related to its history, and this is especially true for Marxist political parties that believe in historical materialism. Therefore, adhering to the guiding ideology of Marxism-Leninism, remaining true to the original aspiration, remembering history, and maintaining narrative consistency are the top priorities for a communist party to grasp ideological leadership. However, during its development, the Communist Party of Great Britain gradually deviated from Marxism, engaging in several self-negations of the party’s historical development line and narrative system, leading to ideological confusion and ultimately its demise.

从集体记忆的角度来看，一个政党就是一个“记忆共同体”。政党的集体记忆与其历史紧密相关，信仰历史唯物主义的马克思主义政党尤为如此。因此，坚持马克思列宁主义的指导思想，不忘初心，牢记历史，维持叙事的一贯性，是共产主义政党把握意识形态领导权的重中之重。然而，大不列颠共产党在发展过程中逐步偏离了马克思主义，对党的历史发展路线和叙事体系进行了数次自我否定，导致了意识形态混乱，造成其消亡。

In 1944, at the 17th Congress of the Communist Party of Great Britain, the party’s Central Committee issued a document titled *The People’s Britain: Proposals for Post-War Policy*, which carried out a major self-negation of the struggle line of the Communist Party of Great Britain since its founding. In the 1935 document *For a Soviet Britain*, the Communist Party of Great Britain believed that socialism could not be achieved through parliament, but the new policy in 1944 overturned this principle, claiming that socialism could be achieved simply by reforming the electoral system of the House of Commons. This marked the beginning of the Communist Party of Great Britain’s substantive implementation of revisionism, using the terminology of Marxism-Leninism to oppose Marxism-Leninism.

1944年，在大不列颠共产党第17届代表大会上，该党中央发布了题为《人民的英国：战后政策建议》的文件，对大不列颠共产党自成立以来的斗争路线进行了重大的自我否定。在1935年《为了苏维埃式的英国》中，大不列颠共产党认为社会主义不可能通过议会实现，而1944年的新政策却推翻了这一原则，声称只要通过改革下议院的选举制度就可以实现社会主义。这标志着大不列颠共产党已经开始在实质上贯彻修正主义，用马克思列宁主义的术语反对马克思列宁主义。

In 1951, the Communist Party of Great Britain issued a white paper titled *The British Road to Socialism*, stating that the British working class no longer needed to shed blood and sacrifice, but should instead win control of the capitalist state through constitutional means, and then transform the capitalist state into one that meets the needs of the working class. This was tantamount to a disguised recognition of the bourgeois parliamentary system, a disguised negation of the party’s long-standing pursuit of the dictatorship of the proletariat as advocated by Marx, Engels, and Lenin, and a move onto the erroneous revisionist line.

1951年，大不列颠共产党发布了《英国的社会主义之路》白皮书，指出英国工人阶级不再需要流血牺牲，而应该通过宪法手段赢得对资本主义国家的控制，然后将资本主义国家转变为满足工人阶级需要的国家。这相当于变相承认了资产阶级议会制，变相否定了该党一直以来对马克思恩格斯和列宁主张的无产阶级专政的追求，走上了修正主义的错误路线。

In 1970, Eurocommunist ideas began to spread widely within the Communist Party of Great Britain, further shaking the status of the dictatorship of the proletariat and democratic centralism. The propositions of Eurocommunism can be summarized as the “Four Any’s” and the “Two Negations.” The “Four Any’s” refer to: any communist party can autonomously define the concept of “socialism” that suits its own conditions; can participate in any capitalist enterprise; can cooperate with any foreign force; and can criticize any other communist party, including the CPSU. The “Two Negations” refer to negating the dictatorship of the proletariat and democratic centralism. Although the original intention of Eurocommunism was to break free from Soviet control and attempt to forge a communist path different from the “Soviet model” by integrating local realities, in fact, the policy of the “Four Any’s” and the “Two Negations,” while negating the leading position of the Soviet Union, also negated the basic principles of the dictatorship of the proletariat and democratic centralism, shaking the party’s foundation and bringing about severe ideological confusion.

1970年，欧洲共产主义思想开始在大不列颠共产党内广泛传播，进一步动摇了无产阶级专政和民主集中制的地位。欧洲共产主义的主张可以总结为“四个任何”和“两个否定”。“四个任何”是指：任何共产主义政党都可以自主定义符合自身状况的“社会主义”概念，可以参与任何资本主义企业，可以与任何外国势力合作，可以批评包括苏共在内的任何其他共产主义政党。“两个否定”是指否定无产阶级专政和民主集中制。虽然欧洲共产主义的初衷是为了摆脱苏联的控制，尝试结合本土实际情况走出一条不同于“苏联模式”的共产主义道路，但事实上“四个任何”和“两个否定”的方针在否定苏联领导地位的同时，也否定了无产阶级专政和民主集中制的基本原则，动摇了党的根本，带来了严重的意识形态混乱。

In January 1990, Nina Temple was elected as the new General Secretary of the Communist Party of Great Britain. At the party’s 42nd Congress, the Central Committee resolved to abandon Marxism-Leninism as its guiding ideology, completely abandon the principle of democratic centralism, and abandon the system of recommended lists for elections. This meant that the Communist Party of Great Britain began to transform organizationally towards a federal structure. In May 1991, the Communist Party of Great Britain officially published its new party constitution, publicly announcing the abandonment of Marxism-Leninism, accepting a series of concepts such as reformed Marxism, feminism, anti-racism, and ecologism, and adopting a so-called “more open and democratic mechanism” to replace democratic centralism. In November 1991, at its 43rd Congress, the Communist Party of Great Britain officially declared its dissolution and reorganized into Democratic Left, while also resolving, with 135 votes in favor, 72 against, and 3 abstentions, to completely abandon the name and constitution of the Communist Party of Great Britain. However, abandoning organizational principles did not bring a turnaround for the nominally “newborn” Democratic Left. Against the backdrop of continuous loss of party members, Democratic Left reorganized again in 1999 into the New Policy Network. The New Policy Network then merged with Unlock Democracy (a think tank) in 2007, becoming an ordinary think tank. At this point, the communist revolutionary flame of the Communist Party of Great Britain was declared completely extinguished.

1990年1月，尼娜·坦普尔（Nina Temple）当选为新一任大不列颠共产党总书记。该党中央在第42届代表大会上决议放弃以马列主义作为指导思想，彻底放弃民主集中制原则，放弃选举的推荐名单制度。这意味着大不列颠共产党从组织形式上开始向联邦制组织转变。1991年5月，大不列颠共产党正式公布新党章，正式公开宣布放弃马克思列宁主义，接受改良马克思主义、女权主义、反种族主义、生态主义等一系列概念，采用一种所谓“更加开放和民主的机制”取代民主集中制。1991年11月，大不列颠共产党在第43届代表大会上正式宣告解散，并重新改组为民主左翼，同时以135票支持、72票反对、3票弃权的结果，决议彻底放弃大不列颠共产党的名称和党章。然而，放弃组织原则并没有为名义上“新生”的民主左翼带来转机。在党员不断流失的背景下，1999年民主左翼再次改组为新政策网络。新政策网络又于2007年与解锁民主（智库机构）合并重组，成为一个普通的智库机构。至此，大不列颠共产党的共产主义革命火种宣告彻底熄灭。

3. Stubborn and Rigid Pro-Soviet Faction within the Party, Difficulty Maintaining Independence and Autonomy

3.党内亲苏势力顽固僵化，难以保持独立自主性

Throughout the entire international communist movement, the CPSU always placed the national interests of the Soviet Union in a paramount position, with all actions judged by whether they conformed to Soviet interests, while forcibly incorporating the revolutionary movements of various countries into the framework of defending Soviet interests. In terms of policy formulation, the CPSU displayed a clear pragmatic attitude, frequently interfering in the internal affairs of fraternal parties, and even intervening in the appointment of leaders of fraternal parties.

在整个国际共产主义运动的过程中，苏共始终将苏联的国家利益置于至高无上的地位，一切行动都以是否符合苏联的利益为准，同时强行将各国的革命运动纳入捍卫苏联利益的框架之中。在政策制定方面，苏共表现出明显的实用主义态度，频繁干涉兄弟党的内部事务，甚至干预兄弟党领导人的任命。

Against this objective background, the British communist parties also failed to maintain independence internally. Samuel argued that the Communist Party of Great Britain “was not an independent organization at all, but was subordinate to the Communist International. Its members were those it had developed, not those it was supposed to represent. Its Central Committee was primarily accountable not to its members, but to the Third International in Moscow.” [9]9 The Communist International (Comintern, 1919–1943) was the international organization uniting communist parties worldwide, headquartered in Moscow and effectively controlled by the Soviet Communist Party. Furthermore, during the development of the British communist parties, Soviet financial support was a crucial factor in their survival. Taking the largest, the Communist Party of Great Britain, as an example, it received long-term Soviet funding before 1979, establishing Party branches and organs at all levels across the country. The British communist parties’ long-term acceptance of Soviet subsidies and obedience to Soviet directives led to a highly entrenched pro-Soviet faction within the Party, forming a stable vested interest group. Subsequently, regardless of how the line or policy of the Communist Party of Great Britain Central Committee changed, pro-Soviet Party members would unthinkingly side with the Soviet Union, even going so far as to split the organization en masse and set up rival factions. A study of the biographies of Communist Party of Great Britain leaders put it more sharply: “It is not so much that they built a communist party in Britain, but rather that they achieved greater success in the goal of jointly defending the Soviet Union.” For example, in 1982, the *Morning Star* publicly criticized the Eurocommunist tendencies of *Marxism Today* and expressed support for Soviet leadership. Consequently, the Communist Party of Great Britain Central Committee decided to remove *Morning Star* editor Tony Chater and assistant editor David Whitfield from their Party posts. In 1984, a majority of delegates, against the wishes of the Communist Party of Great Britain Central Committee, re-elected these two individuals to the newspaper’s management committee. In 1985, the Communist Party of Great Britain Central Committee intensified its crackdown on the *Morning Star* faction, passing a resolution with over 650 amendments in one go and expelling 18 Party members. In 1988, Party members led by the *Morning Star* faction split from the Communist Party of Great Britain and established the Communist Party of Britain, rivalling the Communist Party of Great Britain. The then-leader Michael Hicks claimed: “We are not founding a new party, but rebuilding the Communist Party in accordance with the original programme and rules of the Communist Party of Great Britain.”

在此客观背景下，英国共产主义政党在内部也没能保持独立自主。塞缪尔（Samuel）认为，大不列颠共产党“根本就不是一个独立的组织，而是隶属于共产国际。它的那些党员是它发展来的，而不是它所要代表的。它的中央委员会首先要对其负责的，不是它的党员，而是莫斯科的第三国际”。此外，在英国共产主义政党发展的过程中，苏联的经济支持是这些政党赖以生存的重要因素。以规模最大的大不列颠共产党为例，其在1979年以前长期接受苏联资金支持，在各地建立党支部以及各级机关。英国共产主义政党长期接受苏联的资助，服从苏联的指示，使得党内的亲苏派系高度固化，形成了稳定的既得利益集团。其后，无论大不列颠共产党中央的方针路线如何变化，亲苏的党员都会不假思索地站在苏联一边，甚至不惜成建制地分裂组织、另立山头。一份研究大不列颠共产党领导人的人物志文献总结得更为尖锐：“与其说他们在英国建立了一个共产党，不如说他们在协防苏联这个目标上取得了更大的成功”。比如，1982年，《晨星报》公开批评《今日马克思主义》的欧洲共产主义倾向，表态支持苏联的领导。因此，大不列颠共产党中央决定解除《晨星报》编辑托尼·蔡特（Tony Chater）及助理编辑大卫·惠特菲尔德（David Whitfield）的党内职务。1984年，大多数代表不顾大不列颠共产党中央的意愿，再次选举此二人为报社管理委员会委员。1985年，大不列颠共产党中央加大了对晨星报系的打击，一次性通过了一项超过650项修正案的决议，驱逐了18名党员。1988年，以晨星报系为首的部分党员从大不列颠共产党中分裂而出，建立了英国共产党，与大不列颠共产党分庭抗礼。时任领导人迈克尔·希克斯（Michael Hicks）声称：“我们并非建立一个新党，而是秉承原始大不列颠共产党的纲领和规则，重建共产党。”

Another example is Andrew Rothstein, a veteran Party member of the Communist Party of Great Britain. In his early years, he served as a liaison between the Communist Party of Great Britain and the Soviet Union, and worked successively for the Soviet Trade Delegation, the Russian Telegraph Agency (ROSTA), and the Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (TASS). According to the recollections of historian Eric Hobsbawm, Andrew Rothstein was a typical Soviet mouthpiece, “who would only defend everything the Soviet Union needed defending.” This working style of loyalty to the Soviet Union accompanied Andrew Rothstein throughout his life. In 1988, after the *Morning Star* faction declared independence and established the Communist Party of Britain, Andrew Rothstein, as the only surviving veteran Party member at the time, chose to leave the Communist Party of Great Britain and join the Communist Party of Britain. Although the newly formed Communist Party of Britain issued its first Party membership card to him, the object of his true loyalty was neither the Communist Party of Britain nor the Communist Party of Great Britain, but the Soviet Union.

再比如，大不列颠共产党有一位元老级党员安德鲁·罗斯坦（Andrew Rothstein）。他早期担任大不列颠共产党和苏联的联络员，并先后在苏联贸易代表团（Soviet Trade Delegation）、俄罗斯电报局（ROSTA）和俄通社（TASS）工作过。根据历史学家埃里克·霍布斯鲍姆（Eric Hobsbawm）回忆，安德鲁·罗斯坦是一个典型的苏联代言人，“只会帮苏联辩护一切需要辩护的东西”。这种忠于苏联的工作方式伴随了安德鲁·罗斯坦的一生。在1988年晨星报系宣布独立、成立英国共产党之后，安德鲁·罗斯坦作为当时唯一在世的元老级党员，选择脱离大不列颠共产党加入英国共产党。虽然新成立的英国共产党的第一张党员证发给了他，但是他真正效忠的对象既不是英国共产党，也不是大不列颠共产党，而是苏联。

4. Severe Internal Factionalism, Never Forming Genuine Internal Unity

4.党内宗派主义严重，从未形成真正的内部团结

Factionalism refers to behaviors and modes of thinking within a political party organization that prioritize the interests of small groups or cliques. It manifests as excessive adherence to one’s own views and interests and exclusivity, thereby neglecting the importance of unity, cooperation, and common goals. In the development of the British communist parties, factionalist thinking led to opposition and competition among different factions and small groups within the parties. Each faction overemphasized its own ideas and interests, neglecting cooperation and common goals, leading to internal strife and splits, weakening the unity and cohesion within the parties. Furthermore, rampant factionalism and internal infighting weakened the parties’ strength and reputation, making them more susceptible to criticism and sabotage from other political forces, and undermining the parties’ influence and appeal. The Communist Party of Great Britain internally adopted methods such as expulsion from the Party and political persecution towards Party members holding dissenting views, destroying the internal unity of the British communist parties, leading to a proliferation of rival factions attacking each other, and an inability to form unified action.

宗派主义是指在政党组织中出现以小团体或派别利益为导向的行为和思维模式。它表现为对自身观点和利益的过度坚持和排他性，从而忽视了团结合作和共同目标的重要性。在英国共产主义政党的发展历程中，宗派主义思维导致了不同派系和小团体在政党内部形成对立和竞争。各派别过于强调自己的理念和利益，忽视合作和共同目标，从而导致内部纷争和分裂，削弱了党内的团结和统一。此外，宗派主义泛滥和内部争斗削弱了政党的实力和声誉，使其更容易受到来自其他政治势力的批评和破坏，削弱了党派的影响力和吸引力。大不列颠共产党对内采用开除党籍和政治迫害的方式对待持不同意见的党员，破坏了英国共产主义政党的内部团结，导致内部山头林立，相互攻击，无法形成步调一致的行动。

Many British communist organizations, media outlets, and individuals were labeled by the Communist Party of Great Britain Central Committee as “ultra-leftists” and “Trotskyists,” and were subjected to fierce attacks and even expulsion. They regarded these attacks and expulsions as malicious political persecution. Some expelled Party members harbored resentment, and after leaving the Party, they dedicated themselves specifically to opposing and attacking the Communist Party of Great Britain; some even became staunch anti-communists. Others chose to join or independently form small Trotskyist organizations, such as the Communist Revolutionary Party, the Socialist Workers Party, the Revolutionary Workers Party, the Militant tendency, and others. According to statistics, at that time there were over 70 Trotskyist organizations coexisting in Britain. Although these Trotskyist organizations were generally very small and frequently attacked each other, as a whole they became formidable competitors to the Communist Party of Great Britain. During the 1950s and 1960s, the Communist Party of Great Britain consistently tried to recruit members among the left and students, but it was precisely the active efforts of these more radical small Trotskyist organizations that caused the Communist Party of Great Britain to miss the opportunity to recruit members and expand its influence during the 1968 student movements and the anti-Vietnam War activities.

不少英国的共产主义组织、媒体和个人被大不列颠共产党中央定性为“极左分子”和“托派分子”，遭到了猛烈的攻击乃至驱逐。他们将这些攻击和驱逐视为别有用心的政治迫害。部分被驱逐的党员心怀怨恨，退党之后专门以反对和攻击大不列颠共产党为己任，甚至有一部分成为坚定的反共分子。还有一部分选择加入或自行成立小型的托派组织，如共产主义革命党、社会主义工人党、革命工人党、激进派等。据统计，当时英国共有70余个托派组织并存。虽然这些托派组织规模普遍很小，并且频繁相互攻击，但是它们作为一个整体，却成为大不列颠共产党强有力的竞争对手。20世纪50—60年代，大不列颠共产党一直试图在左翼和学生中发展党员，但正是这些更为激进的小型托派组织的积极活动，使得大不列颠共产党错失了在1968年的学生运动以及反越战活动中招募成员并扩大影响力的机会。

The existence of certain differences in ideological understanding within a party is entirely normal. A mature Marxist political party should, adhering to the principle of “learning from past mistakes to avoid future ones and curing the sickness to save the patient,” [10]10 A well-known Maoist slogan (惩前毖后，治病救人) from the Yan’an Rectification Movement (1942–1945), advocating for criticism aimed at correction rather than punishment. on the basis of upholding the organizational principle of democratic centralism, through thorough and meticulous ideological and political work, and by carrying out criticism and self-criticism, conduct discussions with a scientific Marxist attitude to achieve unity in the party’s ideological understanding. However, whenever crises occurred in the British communist parties, each faction remained stubborn and attacked each other. When differences between the two sides could not be reconciled, the central committees of the British communist parties often adopted simple and crude methods to handle internal crises, either dismissing or expelling from the Party any Party cadres or members who disagreed with the central committee’s line. This led to one split after another within the British communist parties, and each split was like adding insult to injury for parties whose strength and influence were already weak.

党内在思想认识上存在某些分歧，本来是十分正常的事情。一个成熟的马克思主义政党理应本着“惩前毖后，治病救人”的方针，在坚持民主集中制的组织原则的基础上，通过深入细致的思想政治工作，通过开展批评与自我批评，以马克思主义的科学态度开展讨论，以求得全党思想认识上的统一。然而，英国共产主义政党每当危机发生时，各个分支态度顽固，相互攻击。当双方分歧无法弥合时，英国共产主义政党中央又往往采取简单粗暴的方式处理党内危机，对凡是不同意英国共产主义政党中央路线的党员干部，要么撤职，要么开除出党。这就导致英国共产主义政党一次又一次发生分裂，每一次分裂对实力和影响力本来就不强的英国共产主义政党而言无异于雪上加霜。

5. Lack of an Attractive Political Programme, Unable to Win the Support of the People

5.缺乏有吸引力的政治纲领，无法赢得人民群众的支持

Productive forces and relations of production are fundamental elements of Marxist political economy, and the level of development of productive forces plays a decisive role in social development and transformation. After the Industrial Revolution, the bourgeois political parties in Britain achieved notable economic success and established a solid social foundation. During the 1980s and 1990s, the neoliberal economic policies promoted by Thatcher emphasized market economics, privatization, and reduced state intervention, achieving certain results and bringing about economic prosperity and growth, which in turn led the general public to widely recognize the advantages of capitalism in creating wealth and employment opportunities.

生产力和生产关系是马克思主义政治经济学的基本要素，生产力的发展水平对社会的发展和变革具有决定性作用。在工业革命后，英国的资产阶级政党在经济方面取得了显著的成功，建立了稳固的社会根基。20世纪80—90年代，撒切尔推动的新自由主义经济政策强调市场经济、私有化和减少国家干预，取得了一定的成果，带来了经济繁荣和增长，进而使社会公众普遍认可资本主义在创造财富和就业机会方面的优势。

The British communist parties failed to put forward an attractive political programme in areas such as economic development and promoting the progress of productive forces. The theories and policies of the British communist parties lacked innovation, were unable to provide forward-looking strategies for scientific and technological development, and also failed to propose economic reform plans that met the needs of the times, appearing outdated and disconnected in British society; without an attractive political programme, they could not win the support of the masses, could not achieve good results in elections, and were even less able to compete with the Labour Party, which waved the banner of social democracy. The political programme put forward by the Communist Party of Great Britain was identical to that of the British Labour Party more than twenty years earlier, and was utterly unattractive. The specific goals promoted in its programme included guaranteeing full employment, improving social security, raising wage incomes, establishing comprehensive medical services, and expanding public ownership—these overlapped heavily with policy objectives previously proposed by the British Labour Party. For example, the policy statement *Labour and the New Social Order* written by Sydney Webb in 1918 already included content that very much met the actual needs of workers, such as a minimum wage, full employment, nationalisation of key industries, and a higher degree of redistribution of national income.

英国共产主义政党在经济发展和推动生产力进步等方面却未能提出具有吸引力的政纲。英国共产主义政党的理论和政策缺乏创新，无法提供具有前瞻性的科技发展策略，也未能提出符合时代发展需要的经济改革方案，在英国社会中显得过时和脱节；没有具有吸引力的政治纲领，就无法赢得人民群众的支持，无法在选举中取得佳绩，更无法与举着社会民主主义大旗的工党展开竞争。大不列颠共产党拿出来的政纲，与英国工党20多年前的政纲雷同，毫无吸引力。其政纲所宣传的具体目标包括保障充分就业，完善社会保障，提升工资收入，建立全面的医疗服务，扩大公有制——这些与英国工党早先提出的政策目标高度重合。比如，西德尼·韦伯（Sydney Webb）于1918年撰写的政策声明《劳工与新社会秩序》中就已经包括了最低工资、充分就业、关键行业国有化以及更高程度的国民收入再分配等非常符合劳工实际需求的内容。

Furthermore, under the British electoral system, an influential party needs more than just a good political programme to win voter support; it must also be adept at democratic campaigning at the “technical level,” widely disseminating the content of its political programme to win the people’s recognition of its platform. Since its founding in 1900, the British Labour Party has been committed to helping the groups it represents integrate into society, assisting workers in negotiations with capital, and becoming the party of choice for the working class to fight for its rights within the British political system at that time. But in essence, this was the result of compromise within British capitalist society. The British communist parties should have unswervingly followed the mass line, served the people wholeheartedly, and used the ideological weapon of Marxism to profoundly analyse the bourgeois nature of the Labour Party. However, in practice, the British communist parties not only consistently failed to find effective working methods, but were also busy with internal struggles and mutual attacks, even wavering in their own positions. The largest, the Communist Party of Great Britain, attempted on multiple occasions in its history to collectively join the Labour Party.

此外，在英国选举体系下，一个有影响力的政党仅有好的政治纲领还不足以赢得选民支持，还必须要在“技术层面”擅长民主竞选，将政治纲领的内容进行广泛传播，从而赢得人民对其政纲的认同。英国工党自1900年成立以来，就致力于帮助其所代表的群体融入社会，协助工人与资方谈判，成为当时英国政治体系中工人阶级争取权利的政党选择，但实质上这是英国资本主义社会内部妥协的结果。英国共产主义政党本应坚定不移地走好群众路线，全心全意为人民服务，利用马克思主义这一思想武器深刻剖析工党的资产阶级本质。但是在实践中，英国共产主义政党不但始终无法找到有效的工作方法，而且忙于内斗和相互攻击，甚至连自身立场都发生动摇，规模最大的大不列颠共产党在历史上曾多次试图集体加入工党。

6. Loose and Disorganised Party Structure, Never Forming a Party with Strict Discipline

6.组织松弛涣散，从未形成纪律严明的政党

Organisational discipline refers to the behavioural norms that Party organisations and Party members must abide by to maintain the Party’s unity and solidarity, and is the discipline governing relations between Party organisations and between Party organisations and Party members. A proletarian party is a political organisation established with the ultimate goal of achieving communism, and its requirements for organisational discipline are higher than those of any other political party. Marx and Engels wrote in the *Address of the Central Committee to the Communist League*: “Revolutionary activity can only exert its full strength under conditions of centralisation.” Lenin further elaborated on the extreme importance of organisational discipline, pointing out: “In the struggle for power, the proletariat has no other weapon but organisation.” However, the British communist parties generally suffered from the problem of loose and disorganised organisational discipline.

组织纪律是指党的组织和党员必须遵守和维护党在组织上团结统一的行为准则，是处理党组织之间和党组织与党员之间关系的纪律。无产阶级政党是以实现共产主义为最终目标而组建起来的政治组织，对组织纪律的要求比其他任何政党都要高。马克思恩格斯在《共产主义者同盟中央委员会告同盟书》中写道：“革命活动只有在集中的条件下才能发挥全部力量。”列宁进一步阐述了组织纪律的极端重要性，指出：“无产阶级在争取政权的斗争中，除了组织，没有别的武器。”而英国共产主义政党普遍存在组织纪律松弛涣散的问题。

The New Communist Party of Britain, which split from the Communist Party of Great Britain, was precisely established against the backdrop of the Communist Party of Great Britain’s loose organisational discipline and the failure of the Party Central Committee’s authority to be upheld by local branches. In 1977, Sid French, then Secretary of the Surrey District Party Committee, opposed the Eurocommunist tendencies of the Communist Party of Great Britain. The response of the Communist Party of Great Britain Central Committee was to expel Sid French from the Party. Subsequently, Sid French and his followers held an emergency meeting in London and quickly established the New Communist Party of Britain. It should be noted that the differences between the Eurocommunist faction and the pro-Soviet faction at that time caused the Communist Party of Great Britain to lose a total of about 6,000 members by the end of 1977, but only about 700 people joined the New Communist Party of Britain, and these members were almost all local members from the Surrey area. In other words, the New Communist Party of Britain was not recognised by the majority of the pro-Soviet faction within the Communist Party of Great Britain, but merely succeeded in mobilising the vast majority of Party members in the Surrey area at that time to directly break away from the Communist Party of Great Britain. Therefore, although the founding of the New Communist Party of Britain in 1977 used the same rhetoric as the founding of the Communist Party of Great Britain—that is, opposing the Eurocommunist-leaning Central Committee—its underlying causes were different. The split and formation of the New Communist Party of Britain stemmed more from contradictions in the relationship between the Party Central Committee and local Party organisations. The loyalty of members in local branches to local factions meant that the authority of the Communist Party of Great Britain Central Committee could not be upheld, making centralised, unified leadership impossible.

从大不列颠共产党中分裂出来的新英国共产党，正是在大不列颠共产党组织纪律松弛、党中央权威得不到地方支部维护的背景下成立的。1977年，时任萨里地区党委书记的希德·弗伦奇反对大不列颠共产党的欧洲共产主义倾向。大不列颠共产党中央的应对方式是将希德·弗伦奇驱逐出党，之后，希德·弗伦奇及其追随者在伦敦召开紧急会议，迅速成立了新英国共产党。需要指出的是，当时欧共派和亲苏派的分歧，使得大不列颠共产党到1977年年底总计流失了约6000名党员，但只有约700人加入了新英国共产党，而且这些党员几乎都是萨里地区的本地党员。换言之，新英国共产党并没有得到大不列颠共产党中大部分亲苏派的认可，而只是成功动员了当时萨里地区的绝大多数党员直接脱离大不列颠共产党。因此，1977年新英国共产党成立时虽然采用了与英国共产党成立时相同的说辞，即反对欧洲共产主义倾向的党中央，但其深层原因却是不同的。新英国共产党的分裂和成立，更多地是源于党中央和党的地方组织关系的矛盾。地方支部的党员对地方派系更加忠诚，使得大不列颠共产党中央的权威得不到维护，无法实现集中统一领导。

Furthermore, the relationship between the Party organisations and Party members of the British communist parties was loose, lacking cohesion. For a considerable period, the British communist parties generally overemphasised increasing the number of members while neglecting quality; their procedures for joining and leaving the Party were relatively casual—simple registration upon joining, and members could even choose to leave without saying goodbye when quitting. Grassroots Party organisations were ineffective in important tasks such as screening, identifying, and educating and training members, making it difficult to carry out work. Additionally, due to low organisational cohesion, newly joined members would seek other forms of gathering, leading to the phenomenon of “mountain-strongholdism.” [11]11 “Mountain-strongholdism” (山头主义) is a Chinese Communist Party term referring to a tendency within Party organisations to form independent, factional blocs based on regional or personal loyalties, undermining centralised leadership and unity. For instance, people from the same area would automatically form groups, creating “small circles.” Under such loose and disorganised organisational discipline, the grassroots Party organisations of the British communist parties were weak, unable to effectively carry out work and execute Party tasks. Blindly pursuing the number of members and organisational scale while lacking the cultivation of and attention to grassroots members; unilaterally demanding voluntary work from members while lacking care and concern for them—these were manifestations of the lack of cohesion in the grassroots organisations of the British communist parties, and also the root cause of the continuous loss of personnel and the minimal effectiveness of their work.

此外，英国共产主义政党党组织和党员之间关系松散，缺乏凝聚力。英国共产主义政党在相当长的时间内普遍过于强调发展党员数量而忽视质量，其入党和退党程序较为随意，入党时简单注册，退党时甚至可以选择不辞而别。基层党组织在党员筛选、甄别和教育培训等重要工作上无所作为，难以开展工作。另外，由于组织凝聚力低，新加入的党员便会以其他方式寻找聚集形式，形成“山头主义”现象。比如，来自同一个地区的人会自动结成团体，形成“小圈子”。在这种松弛涣散的组织纪律下，英国共产主义政党基层党组织的力量薄弱，无法有效地开展工作和执行党的任务。一味追求党员数量和组织规模，而缺乏对基层党员的培养和重视；一味要求党员义务工作，而缺乏对党员的关心关照，这是英国共产主义政党的基层组织缺乏凝聚力的表现，也是党组织人员不断流失和工作成效甚微的根源。

IV. Conclusion

四、结论

Through a comprehensive review of historical materials, this article has preliminarily clarified the process of development and splits among the British communist parties, analysed the complex relationships between them, and provided a relatively clear historical thread for subsequent research. From the analysis of the fission of the British communist parties, it can be seen that wavering in the ideological sphere, lack of independence, and a disorganised system were important reasons for the loss of support for the British communist parties.

本文通过对历史材料的全面梳理，初步理清了英国共产主义政党发展和分裂的进程，分析了英国共产主义政党之间的复杂关系，为后续研究提供了相对清晰的历史脉络。通过对英国共产主义政党裂变的分析可以看出，意识形态领域的动摇、缺乏独立自主性及组织体系的涣散，是导致英国共产主义政党失去支持的重要原因。

Taking the century-long historical development of the British communist parties as a mirror, on the new journey of comprehensively building a modern socialist country, we need to continuously deepen our understanding of the laws governing the building of a Marxist ruling party, uphold the fundamental system of Marxism’s guiding position in the ideological domain, build a socialist ideology with strong cohesion and leading power, and consolidate the common ideological foundation for the united struggle of the entire Party and the people of all ethnic groups across the country. At the same time, we must also strengthen the Party’s overall leadership, make clear that the most essential characteristic of socialism with Chinese characteristics is the leadership of the Communist Party of China, unwaveringly uphold that the Communist Party of China is the highest political leadership force, uphold and maintain the centralized, unified leadership of the Party Central Committee as the highest political principle, systematically improve the Party’s leadership system, and uphold the authority of the Party Central Committee. We must unremittingly use the Party’s innovative theory to unify the entire Party’s ideological will and action, continuously tighten the organisational system that is connected from top to bottom, effective in execution, complete in function, and scientific and standardised, and enhance the Party’s organisational capability. We must focus on building a strong high-quality ruling backbone team capable of shouldering the task of national rejuvenation, continuously strengthen the theoretical武装 of the Party’s innovation, optimise the work of selecting, nurturing, managing, and using cadres, comprehensively cultivate, introduce, and make good use of talent, strictly and practically manage the construction of the Party member team, enhance the overall effectiveness of the Party’s organisational system construction, and provide a strong organisational guarantee for the great cause of building a strong country and national rejuvenation.

以英国共产主义政党百年历史发展为鉴，在全面建设社会主义现代化国家新征程上，我们需要不断深化对马克思主义执政党建设规律的认识，坚持马克思主义在意识形态领域指导地位的根本制度，建设具有强大凝聚力和引领力的社会主义意识形态，巩固全党全国各族人民团结奋斗的共同思想基础。同时，我们还要加强党的全面领导，明确中国特色社会主义最本质的特征是中国共产党领导，必须毫不动摇地坚持中国共产党是最高政治领导力量，坚持和维护党中央集中统一领导是最高政治原则，系统完善党的领导制度体系，维护党中央权威。要坚持不懈用党的创新理论统一全党思想意志行动，不断严密上下贯通、执行有力、功能完备、科学规范的组织体系，提升党的组织力。着力建强堪当民族复兴重任的高素质执政骨干队伍，持续加强党的创新理论武装，优化干部选育管用工作，全方位培养引进用好人才，从严从实抓好党员队伍建设，提升党的组织体系建设整体效能，为强国建设、民族复兴伟业提供坚强组织保证。

(Author’s bio: Song Xiongwei, Professor and Doctoral Supervisor, Department of Political Science and Law, Party School of the Central Committee of the C.P.C. [National Academy of Governance])

（作者简介：宋雄伟，中共中央党校（国家行政学院）政治和法律教研部教授、博士生导师）

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