Publishers · United Kingdom

Left Book Club

Defunct

A subscription book club founded by the publisher Victor Gollancz in May 1936. Members received a monthly "Choice" in distinctive limp orange covers, and the Club grew into a mass movement of local discussion groups supporting the Popular Front against fascism. It wound down in 1948. A new Left Book Club was launched in November 2015 by Jan Woolf and Neil Faulkner in collaboration with Pluto Press; this catalogue covers the original Club, 1936–1948.

Years
1936–1948
Location
London, United Kingdom
Name history
  1. 1936–1948 Left Book Club (Victor Gollancz)
  2. 2015–present Left Book Club (relaunched with Pluto Press) — A separate, volunteer-run revival of the original Club's name and aims
Affiliation
Selection committee of Victor Gollancz, John Strachey and Harold Laski
Languages
English
Part of
Victor Gollancz Ltd.
Authority records
Wikidata · VIAF · Library of Congress
Sources
Wikipedia — Left Book Club; LSE Review of Books — Relaunching the Left Book Club

Backlist

14019301940Founded 1936Closed 19481936: 7 titles1937: 14 titles1938: 7 titles1939: 10 titles1940: 5 titles1941: 6 titles1942: 6 titles1943: 4 titles1944: 4 titles1945: 3 titles1946: 4 titles1947: 3 titles1948: 5 titles
Titles of Left Book Club by year: 78 dated titles, 1936–1948, most in 1937 (14). Lines mark founded 1936 and closed 1948.
The figures by decade
DecadeTitles
1930s38
1940s40
YearTitleAuthor(s)Language
1936Days of Contempt✓André MalrauxEnglish
1936Hitler the Pawn✓Rudolf OldenEnglish
1936Spain in Revolt✓Harry Gannes & Theodore RepardEnglish
1936The Private Manufacture of Armaments✓Philip Noel-BakerEnglish
1936The Struggle for Peace✓Stafford CrippsEnglish
1936The Theory and Practice of Socialism✓John StracheyEnglish
1936Under the Axe of Fascism✓Gaetano SalveminiEnglish
1937Forward from Liberalism✓Stephen SpenderEnglish
1937Red Star Over China✓Edgar SnowEnglish
1937Soviet Communism: A New CivilisationSidney Webb & Beatrice WebbEnglish
1937Soviet Democracy✓Pat SloanEnglish
1937Soviet Justice and the Trial of Radek and Others✓Dudley CollardEnglish
1937Spanish Testament✓Arthur KoestlerEnglish
1937The Acquisitive Society✓R. H. TawneyEnglish
1937The Coming Struggle for PowerJohn StracheyEnglish
1937The Condition of Britain✓G. D. H. Cole & M. I. ColeEnglish
1937The Labour Party in Perspective✓C. R. AttleeEnglish
1937The People's Front✓G. D. H. ColeEnglish
1937The Road to Wigan Pier✓George OrwellEnglish
1937The Spirit and Structure of German Fascism✓Robert A. BradyEnglish
1937Waiting for Lefty✓Clifford OdetsEnglish
1938A People's History of EnglandA. L. MortonEnglish
1938A.R.P.✓ — Air Raid PrecautionsJ. B. S. HaldaneEnglish
1938China Fights Back✓ — An American Woman with the Eighth Route ArmyAgnes SmedleyEnglish
1938The Battle for Peace✓F. Elwyn JonesEnglish
1938What Are We to Do?✓John StracheyEnglish
1938Why the League Has Failed✓VigilantesEnglish
1938Why You Should Be a Socialist✓John StracheyEnglish
1939A Policy for British Agriculture✓Lord AddisonEnglish
1939An Outline of Political Thought Since the French Revolution✓Stephen SwinglerEnglish
1939Empire or Democracy?✓Leonard BarnesEnglish
1939Fallen Bastions✓ — The Central European TragedyG. E. R. GedyeEnglish
1939Soviet Policy and Its Critics✓J. R. CampbellEnglish
1939The Condition of the Workers in Great Britain, Germany and the Soviet Union 1932–1938✓Jürgen KuczynskiEnglish
1939The Socialist Sixth of the World✓Hewlett JohnsonEnglish
1939The Town That Was Murdered✓ — The Life-Story of JarrowEllen WilkinsonEnglish
1939War AimsG. D. H. ColeEnglish
1939Why We Are Losing the Peace✓ — The National Government's Foreign Policy: Its Causes, Consequences and CureVigilantesEnglish
1940A Programme for Progress✓John StracheyEnglish
1940Federalism or Socialism?✓John StracheyEnglish
1940Left-Wing Democracy in the English Civil War✓ — A Study of the Social Philosophy of Gerrard WinstanleyDavid W. PetegorskyEnglish
1940Rosa Luxemburg✓Paul FrölichEnglish
1940Swastika NightMurray ConstantineEnglish
1941A Faith to Fight For✓John StracheyEnglish
1941Europe, Russia and the Future✓G. D. H. ColeEnglish
1941Production for Victory, Not Profit!✓Maurice EdelmanEnglish
1941Rats!The Pied PiperEnglish
1941Scorched Earth✓Edgar SnowEnglish
1941Scum of the Earth✓Arthur KoestlerEnglish
1942Behemoth✓ — The Structure and Practice of National SocialismFranz NeumannEnglish
1942Great Britain in the Post-War World✓G. D. H. ColeEnglish
1942Guilty Germans?✓Aubrey Douglas SmithEnglish
1942Mission to Moscow✓Joseph E. DaviesEnglish
1942Passed to You, Please✓ — Britain's Red-Tape Machine at WarJ. P. W. MallalieuEnglish
1942The Unity of EuropeHilda MonteEnglish
1943Need Germany Survive?✓Julius BraunthalEnglish
1943The Black Man's BurdenJohn BurgerEnglish
1943The Means to Full Employment✓G. D. H. ColeEnglish
1943Will Germany Crack?✓ — A Factual Report on Germany from WithinPaul HagenEnglish
1944Battle Hymn of China✓Agnes SmedleyEnglish
1944Faith, Reason and Civilisation✓ — An Essay in Historical AnalysisHarold J. LaskiEnglish
1944The Mirror of the Past✓ — Lest It Reflect the FutureKonni ZilliacusEnglish
1944The Tragedy of European Labour 1918–1939✓Adolf SturmthalEnglish
1945Hammer or Anvil✓ — The Story of the German Working-Class MovementEvelyn AndersonEnglish
1945In Search of the Millennium✓Julius BraunthalEnglish
1945Report from Germany✓Leonard O. MosleyEnglish
1946Dilemma in Japan✓Andrew RothEnglish
1946For All Mankind✓Léon BlumEnglish
1946German Diary✓Fenner BrockwayEnglish
1946National Enterprise✓ — The Development of the Public CorporationErnest DaviesEnglish
1947Struggle for Germany✓Russell HillEnglish
1947The Darker the Night, the Brighter the Stars✓Friedrich SchlotterbeckEnglish
1947When Smuts Goes✓Arthur Keppel-JonesEnglish
1948How Long the Night✓Lina HaagEnglish
1948Kaffirs Are Lively✓Oliver WalkerEnglish
1948Prisoners of FearElla Lingens-ReinerEnglish
1948The Meaning of MarxismG. D. H. ColeEnglish
1948The Tragedy of Austria✓Julius BraunthalEnglish