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Freethought
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 3/26/20

Not to be confused with freedom of thought or free will.

Freethought (or free thought)[1] is an epistemological viewpoint which holds that positions regarding truth should be formed only on the basis of logic, reason, and empiricism, rather than authority, tradition, revelation, or dogma. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a freethinker is "a person who forms their own ideas and opinions rather than accepting those of other people, especially in religious teaching." In some contemporary thought in particular, freethought is strongly tied with rejection of traditional social or religious belief systems.[1][2] The cognitive application of freethought is known as "freethinking", and practitioners of freethought are known as "freethinkers".[1] Modern freethinkers consider freethought as a natural freedom from all negative and illusive thoughts acquired from the society.[3]

The term first came into use in the 17th century in order to indicate people who inquired into the basis of traditional religious beliefs. In practice, freethinking is most closely linked with secularism, atheism, agnosticism, anti-clericalism, and religious critique. The Oxford English Dictionary defines freethinking as, "The free exercise of reason in matters of religious belief, unrestrained by deference to authority; the adoption of the principles of a free-thinker." Freethinkers hold that knowledge should be grounded in facts, scientific inquiry, and logic. The skeptical application of science implies freedom from the intellectually limiting effects of confirmation bias, cognitive bias, conventional wisdom, popular culture, prejudice, or sectarianism.[4]

Definition

Atheist author Adam Lee defines freethought as thinking which is independent of revelation, tradition, established belief, and authority,[5] and considers it as a "broader umbrella" than atheism "that embraces a rainbow of unorthodoxy, religious dissent, skepticism, and unconventional thinking."[6]

The basic summarizing statement of the essay The Ethics of Belief by the 19th-century British mathematician and philosopher William Kingdon Clifford is: "It is wrong always, everywhere, and for anyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence."[7] The essay became a rallying cry for freethinkers when published in the 1870s, and has been described as a point when freethinkers grabbed the moral high ground.[8] Clifford was himself an organizer of freethought gatherings, the driving force behind the Congress of Liberal Thinkers held in 1878.

Regarding religion, freethinkers typically hold that there is insufficient evidence to support the existence of supernatural phenomena.[9] According to the Freedom from Religion Foundation, "No one can be a freethinker who demands conformity to a bible, creed, or messiah. To the freethinker, revelation and faith are invalid, and orthodoxy is no guarantee of truth." and "Freethinkers are convinced that religious claims have not withstood the tests of reason. Not only is there nothing to be gained by believing an untruth, but there is everything to lose when we sacrifice the indispensable tool of reason on the altar of superstition. Most freethinkers consider religion to be not only untrue, but harmful."[10]

However, philosopher Bertrand Russell wrote the following in his 1944 essay "The Value of Free Thought:"

What makes a freethinker is not his beliefs but the way in which he holds them. If he holds them because his elders told him they were true when he was young, or if he holds them because if he did not he would be unhappy, his thought is not free; but if he holds them because, after careful thought he finds a balance of evidence in their favour, then his thought is free, however odd his conclusions may seem.

— Bertrand Russell, The Value of Free Thought. How to Become a Truth-Seeker and Break the Chains of Mental Slavery, from the first paragraph

The whole first paragraph of the essay makes it clear that a freethinker is not necessarily an atheist or an agnostic, as long as he or she satisfies this definition:

The person who is free in any respect is free from something; what is the free thinker free from? To be worthy of the name, he must be free of two things: the force of tradition, and the tyranny of his own passions. No one is completely free from either, but in the measure of a man's emancipation he deserves to be called a free thinker.

— Bertrand Russell, The Value of Free Thought. How to Become a Truth-Seeker and Break the Chains of Mental Slavery, from the first paragraph

Fred Edwords, former executive of the American Humanist Association, suggests that by Russell's definition, liberal religionists who have challenged established orthodoxies can be considered freethinkers.[11]

On the other hand, according to Bertrand Russell, atheists and/or agnostics are not necessarily freethinkers. As an example, he mentions Stalin, whom he compares to a "pope":

what I am concerned with is the doctrine of the modern Communistic Party, and of the Russian Government to which it owes allegiance. According to this doctrine, the world develops on the lines of a Plan called Dialectical Materialism, first discovered by Karl Marx, embodied in the practice of a great state by Lenin, and now expounded from day to day by a Church of which Stalin is the Pope. […] Free discussion is to be prevented wherever the power to do so exists; […] If this doctrine and this organization prevail, free inquiry will become as impossible as it was in the middle ages, and the world will relapse into bigotry and obscurantism.

— Bertrand Russell, The Value of Free Thought. How to Become a Truth-Seeker and Break the Chains of Mental Slavery

In the 18th and 19th century, many thinkers regarded as freethinkers were deists, arguing that the nature of God can only be known from a study of nature rather than from religious revelation. In the 18th century, "deism" was as much of a 'dirty word' as "atheism", and deists were often stigmatized as either atheists or at least as freethinkers by their Christian opponents.[12][13] Deists today regard themselves as freethinkers, but are now arguably less prominent in the freethought movement than atheists.

Characteristics

Among freethinkers, for a notion to be considered true it must be testable, verifiable, and logical. Many freethinkers tend to be humanists, who base morality on human needs and would find meaning in human compassion, social progress, art, personal happiness, love, and the furtherance of knowledge. Generally, freethinkers like to think for themselves, tend to be skeptical, respect critical thinking and reason, remain open to new concepts, and are sometimes proud of their own individuality. They would determine truth for themselves – based upon knowledge they gain, answers they receive, experiences they have and the balance they thus acquire. Freethinkers reject conformity for the sake of conformity, whereby they create their own beliefs by considering the way the world around them works and would possess the intellectual integrity and courage to think outside of accepted norms, which may or may not lead them to believe in some higher power.[14]

Symbol

The pansy, a symbol of freethought.

The pansy serves as the long-established and enduring symbol of freethought; literature of the American Secular Union inaugurated its usage in the late 1800s. The reasoning behind the pansy as the symbol of freethought lies both in the flower's name and in its appearance. The pansy derives its name from the French word pensée, which means "thought". It allegedly received this name because the flower is perceived by some to bear resemblance to a human face, and in mid-to-late summer it nods forward as if deep in thought.[15] Challenging Religious Dogma: A History of Free Thought, a pamphlet dating from the 1880s had this statement under the title "The Pansy Badge":[16]

There is . . . need of a badge which shall express at first glance, without complexity of detail, that basic principle of freedom of thought for which Liberals of all isms are contending. This need seems to have been met by the Freethinkers of France, Belgium, Spain and Sweden, who have adopted the pansy as their badge. We join with them in recommending this flower as a simple and inexpensive badge of Freethought...Let every patriot who is a Freethinker in this sense, adopt the pansy as his badge, to be worn at all times, as a silent and unobtrusive testimony of his principles. In this way we shall recognize our brethren in the cause, and the enthusiasm will spread; until, before long, the uplifted standard of the pansy, beneath the sheltering folds of the United States flag, shall everywhere thrill men's hearts as the symbol of religious liberty and freedom of conscience."

History

Pre-modern movement

Critical thought has flourished in the Hellenistic Mediterranean, in the repositories of knowledge and wisdom in Ireland and in the Iranian civilizations (for example in the era of Khayyam (1048–1131) and his unorthodox Sufi Rubaiyat poems), and in other civilizations, such as the Chinese (note for example the seafaring renaissance of the Southern Song dynasty of 420–479),[17] and on through heretical thinkers on esoteric alchemy or astrology, to the Renaissance and the Protestant Reformation.

French physician and writer Rabelais celebrated "rabelaisian" freedom as well as good feasting and drinking (an expression and a symbol of freedom of the mind) in defiance of the hypocrisies of conformist orthodoxy in his utopian Thelema Abbey (from θέλημα: free "will"), the device of which was Do What Thou Wilt:

So had Gargantua established it. In all their rule and strictest tie of their order there was but this one clause to be observed, Do What Thou Wilt; because free people ... act virtuously and avoid vice. They call this honor.

When Rabelais's hero Pantagruel journeys to the "Oracle of The Div(in)e Bottle", he learns the lesson of life in one simple word: "Trinch!", Drink! Enjoy the simple life, learn wisdom and knowledge, as a free human. Beyond puns, irony, and satire, Gargantua's prologue-metaphor instructs the reader to "break the bone and suck out the substance-full marrow" ("la substantifique moëlle"), the core of wisdom.

Modern movements

Freethought logo

The year 1600 is considered a landmark in the era of modern freethought. It was the year of the execution in Italy of Giordano Bruno, a former Dominican friar, by the Inquisition.[18][19][20]

England

The term free-thinker emerged towards the end of the 17th century in England to describe those who stood in opposition to the institution of the Church, and the literal belief in the Bible. The beliefs of these individuals were centered on the concept that people could understand the world through consideration of nature. Such positions were formally documented for the first time in 1697 by William Molyneux in a widely publicized letter to John Locke, and more extensively in 1713, when Anthony Collins wrote his Discourse of Free-thinking, which gained substantial popularity. This essay attacks the clergy of all churches and it is a plea for deism.

The Freethinker magazine was first published in Britain in 1881.

France

In France, the concept first appeared in publication in 1765 when Denis Diderot, Jean le Rond d'Alembert, and Voltaire included an article on Liberté de penser in their Encyclopédie.[21] The European freethought concepts spread so widely that even places as remote as the Jotunheimen, in Norway, had well-known freethinkers such as Jo Gjende by the 19th century.[22]

François-Jean Lefebvre de la Barre (1745–1766) was a young French nobleman, famous for having been tortured and beheaded before his body was burnt on a pyre along with Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary. La Barre is often said to have been executed for not saluting a Roman Catholic religious procession, but the elements of the case were far more complex.[23]

In France, Lefebvre de la Barre is widely regarded a symbol of the victims of Christian religious intolerance; La Barre along with Jean Calas and Pierre-Paul Sirven, was championed by Voltaire. A second replacement statue to de la Barre stands nearby the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of Paris at the summit of the butte Montmartre (itself named from the Temple of Mars), the highest point in Paris and an 18th arrondissement street nearby the Sacré-Cœur is also named after Lefebvre de la Barre.

Germany

In Germany, during the period 1815–1848 and before the March Revolution, the resistance of citizens against the dogma of the church increased. In 1844, under the influence of Johannes Ronge and Robert Blum, belief in the rights of man, tolerance among men, and humanism grew, and by 1859 they had established the Bund Freireligiöser Gemeinden Deutschlands (literally Union of Free Religious Communities of Germany), an association of persons who consider themselves to be religious without adhering to any established and institutionalized church or sacerdotal cult. This union still exists today, and is included as a member in the umbrella organization of free humanists. In 1881 in Frankfurt am Main, Ludwig Büchner established the Deutscher Freidenkerbund (German Freethinkers League) as the first German organization for atheists and agnostics. In 1892 the Freidenker-Gesellschaft and in 1906 the Deutscher Monistenbund were formed.[24]

Freethought organizations developed the "Jugendweihe" (literally Youth consecration), a secular "confirmation" ceremony, and atheist funeral rites.[24][25] The Union of Freethinkers for Cremation was founded in 1905, and the Central Union of German Proletariat Freethinker in 1908. The two groups merged in 1927, becoming the German Freethinking Association in 1930.[26]

More "bourgeois" organizations declined after World War I, and "proletarian" Freethought groups proliferated, becoming an organization of socialist parties.[24][27] European socialist freethought groups formed the International of Proletarian Freethinkers (IPF) in 1925.[28] Activists agitated for Germans to disaffiliate from their respective Church and for seculari-zation of elementary schools; between 1919–21 and 1930–32 more than 2.5 million Germans, for the most part supporters of the Social Democratic and Communist parties, gave up church membership.[29] Conflict developed between radical forces including the Soviet League of the Militant Godless and Social Democratic forces in Western Europe led by Theodor Hartwig and Max Sievers.[28] In 1930 the Soviet and allied delegations, following a walk-out, took over the IPF and excluded the former leaders.[28] Following Hitler's rise to power in 1933, most freethought organizations were banned, though some right-wing groups that worked with so-called Völkische Bünde (literally "ethnic" associations with nationalist, xenophobic and very often racist ideology) were tolerated by the Nazis until the mid-1930s.[24][27]

Belgium

Main article: Organized secularism

The Université Libre de Bruxelles and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, along with the two Circles of Free Inquiry (Dutch and French speaking), defend the freedom of critical thought, lay philosophy and ethics, while rejecting the argument of authority.

Netherlands

In the Netherlands, freethought has existed in organized form since the establishment of De Dageraad (now known as De Vrije Gedachte) in 1856. Among its most notable subscribing 19th century individuals were Johannes van Vloten, Multatuli, Adriaan Gerhard and Domela Nieuwenhuis.

In 2009, Frans van Dongen established the Atheist-Secular Party, which takes a considerably restrictive view of religion and public religious expressions.

Since the 19th century, Freethought in the Netherlands has become more well known as a political phenomenon through at least three currents: liberal freethinking, conservative freethinking, and classical freethinking. In other words, parties which identify as freethinking tend to favor non-doctrinal, rational approaches to their preferred ideologies, and arose as secular alternatives to both clerically aligned parties as well as labor-aligned parties. Common themes among freethinking political parties are "freedom", "liberty", and "individualism".

Switzerland

Main article: Freethinkers Association of Switzerland

With the introduction of cantonal church taxes in the 1870s, anti-clericals began to organise themselves. Around 1870, a "freethinkers club" was founded in Zürich. During the debate on the Zürich church law in 1883, professor Friedrich Salomon Vögelin and city council member Kunz proposed to separate church and state.[30]

Turkey

In the last years of the Ottoman Empire, freethought made its voice heard by the works of distinguished people such as Ahmet Rıza, Tevfik Fikret, Abdullah Cevdet, Kılıçzade Hakkı, and Celal Nuri İleri. These intellectuals affected the early period of the Turkish Republic. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk –field marshal, revolutionary statesman, author, and founder of the secular Turkish nation state, serving as its first President from 1923 until his death in 1938– was the practitioner of their ideas. He made many reforms that modernized the country. Sources point out that Atatürk was a religious skeptic and a freethinker. He was a non-doctrinaire deist[31][32] or an atheist,[33][34][35] who was antireligious and anti-Islamic in general.[36][37] According to Atatürk, the Turkish people do not know what Islam really is and do not read the Quran. People are influenced by Arabic sentences that they do not understand, and because of their customs they go to mosques. When the Turks read the Quran and think about it, they will leave Islam.[38] Atatürk described Islam as the religion of the Arabs in his own work titled Vatandaş için Medeni Bilgiler by his own critical and nationalist views.[39]

Association of Atheism (Ateizm Derneği), the first official atheist organisation in Middle East and Caucasus, was founded in 2014.[40] It serves to support irreligious people and freethinkers in Turkey who are discriminated against based on their views. In 2018 it was reported in some media outlets that the Ateizm Derneği would close down because of the pressure on its members and attacks by pro-government media, but the association itself issued a clarification that this was not the case and that it was still active.[41]

United States

The Free Thought movement first organized itself in the United States as the "Free Press Association" in 1827 in defense of George Houston, publisher of The Correspondent, an early journal of Biblical criticism in an era when blasphemy convictions were still possible. Houston had helped found an Owenite community at Haverstraw, New York in 1826–27. The short-lived Correspondent was superseded by the Free Enquirer, the official organ of Robert Owen's New Harmony community in Indiana, edited by Robert Dale Owen and by Fanny Wright between 1828 and 1832 in New York. During this time Robert Dale Owen sought to introduce the philosophic skepticism of the Free Thought movement into the Workingmen's Party in New York City. The Free Enquirer's annual civic celebrations of Paine's birthday after 1825 finally coalesced in 1836 in the first national Free Thinkers organization, the "United States Moral and Philosophical Society for the General Diffusion of Useful Knowledge". It was founded on August 1, 1836, at a national convention at the Lyceum in Saratoga Springs with Isaac S. Smith of Buffalo, New York, as president. Smith was also the 1836 Equal Rights Party's candidate for Governor of New York and had also been the Workingmen's Party candidate for Lt. Governor of New York in 1830. The Moral and Philosophical Society published The Beacon, edited by Gilbert Vale.[42]

Robert G. Ingersoll[43]

Driven by the revolutions of 1848 in the German states, the 19th century saw an immigration of German freethinkers and anti-clericalists to the United States (see Forty-Eighters). In the United States, they hoped to be able to live by their principles, without interference from government and church authorities.[44]

Many Freethinkers settled in German immigrant strongholds, including St. Louis, Indianapolis, Wisconsin, and Texas, where they founded the town of Comfort, Texas, as well as others.[44]

These groups of German Freethinkers referred to their organizations as Freie Gemeinden, or "free congregations".[44] The first Freie Gemeinde was established in St. Louis in 1850.[45] Others followed in Pennsylvania, California, Washington, D.C., New York, Illinois, Wisconsin, Texas, and other states.[44][45]

Freethinkers tended to be liberal, espousing ideals such as racial, social, and sexual equality, and the abolition of slavery.[44]

The "Golden Age of Freethought" in the US came in the late 1800s. The dominant organization was the National Liberal League which formed in 1876 in Philadelphia. This group re-formed itself in 1885 as the American Secular Union under the leadership of the eminent agnostic orator Robert G. Ingersoll. Following Ingersoll's death in 1899 the organization declined, in part due to lack of effective leadership.[46]

Freethought in the United States declined in the early twentieth century. By the early twentieth century, most Freethought congregations had disbanded or joined other mainstream churches. The longest continuously operating Freethought congregation in America is the Free Congregation of Sauk County, Wisconsin, which was founded in 1852 and is still active as of 2020. It affiliated with the American Unitarian Association (now the Unitarian Universalist Association) in 1955.[47] D. M. Bennett was the founder and publisher of The Truth Seeker in 1873, a radical freethought and reform American periodical.

German Freethinker settlements were located in:

• Burlington, Racine County, Wisconsin[44]
• Belleville, St. Clair County, Illinois
• Castell, Llano County, Texas
• Comfort, Kendall County, Texas
• Davenport, Scott County, Iowa[48]
• Fond du Lac, Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin[44]
• Frelsburg, Colorado County, Texas
• Hermann, Gasconade County, Missouri
• Jefferson, Jefferson County, Wisconsin[44]
• Indianapolis, Indiana[49]
• Latium, Washington County, Texas
• Manitowoc, Manitowoc County, Wisconsin[44]
• Meyersville, DeWitt County, Texas
• Milwaukee, Wisconsin[44]
• Millheim, Austin County, Texas
• Oshkosh, Winnebago County, Wisconsin[44]
• Ratcliffe, DeWitt County, Texas
• Sauk City, Sauk County, Wisconsin[44][47]
• Shelby, Austin County, Texas
• Sisterdale, Kendall County, Texas
• St. Louis, Missouri
• Tusculum, Kendall County, Texas
• Two Rivers, Manitowoc County, Wisconsin[44]
• Watertown, Dodge County, Wisconsin[44]

Canada

In 1873 a handful of secularists founded the earliest known secular organization in English Canada, the Toronto Freethought Association. Reorganized in 1877 and again in 1881, when it was renamed the Toronto Secular Society, the group formed the nucleus of the Canadian Secular Union, established in 1884 to bring together freethinkers from across the country.[50]

A significant number of the early members appear to have come from the educated labour "aristocracy", including Alfred F. Jury, J. Ick Evans and J. I. Livingstone, all of whom were leading labour activists and secularists. The second president of the Toronto association, T. Phillips Thompson, became a central figure in the city's labour and social-reform movements during the 1880s and 1890s and arguably Canada's foremost late nineteenth-century labour intellectual. By the early 1880s scattered freethought organizations operated throughout southern Ontario and parts of Quebec, eliciting both urban and rural support.

The principal organ of the freethought movement in Canada was Secular Thought (Toronto, 1887–1911). Founded and edited during its first several years by English freethinker Charles Watts (1835–1906), it came under the editorship of Toronto printer and publisher James Spencer Ellis in 1891 when Watts returned to England. In 1968 the Humanist Association of Canada (HAC) formed to serve as an umbrella group for humanists, atheists, and freethinkers, and to champion social justice issues and oppose religious influence on public policy—most notably in the fight to make access to abortion free and legal in Canada.

Anarchism

In the United States of America,

"freethought was a basically anti-Christian, anti-clerical movement, whose purpose was to make the individual politically and spiritually free to decide for himself on religious matters. A number of contributors to Liberty were prominent figures in both freethought and anarchism. The individualist anarchist George MacDonald was a co-editor of Freethought and, for a time, The Truth Seeker. E.C. Walker was co-editor of the freethought/free love journal Lucifer, the Light-Bearer."[51]

"Many of the anarchists were ardent freethinkers; reprints from freethought papers such as Lucifer, the Light-Bearer, Freethought and The Truth Seeker appeared in Liberty...The church was viewed as a common ally of the state and as a repressive force in and of itself."[51]

Lucifer was the title of a Theosophist journal published by Helena Blavatsky; the first issue appeared in London in September 1887.

The Light-Bearer is the Morning Star or Lucifer, and "Lucifer is no profane or Satanic title. It is the Latin Luciferus, the Light-Bringer, the Morning Star, Equivalent to the Greek [x] ... The Name of the Pure Pale Herald of Daylight." -- Yonge

-- Lucifer: A Theosophical Magazine Designed to "Bring to Light the Hidden Things of Darkness"

Lucifer the Lightbearer was the title of an individualist-anarchist journal published in the United States around the turn of the twentieth century [1886]. According to its publisher, Moses Harman, the name was chosen because "Lucifer, the ancient name of the Morning Star, now called Venus, seems to us unsurpassed as a cognomen for a journal whose mission is to bring light to the dwellers in darkness" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucifer_the_Lightbearer; accessed May 30, 2017).

-- Marcel Duchamp and the Art of Life, by Jacquelynn Baas

In Europe, a similar development occurred in French and Spanish individualist anarchist circles:

"Anticlericalism, just as in the rest of the libertarian movement, in another of the frequent elements which will gain relevance related to the measure in which the (French) Republic begins to have conflicts with the church...Anti-clerical discourse, frequently called for by the French individualist André Lorulot, will have its impacts in Estudios (a Spanish individualist anarchist publication). There will be an attack on institutionalized religion for the responsibility that it had in the past on negative developments, for its irrationality which makes it a counterpoint of philosophical and scientific progress. There will be a criticism of proselytism and ideological manipulation which happens on both believers and agnostics".[52]

These tendencies would continue in French individualist anarchism in the work and activism of Charles-Auguste Bontemps (1893-1981) and others. In the Spanish individualist anarchist magazines Ética and Iniciales

"there is a strong interest in publishing scientific news, usually linked to a certain atheist and anti-theist obsession, philosophy which will also work for pointing out the incompatibility between science and religion, faith, and reason. In this way there will be a lot of talk on Darwin's theories or on the negation of the existence of the soul".[53]

In 1901 the Catalan anarchist and freethinker Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia established "modern" or progressive schools in Barcelona in defiance of an educational system controlled by the Catholic Church.[54] The schools had the stated goal to "educate the working class in a rational, secular and non-coercive setting". Fiercely anti-clerical, Ferrer believed in "freedom in education", education free from the authority of church and state.[55][failed verification] Ferrer's ideas, generally, formed the inspiration for a series of Modern Schools in the United States,[54] Cuba, South America and London. The first of these started in New York City in 1911. Ferrer also inspired the Italian newspaper Università popolare, founded in 1901.[54]

See also

• Brights movement
• Critical rationalism
• Ethical movement
• Secular humanism
• Freedom of thought
• Freethought Association of Canada
• Freethought Day
• Golden Age of Freethought
• Individualism
• Objectivism
• Rationalism
• Religious skepticism
• Scientism
• Secular Thought
• Spiritual but not religious
• The Freethinker (journal)

Notes and references

1. "Freethinker – Definition of freethinker by Merriam-Webster". Retrieved 12 June 2015.
2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-01-17. Retrieved 2012-02-03.
3. "Nontracts". Archived from the original on 4 August 2012. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
4. "who are the Freethinkers?". Freethinkers.com. 2018-02-13. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
5. "What Is Freethought?". Daylight Atheism. 2010-02-26. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
6. Adam Lee (October 2012). "9 Great Freethinkers and Religious Dissenters in History". Big Think. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
7. William Kingdon Clifford, The Ethics of Belief (1879 [1877]).
8. Becker, Lawrence and Charlotte (2013). Encyclopedia of Ethics (article on "agnosticism"). Routledge. p. 44. ISBN 9781135350963.
9. Hastings, James (2003-01-01). Encyclopedia of Religion. ISBN 9780766136830.
10. "What is a Freethinker? - Freedom From Religion Foundation". Retrieved 12 June 2015.
11. "Saga Of Freethought And Its Pioneers". American Humanist Association. Archived from the original on 15 July 2015. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
12. James E. Force, Introduction (1990) to An Account of the Growth of Deism in England (1696) by William Stephens
13. Aveling, Francis, ed. (1908). "Deism". The Catholic Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2012-10-10. The deists were what nowadays would be called freethinkers, a name, indeed, by which they were not infrequently known; and they can only be classed together wholly in the main attitude that they adopted, viz. in agreeing to cast off the trammels of authoritative religious teaching in favour of a free and purely rationalistic speculation.... Deism, in its every manifestation was opposed to the current and traditional teaching of revealed religion.
14. A COMMON PLACE by Ruth Kelly and Liam Byrne
15. A Pansy For Your Thoughts, by Annie Laurie Gaylor, Freethought Today, June/July 1997
16. The Pansy of Freethought - Rediscovering A Forgotten Symbol Of Freethought by Annie Laurie Gaylor
17. Chinese History – Song Dynasty 宋 (http://www.chinaknowledge.de)
18. Gatti, Hilary (2002). Giordano Bruno and Renaissance Science: Broken Lives and Organizational Power. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press. pp. 18–19. ISBN 978-0801487859. Retrieved 21 March 2014. For Bruno was claiming for the philosopher a principle of free thought and inquiry which implied an entirely new concept of authority: that of the individual intellect in its serious and continuing pursuit of an autonomous inquiry… It is impossible to understand the issue involved and to evaluate justly the stand made by Bruno with his life without appreciating the question of free thought and liberty of expression. His insistence on placing this issue at the center of both his work and of his defense is why Bruno remains so much a figure of the modern world. If there is, as many have argued, an intrinsic link between science and liberty of inquiry, then Bruno was among those who guaranteed the future of the newly emerging sciences, as well as claiming in wider terms a general principle of free thought and expression.
19. Montano, Aniello (24 November 2007). Antonio Gargano (ed.). Le deposizioni davanti al tribunale dell'Inquisizione. Napoli: La Città del Sole. p. 71. In Rome, Bruno was imprisoned for seven years and subjected to a difficult trial that analyzed, minutely, all his philosophical ideas. Bruno, who in Venice had been willing to recant some theses, become increasingly resolute and declared on 21 December 1599 that he 'did not wish to repent of having too little to repent, and in fact did not know what to repent.' Declared an unrepentant heretic and excommunicated, he was burned alive in the Campo dei Fiori in Rome on 17 February 1600. On the stake, along with Bruno, burned the hopes of many, including philosophers and scientists of good faith like Galileo, who thought they could reconcile religious faith and scientific research, while belonging to an ecclesiastical organization declaring itself to be the custodian of absolute truth and maintaining a cultural militancy requiring continual commitment and suspicion.
20. Birx, James (11 November 1997). "Giordano Bruno". Mobile Alabama Harbinger. Retrieved 28 April 2014. To me, Bruno is the supreme martyr for both free thought and critical inquiry… Bruno's critical writings, which pointed out the hypocrisy and bigotry within the Church, along with his tempestuous personality and undisciplined behavior, easily made him a victim of the religious and philosophical intolerance of the 16th century. Bruno was excommunicated by the Catholic, Lutheran and Calvinist Churches for his heretical beliefs. The Catholic hierarchy found him guilty of infidelity and many errors, as well as serious crimes of heresy… Bruno was burned to death at the stake for his pantheistic stance and cosmic perspective.
21. "ARTFL Encyclopédie Search Results". 1751–1772. p. 472. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
22. "Gjendesheim". MEMIM. 2016. Archived from the original on 8 August 2016. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
23. Gregory, Mary Efrosini (2008). Evolutionism in Eighteenth-century French Thought. Peter Lang. p. 192. ISBN 9781433103735. Retrieved 1 September 2016.
24. Bock, Heike (2006). "Secularization of the modern conduct of life? Reflections on the religiousness of early modern Europe". In Hanne May (ed.). Religiosität in der säkularisierten Welt. VS Verlag fnr Sozialw. p. 157. ISBN 978-3-8100-4039-8.
25. Reese, Dagmar (2006). Growing up female in Nazi Germany. Ann Arbor, Mich: University of Michigan Press. p. 160. ISBN 978-0-472-06938-5.
26. Reinhalter, Helmut (1999). "Freethinkers". In Bromiley, Geoffrey William; Fahlbusch, Erwin (eds.). The encyclopedia of Christianity. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans. ISBN 978-90-04-11695-5.
27. Kaiser, Jochen-Christoph (2003). Christel Gärtner (ed.). Atheismus und religiöse Indifferenz. Organisierter Atheismus. VS Verlag. ISBN 978-3-8100-3639-1.
28. Peris, Daniel (1998). Storming the heavens: the Soviet League of the Militant Godless. Ithaca, N.Y: Cornell University Press. pp. 110–11. ISBN 978-0-8014-3485-3.
29. Lamberti, Marjorie (2004). Politics Of Education: Teachers and School Reform in Weimar Germany (Monographs in German History). Providence: Berghahn Books. p. 185. ISBN 978-1-57181-299-5.
30. "Geschichte der Freidenker". FAS website (in German). Retrieved 10 May 2016.
31. Reşat Kasaba, "Atatürk", The Cambridge history of Turkey: Volume 4: Turkey in the Modern World, Cambridge University Press, 2008; ISBN 978-0-521-62096-3 p. 163; accessed 27 March 2015.
32. Political Islam in Turkey by Gareth Jenkins, Palgrave Macmillan, 2008, p. 84; ISBN 0230612458
33. Atheism, Brief Insights Series by Julian Baggini, Sterling Publishing Company, Inc., 2009; ISBN 1402768826, p. 106.
34. Islamism: A Documentary and Reference Guide, John Calvert John, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2008; ISBN 0313338566, p. 19.
35. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the secular Turkish Republic said: "I have no religion, and at times I wish all religions at the bottom of the sea..." The Antipodean Philosopher: Interviews on Philosophy in Australia and New Zealand, Graham Oppy, Lexington Books, 2011, ISBN 0739167936, p. 146.
36. Phil Zuckerman, John R. Shook, The Oxford Handbook of Secularism, Oxford University Press, 2017, ISBN 0199988455, p. 167.
37. Tariq Ramadan, Islam and the Arab Awakening, Oxford University Press, 2012, ISBN 0199933731, p. 76.
38. Atatürk İslam için ne düşünüyordu?
39.
“ Even before accepting the religion of the Arabs, the Turks were a great nation. After accepting the religion of the Arabs, this religion, didn't effect to combine the Arabs, the Persians and Egyptians with the Turks to constitute a nation. (This religion) rather, loosened the national nexus of Turkish nation, got national excitement numb. This was very natural. Because the purpose of the religion founded by Muhammad, over all nations, was to drag to an including Arab national politics. (Afet İnan, Medenî Bilgiler ve M. Kemal Atatürk'ün El Yazıları, Türk Tarih Kurumu, 1998, p. 364.) ”
40. "The first Atheist Association in Turkey is founded". http://turkishatheist.net. Retrieved 2 April 2017. External link in |website= (help)
41. "Turkey's Atheism Association threatened by hostility and lack of interest | Ahval". Ahval. Retrieved 2018-10-21.
42. Hugins, Walter (1960). Jacksonian Democracy and the Working Class: A Study of the New York Workingmen's Movement 1829–1837. Stanford: Stanford University Press. pp. 36–48.
43. Brandt, Eric T., and Timothy Larsen (2011). "The Old Atheism Revisited: Robert G. Ingersoll and the Bible". Journal of the Historical Society. 11 (2): 211–38. doi:10.1111/j.1540-5923.2011.00330.x.
44. "Freethinkers in Wisconsin". Dictionary of Wisconsin History. 2008. Retrieved 2008-07-27.
45. Demerath, N. J. III and Victor Thiessen, "On Spitting Against the Wind: Organizational Precariousness and American Irreligion," The American Journal of Sociology, 71: 6 (May, 1966), 674–87.
46. "National Liberal League". The Freethought Trail. freethought-trail.org. Retrieved 9 March 2014.
47. "History of the Free Congregation of Sauk County: The "Freethinkers" Story". Free Congregation of Sauk County. April 2009. Archived from the original on 2012-03-26. Retrieved 2012-02-05.
48. William Roba; Fredrick I. Anderson (ed.) (1982). Joined by a River: Quad Cities. Davenport: Lee Enterprises. p. 73.
49. "The Turners, Forty-eighters and Freethinkers". Freedom from Religion Foundation. July 2002. Archived from the originalon 2012-07-12. Retrieved 2008-07-27.
50. *Ramsay Cook, The Regenerators: Social Criticism in Late Victorian English Canada (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1985), pp. 46–64.
51. "The Journal of Libertarian Studies" (PDF). Mises Institute. 2014-07-30. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
52. Xavier Diez. El anarquismo individualista en España (1923–1939) Virus Editorial. 2007. p. 143
53. Xavier Diez. El anarquismo individualista en España (1923–1939) Virus Editorial. 2007. p. 152
54. Geoffrey C. Fidler (Spring–Summer 1985). "The Escuela Moderna Movement of Francisco Ferrer: "Por la Verdad y la Justicia"". History of Education Quarterly. 25 (1/2): 103–32. doi:10.2307/368893. JSTOR 368893.
55. * "Francisco Ferrer's Modern School". Flag.blackened.net. Archived from the original on 2010-08-07. Retrieved 2010-09-20.

Further reading

• Alexander, Nathan G. (2019). Race in a Godless World: Atheism, Race, and Civilization, 1850-1914. New York/Manchester: New York University Press/Manchester University Press. ISBN 978-1526142375
• Alexander Nathan G. "Unclasping the Eagle's Talons: Mark Twain, American Freethought, and the Responses to Imperialism." The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era 17, no. 3 (2018): 524–545.
• Bury, John Bagnell. (1913). A History of Freedom of Thought. New York: Henry Holt and Company.
• Jacoby, Susan. (2004). Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism. New York: Metropolitan Books. ISBN 0-8050-7442-2
• Putnam, Samuel Porter. (1894). Four Hundred Years of Freethought. New York: Truth Seeker Company.
• Royle, Edward. (1974). Victorian Infidels: The Origins of the British Secularist Movement, 1791–1866. Manchester: Manchester University Press. ISBN 0-7190-0557-4
• Royle, Edward. (1980). Radicals, Secularists and Republicans: popular freethought in Britain, 1866–1915. Manchester: Manchester University Press. ISBN 0-7190-0783-6
• Tribe, David. (1967). 100 Years of Freethought. London: Elek Books.

External links

• Freethinker Indonesia
• A History of Freethought
• Young Freethought
• "Freethinker" . New International Encyclopedia. 1905.
• Philosophy portal

Posted: **Fri Mar 27, 2020 1:36 am**

Moses Harman
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 3/26/20

(Redirected from Lucifer, the Light-Bearer)

Moses Harman
Born October 12, 1830
Pendleton County, West Virginia, US
Died January 30, 1910 (aged 79)
Los Angeles, California, US
Nationality American
Occupation Schoolteacher, publisher
Known for Anarchism, women’s rights

Lucifer the Lightbearer cover header

Moses Harman (October 12, 1830 – January 30, 1910) was an American schoolteacher and publisher notable for his staunch support for women's rights. He was prosecuted under the Comstock Law for content published in his anarchist periodical Lucifer the Lightbearer. He was arrested and jailed multiple times for publishing allegedly obscene material. His daughter, Lillian Harman, was also a notable anarchist.

Biography

Moses Harman was born on October 12, 1830 in Pendleton County, West Virginia[1] to Job and Nancy Harman. Their family later moved to Crawford County, Missouri. Harman taught subscription school courses and attended Arcadia College. After completing his schoolwork, Harman worked as a Methodist circuit rider and teacher.[2]

Harman married Susan Scheuck in 1866. Although they had several children, only two survived and Susan died in childbirth in 1877. Harman left the ministry and began his involvement with eugenics and social reform following Susan's death. In 1881, Harman edited the Kansas Liberal newspaper in Valley Falls, Kansas.[2]

Harman has been credited as one of the founders of what became the eugenics movement. "He gave the spur and start to this effort. Through his journals, Lucifer, the Light Bearer, later renamed The Eugenic Magazine, encouraged by a small circle of earnest men and women, he dug down below the surface endeavoring to bring forth a stronger and better type of men".[3]

In 1881, Harman co-edited the Valley Falls Liberal, and eventually became the editor. On August 24, 1883, Harman changed the name of the publication to Lucifer, the Light Bearer. He moved the location of the newspaper several times for financial and philosophical reasons: to Topeka, Kansas in 1890, to Chicago in 1896, and to Los Angeles in 1908. The name of the paper also changed to The American Journal of Eugenics in 1906.[1]

The American Journal of Eugenics was published from 1907-1910 by Moses Harman. 500 Fulton Street, Chicago, IL.

This periodical is made available courtesy of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA.

Due to licensing restrictions from Primary Source Media, the creator and copyright holder of the files that make up this digital collection, this periodical is limited to the Cornell Community, only.

-- The American Journal of Eugenics, by Cornell University Library

Articles published in Lucifer discussed topics such as religion, relationships, and raising children.[2] Through his work, Harman rejected all forms of religion and government, including marriage, and promoted freedom, love, wisdom, and the use of knowledge. Due to the radical nature of his views and publication, Harman constantly dealt with lawsuits, charges of immorality, ridicule, and issues with mailing what was considered obscene material through the United States Postal Service. Consequently, Harman was sentenced and released by courts several times in the 1890s.[1]

Lucifer was the title of a Theosophist journal published by Helena Blavatsky; the first issue appeared in London in September 1887.

The Light-Bearer is the Morning Star or Lucifer, and "Lucifer is no profane or Satanic title. It is the Latin Luciferus, the Light-Bringer, the Morning Star, Equivalent to the Greek [x] ... The Name of the Pure Pale Herald of Daylight." -- Yonge

-- Lucifer: A Theosophical Magazine Designed to "Bring to Light the Hidden Things of Darkness"

Lucifer the Lightbearer was the title of an individualist-anarchist journal published in the United States around the turn of the twentieth century [1886]. According to its publisher, Moses Harman, the name was chosen because "Lucifer, the ancient name of the Morning Star, now called Venus, seems to us unsurpassed as a cognomen for a journal whose mission is to bring light to the dwellers in darkness" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucifer_the_Lightbearer; accessed May 30, 2017).

-- Marcel Duchamp and the Art of Life, by Jacquelynn Baas

He died on January 30, 1910, aged 79, in Los Angeles.[4]

References

1. "Moses Harman". Kansapedia. Kansas Historical Society. Retrieved 20 November 2013.
2. "C3802 Harman, Moses (1830-1910), Papers, 1858-1984" (PDF). The State Historical Society of Missouri. Retrieved 20 November 2013.
3. The Naturopath and Herald of Health, March 1914
4. "Dagger In heart, Last Will". Chicago Tribune. January 31, 1910. Moses Harman Dies in Los Angeles at the Age of Nearly 80. ... Moses Harman, one of the pioneers of the eugenics movement in America, died yesterday in Los ...

Further reading

• Herrada, Julie (2007). "Harman, Moses". In Dawkins, Richard (ed.). The New Encyclopedia of Unbelief. Prometheus Books. pp. 378–379. ISBN 978-1-61592-280-2.
• West, William Lemore (Spring 1971). "The Moses Harman Story". Kansas History. 37 (1): 41–63.

External links

• Works by or about Moses Harman at Internet Archive
• Moses Harman: A Kansas Portrait from the Kansas State Historical Society
• Moses Harman: The Paradigm of A Male Feminist by Wendy McElroy
• Sex Slavery by Voltairine de Cleyre, an 1890 essay supporting Harman and attacking the institution of marriage

Posted: **Fri Mar 27, 2020 1:56 am**

Lucifer: The Light-Bearer
Edited by Moses Harman, Edward C. Walker, and occasionally, during Harman's imprisonments, Lillian Harman, Lois Waisbrooker, et al.
1886-1907

Lucifer was the title of a Theosophist journal published by Helena Blavatsky; the first issue appeared in London in September 1887.

The Light-Bearer is the Morning Star or Lucifer, and "Lucifer is no profane or Satanic title. It is the Latin Luciferus, the Light-Bringer, the Morning Star, Equivalent to the Greek [x] ... The Name of the Pure Pale Herald of Daylight." -- Yonge

-- Lucifer: A Theosophical Magazine Designed to "Bring to Light the Hidden Things of Darkness"

Lucifer the Lightbearer was the title of an individualist-anarchist journal published in the United States around the turn of the twentieth century [1886]. According to its publisher, Moses Harman, the name was chosen because "Lucifer, the ancient name of the Morning Star, now called Venus, seems to us unsurpassed as a cognomen for a journal whose mission is to bring light to the dwellers in darkness" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucifer_the_Lightbearer; accessed May 30, 2017).

-- Marcel Duchamp and the Art of Life, by Jacquelynn Baas

From Pat Deveney's database:

Lucifer. The Light-Bearer. A Journal of Investigation and Reform, Justice and Liberty. Devoted to the Emancipation of Women from Sexual Slavery / Son of the Morning. A Fortnightly of Radical Thought, Devoted Mainly to the Emancipation of Womanhood from Sex Slavery, and to the Rights of the Child to be Born Well.

1883-1907 Weekly Valley Falls, then Topeka, KS, and then Chicago, IL. Editor: Moses Harman, Edward C. Walker, and occasionally, during Harman's imprisonments, Lillian Harman, Lois Waisbrooker, et al.
Succeeds: The Valley Falls Liberal-->The Kansas Liberal (1881-1883) Succeeded by: American Journal of Eugenics 1/1, August 1883-1907. 13 x 20. 4 pp., $1.25 a year.

The issues were dated with the standard month and day but gave the years as "E.M.," the "Era of Man," calculated from the execution of Giordano Bruno in 1600. The journal from the first issue labeled itself as "n.s.," but the reference was to earlier journals under different names. It was put out by Harman and his children and the layout, orthography and condition of the type reflect its origin as a labor of love rather than a commercial venture. A third series was started in 1897 in Chicago.

Harman (1830-1910) was a former teacher and Methodist minister who turned his stubbornness and effort first to abolition and then to free thought, individual sovereignty (anarchy), and marriage reform ("free love," as its more socially acceptable version was then known). Lucifer was one of he cornerstones of American liberalism's long fight against Anthony Comstock and the obscenity laws. It began in 1880 as The Valley Falls (Kansas) Liberal, the organ of the local Liberal League, with Harman as one of the editors, and the next year was transformed into the Kansas Liberal which Harman edited with Annie L. Diggs, a noted populist. The name was changed to Lucifer in 1883. There followed 10 years of arrests, indictments, appeals, and jailings before Harman moved the journal to Chicago in 1896 -- where he was again imprisoned in 1905. On his release he changed the journal's name to The American Journal of Eugenics and turned his attention exclusively to eugenics as the path to social betterment--though for Harman the term eugenics also included elements of libertinism which increasingly alienated Harman from more doctrinaire feminists. On Harman, see Hal D. Sears, The Sex Radicals: Free Love in High Victorian America (Lawrence, KS: Regents' Press, 1977). For a period in the 1890s the journal had as a sister-publication in Wichita Lois Waisbrooker's Foundation Principles, and Waisbrooker helped publish Lucifer during one of Harman's stints in jail, only to be arrested herself for her work on the journal. Lillian Harman, Moses's daughter, split off from Lucifer in 1888 and started Fair Play with her husband. Harman regarded himself as a "tough materialist" but the journal carried regular correspondence on the troubled relationship between spiritualism and free thought mentioned some spiritualists (Moses Hull, Lois Waisbrooker, et al.) who were found acceptable. Kansas Historical Society; Harvard University; University of Wisconsin; etc.

Posted: **Fri Mar 27, 2020 3:19 am**

Lucifer: A Theosophical Magazine Designed to "Bring to Light the Hidden Things of Darkness"
Edited by H.P. Blavatsky and Mabel Collins and Annie Besant and G.R.S. Mead
1887-1897

The Light-Bearer is the Morning Star or Lucifer, and "Lucifer is no profane or Satanic title. It is the Latin Luciferus, the Light-Bringer, the Morning Star, Equivalent to the Greek [x] ... The Name of the Pure Pale Herald of Daylight."

-- Yonge

Lucifer was the title of a Theosophist journal published by Helena Blavatsky; the first issue appeared in London in September 1887.

The Light-Bearer is the Morning Star or Lucifer, and "Lucifer is no profane or Satanic title. It is the Latin Luciferus, the Light-Bringer, the Morning Star, Equivalent to the Greek [x] ... The Name of the Pure Pale Herald of Daylight." -- Yonge

-- Lucifer: A Theosophical Magazine Designed to "Bring to Light the Hidden Things of Darkness"

Lucifer the Lightbearer was the title of an individualist-anarchist journal published in the United States around the turn of the twentieth century [1886]. According to its publisher, Moses Harman, the name was chosen because "Lucifer, the ancient name of the Morning Star, now called Venus, seems to us unsurpassed as a cognomen for a journal whose mission is to bring light to the dwellers in darkness" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucifer_the_Lightbearer; accessed May 30, 2017).

-- Marcel Duchamp and the Art of Life, by Jacquelynn Baas

HP Blavatsky working on Lucifer, 1888[1]

NOTE: For the Biblical character sometimes identified as Satan, see Lucifer.

Lucifer is a translation of the Latin words lucem ferre (from lux "light" and ferre "carry") meaning the "light-bearer". It was the name given to the morning star, i.e., the planet Venus when seen at dawn. In Christianity this name is usually associated to Satan.

-- Lucifer, by Theosophy Wiki

Several periodicals have been published using the name Lucifer. The earliest, published by H. P. Blavatsky, is the one described in this article.

• Another Lucifer was published by the Theosophical Club at Point Loma during the 1930s.[2]
• In 1979 the Dutch Section of the Theosophical Society Point Loma began publishing a Dutch Lucifer, and in February 2013 its publishers added an English-language edition called Lucifer: the Messenger of Light that is distributed over the Internet.

Cover of HPB's Lucifer

Blavatsky's Lucifer

Lucifer was a monthly journal published from September, 1887, to August, 1897, in London. The first issue was published on September 15, 1887. The names of H. P. Blavatsky and Mabel Collins appear as Editors, with the publisher as George Redway, York Street, Covent Garden, London. Bertram Keightley assisted the editors. The slogan printed on the cover was "To bring to light the hidden things of darkness." Mme. Blavatsky edited it until her death in 1891, followed by Annie Besant. After September 1895 G. R. S. Mead joined the editorial staff.

Besides Mme. Blavatsky and Mabel Collins, other major contributors included Archibald Keightley, Anna Bonus Kingsford, H. S. Olcott, William Scott-Elliot, Constance Wachtmeister, Gerald Massey, William Kingsland and many others. The co-editors contributed substantially, although HPB was usually anonymous in her writings.

A new volume of the journal was started every six months, rather than annually, so that the volumes ran September-February and March-August.

Reason for the name

The first issue of the magazine had an article entitled: "What's in a Name? Why the Magazine is Called 'Lucifer'", in which H. P. Blavatsky explained:

The name of the present magazine--rather equivocal to orthodox Christian ears--is due to no careless selection, but arose in consequence of much thinking over its fitness, and was adopted as the best symbol to express that object and the results in view.

Now, the first and most important, if not the sole object of the magazine, is expressed in the line from the 1st Epistle to the Corinthians, on its title page. It is to bring light to "the hidden things of darkness," (iv. 5); to show in their true aspect and their original real meaning things and names, men and their doings and customs; it is finally to fight prejudice, hypocrisy and shams in every nation, in every class of Society, as in every department of life. The task is a laborious one but it is neither impracticable nor useless, if even as an experiment.

Thus, for an attempt of such nature, no better title could ever be found than the one chosen. "Lucifer," is the pale morning-star, the precursor of the full blaze of the noon-day sun. . .[3]

Mme. Blavatsky recognizes that "piously inclined readers may argue that 'Lucifer' is accepted by all the churches as one of the many names of the Devil",[4] but argued that this was due to a misconception:

Deeply rooted, indeed, is this preconception and aversion to the name of Lucifer—meaning no worse than “light-bringer” (from lux, lucis, “light,” and ferre, “to bring”). . . . So absurd and ridiculous is that prejudice, indeed, that no one has seemed to ever ask himself the question, how came Satan to be called a light-bringer.[5]

Although she anticipated that "by adopting it for the title of their magazine the editors have the prospect of a long strife with public prejudice before them", she was willing to face the consequences, adding that "if one would fight prejudice, and brush off the ugly cobwebs of superstition and materialism alike from the noblest ideals of our forefathers, one has to prepare for opposition".[6]

Reactions to the name

At the end of the article "What's in a Name? Why the Magazine is called Lucifer" Mme. Blavatsky wrote about a few of the reactions she encountered before the publication of the first issue:

Hardly had the title been agreed upon, when the first premonitions of what was in store for us, in the matter of the opposition to be encountered owing to the title chosen, appeared on our horizon. One of the editors received and recorded some spicy objections. The scenes that follow are sketches from nature.

I

A Well-known Novelist. Tell me about your new magazine. What class do you propose to appeal to?

Editor. No class in particular: we intend to appeal to the public.

Novelist. I am very glad of that. For once I shall be one of the public, for I don't understand your subject in the least, and I want to. But you must remember that if your public is to understand you, it must necessarily be a very small one. People talk about occultism nowadays as they talk about many other things, without the least idea of what it means. We are so ignorant and--so prejudiced.

Editor. Exactly. That is what calls the new magazine into existence. We propose to educate you, and to tear the mask from every prejudice.

Novelist. That really is good news to me, for I want to be educated. What is your magazine to be called?

Editor. Lucifer.

Novelist. What! Are you going to educate us in vice? We know enough about that. Fallen angels are plentiful. You may find popularity, for soiled doves are in fashion just now, while the white-winged angels are voted a bore, because they are not so amusing. But I doubt your being able to teach us much.

II

A Man of the World (in a careful undertone, for the scene is a dinner-party). I hear you are going to start a magazine, all about occultism. Do you know, I'm very glad. I don't say anything about such matters as a rule, but some queer things have happened in my life which can't be explained in any ordinary manner. I hope you will go in for explanations.

Editor. We shall try, certainly. My impression is, that when occultism is in any measure apprehended, its laws are accepted by everyone as the only intelligible explanation of life.

A M. W. Just so, I want to know all about it, for 'pon my honour, life's a mystery. There are plenty of other people as curious as myself. This is an age which is afflicted with the Yankee disease of "wanting to know." I'll get you lots of subscribers. What's the magazine called?

Editor. Lucifer--and (warned by former experience) don't misunderstand the name. It is typical of the divine spirit which sacrificed itself for humanity--it was Milton's doing that it ever became associated with the devil. We are sworn enemies to popular prejudices, and it is quite appropriate that we should attack such a prejudice as this--Lucifer, you know, is the Morning Star--the Lightbearer, . . . . . .

A M. W. (interrupting). Oh, I know all that--at least don't know, but I take it for granted you've got some good reason for taking such a title. But your first object is to have readers; you want the public to buy your magazine, I suppose. That's in the programme, isn't it?

Editor. Most decidedly.

A M. W. Well, listen to the advice of a man who knows his way about town. Don't mark your magazine with the wrong colour at starting. It's quite evident, when one stays an instant to think of its derivation and meaning, that Lucifer is an excellent word. But the public don't stay to think of derivations and meanings; and the first impression is the most important. Nobody will buy the magazine if you call it Lucifer.

III

A Fashionable Lady Interested in Occultism. I want to hear some more about the new magazine, for I have interested a great many people in it, even with the little you have told me. But I find it difficult to express its actual purpose. What is it?

Editor. To try and give a little light to those that want it.

A F. L. Well, that's a simple way of putting it, and will be very useful to me. What is the magazine to be called?

Editor. Lucifer.

A F. L. (After a pause) You can't mean it.

Editor. Why not?

A F. L. The associations are so dreadful! What can be the object of calling it that? It sounds like some unfortunate sort of joke, made against it by its enemies.

Editor. Oh, but Lucifer, you know, means Light-bearer; it is typical of the Divine Spirit--

A F. L. Never mind all that--I want to do your magazine good and make it known, and you can't expect me to enter into explanations of that sort every time I mention the title? Impossible! Life is too short and too busy. Besides, it would produce such a bad effect; people would think me priggish, and then I couldn't talk at all, for I couldn't bear them to think that. Don't call it Lucifer please don't. Nobody knows what the word is typical of; what it means now is the devil, nothing more or less.

Editor. But then that is quite a mistake, and one of the first prejudices we propose to do battle with. Lucifer is the pale, pure herald of dawn--

Lady (interrupting). I thought you were going to do something more interesting and more important than to whitewash mythological characters. We shall all have to go to school again, or read up Dr. Smith's Classical Dictionary. And what is the use of it when it is done? I thought you were going to tell us things about our own lives and how to make them better. I suppose Milton wrote about Lucifer, didn't he?--but nobody reads Milton now. Do let us have a modern title with some human meaning in it.

IV

A Journalist (thoughtfully, while rolling his cigarette). Yes, it is a good idea, this magazine of yours. We shall all laugh at it, as a matter of course: and we shall cut it up in the papers. But we shall all read it, because secretly everybody hungers after the mysterious. What are you going to call it?

Editor. Lucifer.

Journalist (striking a light). Why not The Fusee? Quite as good a title and not so pretentious.[7]

Index to the periodical

The Union Index of Theosophical Periodicals[1] provides a searchable index to this periodical online, listing article titles and authors in chronological sequence.

Availability online

• The International Association for Preservation of Spiritualist and Occult Periodicals offers searchable PDF files of the entire run of the periodical at IAPSOP website.
• The first ten volumes, the five years from September 1887 to August 1892, have been made available online by the Blavatsky Archives.
• The first eight volumes are available from Universaltheosophy.com.
• Volumes 1-8 (1887-1897)- high-quality PDFs available at UniversalTheosophy.com.

Notes

1. This photo was taken by William Quan Judge using a Kodak camera in her home at No. 17 Lansdowne Road, London. The occasion was described in Volume 1 of Echoes from the Orient, Judge's collected writings on pages 259 and 262-263. Photo courtesy of Will Thackara at International Theosophical Society (Pasadena); restoration of photo by Pavel Malakhov.
2. A sample from August 1933 is available in Box 1 of the Boris de Zirkoff Papers. Records Series 22. Theosophical Society in America Archives.
3. Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Collected Writings vol. VIII (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1990), 5.
4. Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Collected Writings vol. VIII (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1990), 6.
5. Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Collected Writings vol. VIII (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1990), 7.
6. Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Collected Writings vol. VIII (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1990), 7.
7. Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Collected Writings vol. VIII (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1990), 8-10. Note: A fusee is a wooden friction match.

Posted: **Fri Mar 27, 2020 7:51 am**

The Swastika: Magazine of Triumph [New Thought Magazine]
Edited by Dr. Alexander J. McIvor-Tyndall
1907-1911

Victor of Life and Silence I stand Upon the Heights Triumphant.

From Pat Deveney's journal database:

The Swastika. A Magazine of Triumph / Higher Ideals, the New Psychology, and Advanced Thought / Devoted to Psychic and Mental Science and Phenomena, Metaphysics, New Thought, the Enlargement of Individual Consciousness, and the Solution of Personal Problems.
Victor of Life and Silence I Stand / Upon the Heights Triumphant
1907-1911? Monthly
Denver, CO, the Omaha, NB. Publisher: Wahlgreen Publishing Company; Swastika Press. Editor: Dr. Alexander James McIvor-Tyndall; Thomas Z. Magarrell.
1/1, January 1907-1911(?) $1.00 a year. 30 pp. (varies).

After a hiatus in 1910, when McIvor-Tyndall moved to New York, the journal was taken over by Dr. Thomas Z. Magarrell of Omaha, Nebraska, who transformed it into a forum for his Vitapathic Sanatorium. The biography of McIvor-Tyndall ("Ali Nomad," 1860-1940) is full of interesting elements, ranging from his six marriages, to his incest with the daughter of one of his wives, and to yet another wife's arrest for stealing still another lover's jewelry. He was a stage hypnotist, mind reader and chiromancer who moved in the early 1900s into mental healing and courses on Psychic Science (with diplomas). He parlayed his position as New Thought editor of the Denver Post into this journal, which was successful almost from the first. He announced various goals (100,000 subscribers by January 1908, and 500,000 by the next year), but the subscription is unknown, though large. The journal carried 8 pages of advertisements for various items, including McIvor-Tyndall's books, and also ran personal advertisements for the usual material peddled in such magazines: hair removal, swamis, fortune telling, etc. McIvor-Tyndall also founded the International New Thought Fellowship and, in April 1907, Swastika Centers in the United States, Great Britain, Australia and Canada. At some point he had an association with W.P. Phelon's Hermetic Brotherhood of Atlantis, Luxor and Elephanta in San Francisco which is listed as a Swastika Center. The Centers offered their members access to McIvor-Tyndall's lessons at discounted prices and an enormous variety of trinkets (brooches and pins, etc., and even spoons) with a swastika on them. They also encouraged members to write in with their problems to have them included in daily periods of silent well-wishing by other members. McIvor-Tyndall also published in The Mountain Pine and in The Balance.

Posted: **Fri Mar 27, 2020 9:18 am**

The International Association for the Preservation of Spiritualist and Occult Periodicals
by iapsop.com
Accessed: 3/27/20

The IAPSOP is a US-based private organization focused on the digital preservation of Spiritualist and occult periodicals published between the Congress of Vienna and the start of the Second World War.

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Top 20 Publications (Prior 90 Days)

• Lucifer
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Posted: **Fri Mar 27, 2020 9:26 am**

The Eugenics Review
edited by Cora B.S. Hodson, Secty.; Alexander M. Carr-Saunders, Vice-Pres, Pres.; Eldon Moore; Ward Cutler; E.W. MacBride, Vice-Pres.; Maurice Newfield; Richard Titmuss; Dr. Blacker; Cedric Carter; Kathleen Hodson
by The Eugenics Society
Vols. 1 to 60; 1909 to 1968

Editors and Editorial Policy

In its early years the REVIEW was, as has been mentioned, produced by an "executive person" under the direction of the President. These persons are nameless and the word editor does not appear in the REVIEW or in Annual Reports or Minutes until May 1920, when it is minuted that Mr. A. M. Carr-Saunders had agreed to take over the editorial work for one issue "experimentally". Up to this time most of it had, in fact, been done by Mrs. C. B. S. Hodson, then Secretary of the Society, although contributions were to be sent to the Honorary Secretary. Cora Hodson died in 1953 and an obituary notice appeared in Volume 45, pages 78-9.

Carr-Saunders's resignation is noted six months after his appointment, but he was evidently persuaded to reconsider this decision, for it is again minuted (7th November 1922) that he brought up the matter of his resignation "saying he thought it would be wise to have someone resident in London and suggesting that a small honorarium, say £50, might help some young scientist". In the event, he continued his editorial duties until 1927.

Alexander Carr-Saunders, who joined the Society in 1912, was one of the men with an international reputation who have given a great deal of their time and energy to the Eugenics Society. He was elected to the Council in 1920, he was a Vice-President from 1936-39 and 1945-48 and was President of the Society from 1949 to 1953. He gave the Galton Lecture in 1935-Eugenics in the Light of Population Trends-which was among those reprinted in the first number of the REVIEW'S final volume (69, 46), and he was awarded the Galton Medal in 1946. He said with a smile, when Chairman of a Galton Lecture during his Presidency, that his Life Fellowship of the Eugenics Society, taken out when he was a young man, was one of the best bargains he had ever made. His death is recorded in the March 1967 issue of the REVIEW (59, 4) where appreciations from Dr. C. P. Blacker, Mr. D. Caradog Jones and Lady Simey are printed.

It was, apparently, not the policy of the Society to name the editor of its publication in the REVIEW itself and Carr-Saunders's name is not given therein. It was not until April 1928 (20, 1) after Eldon Moore had been appointed, that with the new format the name of the editor for the Society was printed in each issue.

Eldon Moore, who had for some years given considerable help in the production of the REVIEW, was appointed editor in October 1927 under an Honorary Officers Committee. He was to work in collaboration with Ward Cutler (one of the Honorary Secretaries) who was appointed liaison officer between the Committee and the Editor, who would only attend meetings by invitation. The Editor's salary was to be £100 per annum to produce a volume with 320-350 pages. It was suggested that an editorial secretary should be appointed at £75 per annum; this was not agreed to, and the Society's secretary was instructed to arrange for one of the permanent staff to carry out work for the Editor. This Honorary Officers Committee met for the first time in June 1928 when Ward Cutler said that he had read the whole of the REVIEW material in MS and suggested that this arrangement should be adhered to, instead of sending a certain number of MSS to different members of the Committee; the offer was gratefully accepted. In 1929 the Editor was empowered to print all correspondence submitted for publication which he considered to be "relevant and not libellous".

In April 1929 it is minuted that Eldon Moore had left London to take up an appointment as Chief Officer of the Imperial Bureau of Animal Genetics in Edinburgh, and Ward Cutler undertook to give more time to supervising the production of the REVIEW. He stated at this meeting that the position regarding the REVIEW was quite satisfactory, particularly in connection with increased publicity. In July of that year he undertook to take personal charge of the office for one day a week at a fee of 30s.

What might be called the Great Editorial Controversy blew up, in 1930, in the face of the then President, Sir Bernard Mallet who, as Registrar General, had in 1911 been the first to introduce calculating machines for work on the Census. This long-drawn-out argument, which was not resolved until late in the following year, involved Professor E. W. MacBride, who was then a Vice-President and, as we have seen, had had a finger in the REVIEW pie since 1919. He objected violently to the (rather curious) editorial policy of sending certain book reviews to authors for approval thus inviting them to write rejoinders to critical notices which would be printed immediately following the review itself; Mr. Ward Cutler claimed his right to do this. MacBride's slashing review of de Beer's Embryology and Evolution and the author's reply take up more than three pages of Volume 22 (pp. 71-4) and the reviewer counter-claimed his right to a further rejoinder. This "breach of every decent literary convention" had, according to Professor MacBride, already been adopted by a previous editor and a Council resolution had been passed condemning it.

In spite of Sir Bernard Mallet's tact and fairmindedness, a long series of vitriolic letters from Professor MacBride-and apparently acrimonious argument as well-culminated in his exclusion from another newly formed editorial committee on the grounds that it would be impossible for the Editor to work with a Committee member who was so inimical to himself and his policies. The inevitable outcome was MacBride's resignation from the Council and finally from the Society.

His letters reveal him as Past Master of the Home Truth: the last Galton Lecture he had attended had been "a torrent of wearisome platitudes". (Its subject-matter had been chosen in the teeth of his advice.) His two distinguished guests had "declined to take it seriously" (but they had already been inveigled into proposing and seconding the vote of thanks). Lady Askwith had told him that "the Eugenics Society 'cut very little ice', an American expression I was surprised to hear from Lady Askwith".-It was the Americanism and not the comment that shocked. A certain person is utterly condemned as "no gentleman"-another is "an outsider"; the REVIEW editor is a "mere journalist of the Daily Mail type"-doubtless the opinion of one of the 'top people' among newspaper readers. The impression will grow that the Eugenics Society has fallen into the hands of cranks and that therefore serious biologists must shun it. Added to which all those who do not see eye to eye with him are forever offering him snubs and insults.

Professor MacBride in a Memorandum on the subject of THE EUGENICS REVIEW (8th November 1930), in which he states that "formal Mendelism is scientific Calvinism", advocates that the Society should have, as Editor-in-Chief "a man who has received a thorough biological training including under the term biology the medical sciences" and an Assistant Editor "confined to the technicalities of journalism, his functions rigidly limited to proof-reading, advertisements, printing, etc.". An ideal arrangement, but utterly impractical in view of the Society's financial position.

Every effort was made by the Honorary Officers to dissuade him from resigning from the Society. His resignation is recorded with regret in the Annual Report for 1930-31, where it is stated that "it would be difficult to exaggerate the debt which the Eugenics Society owes to Professor MacBride", a tribute which may have been intentionally ambiguous.

Such was the storm that made Sir Bernard Mallet wish that he had never accepted the Presidency and sent Major Leonard Darwin to bed for twenty-four hours with a headache. Let Mr. B. S. Bramwell, then Honorary Treasurer, have the last word: "The subject of eugenics seems fertile in raising rows".

The incomplete file of correspondence between members of the Council covering these years throws a curious sidelight on what might almost be called the formative years of the Society, although it was by now twenty years old. Birth-controller strove against anti-birthcontroller; Mendelists and Lamarckists were at daggers drawn; the subject of eugenic sterilization was a battlefield. Luckily Neo-Malthusianism does not seem to have raised its ugly head at this time. Professor MacBride had presided over the Eugenics Section of the International Neo-Malthusian Conference at the Kingsway Hall in 1922.

Eldon Moore had, in July 1930, been appointed full-time Editor and shortly afterwards Ward Cutler reluctantly resigned from his role as liaison officer. (In a letter to Mallet, Leonard Darwin had written "it would be a disaster if Cutler left us".) Eldon Moore resigned his position in Edinburgh to give more time to developing the REVIEW, a development "naturally conditioned by the funds placed at his disposal for publicity". However, in the Annual Report for 1931-32 it is recorded that, in order to help the Society over a period of financial difficulty, Mr. Moore had resigned his post as paid editor and had undertaken to edit the REVIEW in an honorary capacity. He was elected a Fellow of the Society and appointed Honorary Editor with an expense allowance of £200 per annum. At the meeting of the Executive Committee at which this was agreed, Lady Chambers and Mrs. Grant Duff had dissociated themselves, as they believed this step would be detrimental to the Eugenics Society, but the Council was confident that it was voicing the opinion of Fellows and Members of the Society in recording its keen appreciation of the efficient way in which Mr. Moore had managed the REVIEW.

In May 1933 Eldon Moore resigned his position as Honorary Editor. The Annual Report for 1933-34 records that "The thanks of the Council are due to him for his loyal and painstaking services to the Society".

In an appreciation printed in the first issue of the REVIEW under its new Editor (25, 143) the writer praises Moore's fluent yet scholarly manner and his light touch, which so many scientists lack, combined with an exactness in which journalists tend to be deficient, and commends the freshness and vitality of his work; his abilities as an administrator and organizer were of no mean order. Eugenics was an absorbing interest in his life and he had given a large number of lectures for the Society. He had been the Secretary of the British section of the International Union for the Scientific Investigation of Population Problems and a member of the Commission (on differential fertility, fecundity and sterility) of the Union. The writer of this appreciation is aware that his words have something of the flavour of an obituary notice and it is good to know that they were printed when Moore was still a young man. He died, aged 53, in November 1954 (46, 202). He had been a free-lance journalist writing under many names, edited A Bibliography of Differential Fertility (1933) and wrote Heredity, Mainly Human (1934). In an appreciation, Dr. J. A. Fraser Roberts (47, 15) writes of his "transformation of the REVIEW", his enthusiasm, and the warmth and friendliness of his personality.

The first number to appear under the editorship of Maurice Newfield was that for October 1933. He had been Assistant Editor of the British Medical Journal and had helped Sir Humphry Rolleston in editing the British Encyclopaedia of Medical Practice; as Michael Fielding he had written Parenthood, Design or Accident? which was first published in 1928 and ran to several editions. The differences of opinion in the Council at that time included the subject of birth control and Newfield had to contend with doubt in some quarters as to the suitability of his appointment, but to quote again from Dr. Blacker: "During the fifteen years of his editorship his touch was unfaltering; not once did he take a false step".

When Maurice Newfield became severely ill Richard Titmuss came to the rescue and the Council in the Annual Report records its thanks for his able editing of the January and April 1942 numbers. For the same reason Dr. Blacker and I worked together to produce the October 1947 and January 1948 issues.

October 1948 saw the completion of Newfield's fifteen years with the REVIEW and the Council expressed its appreciation of his capable and tactful editorship over this period. Maurice Newfield died in August 1949. A symposium of appreciation of his personality and of his services to eugenics and to the Eugenics Society appeared in the REVIEW for October 1949 (41, 103) and was separately produced. Lord Horder headed the twenty-two contributors; those with no very definite links with the Eugenics Society included S. Vere Pearson, Robert Graves, Michael Heseltine, Oliver Simon, Andrew Morland, Josep Trueta, Raymond Swing, Abraham Stone, Ernest Raymond and A. L. Bacharach.

Dr. Blacker and I produced the next few issues until Cedric Carter took up office as Editor with the July 1950 number. He at that time held a research post at the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street. His appointment ceased with the April 1952 issue, when he succeeded Dr. Blacker as General Secretary of the Society. I had worked with Maurice Newfield since 1935, was appointed Editor with the June 1952 issue and continued to be responsible for the production of the REVIEW until the end of 1967.

-- The Eugenics Review 1909-1968, by Kathleen Hodson

Vols. 1 to 60; 1909 to 1968

Vol. 60
1968
v.60(3): 141–187
1968 Sep
v.60(4): 189–288
1968 Dec

Vol. 59
1967
v.59(1): 1–72
1967 Mar
v.59(2): 73–148
1967 Jun
v.59(3): 149–218
1967 Sep
v.59(4): 219–300
1967 Dec

Vol. 58
1966
v.58(1): 1–56
1966 Mar
v.58(2): 57–116
1966 Jun
v.58(3): 117–172
1966 Sep
v.58(4): 173–240
1966 Dec

Vols. 56 to 57;
1965
v.56(4): 181–234
1965 Jan
v.57(1): 1–48
1965 Mar
v.57(2): 49–98
1965 Jun
v.57(3): 99–154
1965 Sep
v.57(4): 155–209
1965 Dec

Vols. 55 to 56;
1964
v.55(4): 189–255
1964 Jan
v.56(1): 1–57
1964 Apr
v.56(2): 61–124
1964 Jul
v.56(3): 125–179
1964 Oct

Vols. 54 to 55;
1963
v.54(4): 185–232
1963 Jan
v.55(1): 1–56
1963 Apr
v.55(2): 65–130
1963 Jul
v.55(3): 133–183
1963 Oct

Vols. 53 to 54;
1962
v.53(4): 185–237
1962 Jan
v.54(1): 1–52
1962 Apr
v.54(2): 57–108
1962 Jul
v.54(3): 113–179
1962 Oct

Vols. 52 to 53;
1961
v.52(4): 189–251
1961 Jan
v.53(1): 1–65
1961 Apr
v.53(2): 69–122
1961 Jul
v.53(3): 129–181
1961 Oct

Vols. 51 to 52;
1960
v.51(4): 201–243
1960 Jan
v.52(1): 1–61
1960 Apr
v.52(2): 65–128
1960 Jul
v.52(3): 129–185
1960 Oct

Vols. 50 to 51;
1959
v.50(4): 217–279
1959 Jan
v.51(1): 1–63
1959 Apr
v.51(2): 65–134
1959 Jul
v.51(3): 137–198
1959 Oct

Vols. 49 to 50;
1958
v.49(4): 163–212
1958 Jan
v.50(1): 3–81
1958 Apr
v.50(2): 85–151
1958 Jul
v.50(3): 153–214
1958 Oct

Vols. 48 to 49;
1957
v.48(4): 183–252
1957 Jan
v.49(1): 3–48
1957 Apr
v.49(2): 59–96
1957 Jul
v.49(3): 107–150
1957 Oct

Vols. 47 to 48;
1956
v.47(4): 207–267
1956 Jan
v.48(1): 3–63
1956 Apr
v.48(2): 67–121
1956 Jul
v.48(3): 127–178
1956 Oct

Vols. 46 to 47;
1955
v.46(4): 191–264
1955 Jan
v.47(1): 3–67
1955 Apr
v.47(2): 71–135
1955 Jul
v.47(3): 139–202
1955 Oct

Vols. 45 to 46;
1954
v.45(4): 203–268
1954 Jan
v.46(1): 3–67
1954 Apr
v.46(2): 71–134
1954 Jul
v.46(3): 139–183
1954 Oct

Vols. 44 to 45;
1953
v.44(4): 187–246
1953 Jan
v.45(1): 3–68
1953 Apr
v.45(2): 71–119
1953 Jul
v.45(3): 131–192
1953 Oct

Vols. 43 to 44;
1952
v.43(4): 167–203
1952 Jan
v.44(1): 3–59
1952 Apr
v.44(2): 63–115
1952 Jul
v.44(3): 119–183
1952 Oct

Vols. 42 to 43;
1951
v.42(4): 183–237
1951 Jan
v.43(1): 3–64
1951 Apr
v.43(2): 71–110
1951 Jul
v.43(3): 119–164
1951 Oct

Vols. 41 to 42;
1950
v.41(4): 159–206
1950 Jan
v.42(1): 3–59
1950 Apr
v.42(2): 67–112
1950 Jul
v.42(3): 119–179
1950 Oct

Vols. 40 to 41;
1949
v.40(4): 175–231
1949 Jan
v.41(1): 3–58
1949 Apr
v.41(2): 63–98
1949 Jul
v.41(3): 102–155
1949 Oct

Vols. 39 to 40;
1948
v.39(4): 131–179
1948 Jan
v.40(1): 3–52
1948 Apr
v.40(2): 55–112
1948 Jul
v.40(3): 119–169
1948 Oct

Vols. 38 to 39;
1947
v.38(4): 163–204
1947 Jan
v.39(1): 3–38
1947 Apr
v.39(2): 42–79
1947 Jul
v.39(3): 83–128
1947 Oct

Vols. 37 to 38;
1946
v.37(4): 143–188
1946 Jan
v.38(1): 2–60
1946 Apr
v.38(2): 63–106
1946 Jul
v.38(3): 111–158
1946 Oct

Vols. 36 to 37;
1945
v.36(4): 111–137
1945 Jan
v.37(1): 3–36
1945 Apr
v.37(2): 39–84
1945 Jul
v.37(3): 87–140
1945 Oct

Vol. 36
1944
v.36(1): 3–44
1944 Apr
v.36(2): 47–76
1944 Jul
v.36(3): 79–106
1944 Oct

Vols. 34 to 35;
1943
v.34(4): 109–142
1943 Jan
v.35(1): 3–28
1943 Apr
v.35(2): 31–48
1943 Jul
v.35(3-4): 51–96
1943 Oct

Vols. 33 to 34;
1942
v.33(4): 99–138
1942 Jan
v.34(1): 3–44
1942 Apr
v.34(2): 47–77
1942 Jul
v.34(3): 81–105
1942 Oct

Vols. 32 to 33;
1941
v.32(4): 111–146
1941 Jan
v.33(1): 3–34
1941 Apr
v.33(2): 39–59
1941 Jul
v.33(3): 63–95
1941 Oct

Vols. 31 to 32;
1940
v.31(4): 199–234
1940 Jan
v.32(1): 3–38
1940 Apr
v.32(2): 43–70
1940 Jul
v.32(3): 75–105
1940 Oct

Vols. 30 to 31;
1939
v.30(4): 231–311
1939 Jan
v.31(1): 3–77
1939 Apr
v.31(2): 83–147
1939 Jul
v.31(3): 151–195
1939 Oct

Vols. 29 to 30;
1938
v.29(4): 231–296
1938 Jan
v.30(1): 3–78
1938 Apr
v.30(2): 83–156
1938 Jul
v.30(3): 163–227
1938 Oct

Vols. 28 to 29;
1937
v.28(4): 255–345
1937 Jan
v.29(1): 3–82
1937 Apr
v.29(2): 91–155
1937 Jul
v.29(3): 163–225
1937 Oct

Vols. 27 to 28;
1936
v.27(4): 270–352
1936 Jan
v.28(1): 3–88
1936 Apr
v.28(2): 95–165
1936 Jul
v.28(3): 175–247
1936 Oct

Vols. 26 to 27;
1935
v.26(4): 251–312
1935 Jan
v.27(1): 3–77
1935 Apr
v.27(2): 85–173
1935 Jul
v.27(3): 181–260
1935 Oct

Vols. 25 to 26;
1934
v.25(4): 215–289
1934 Jan
v.26(1): 3–91
1934 Apr
v.26(2): 99–167
1934 Jul
v.26(3): 175–243
1934 Oct

Vols. 24 to 25;
1933
v.24(4): 267–347
1933 Jan
v.25(1): 3–64
1933 Apr
v.25(2): 75–135
1933 Jul
v.25(3): 143–209
1933 Oct

Vols. 23 to 24;
1932
v.23(4): 295–382
1932 Jan
v.24(1): 3–73
1932 Apr
v.24(2): 83–165
1932 Jul
v.24(3): 171–261
1932 Oct

Vols. 22 to 23;
1931
v.22(4): 235–326
1931 Jan
v.23(1): 3–95
1931 Apr
v.23(2): 103–191
1931 Jul
v.23(3): 199–288
1931 Oct

Vols. 21 to 22;
1930
v.21(4): 247–324
1930 Jan
v.22(1): 3–84
1930 Apr
v.22(2): 87–158
1930 Jul
v.22(3): 167–227
1930 Oct

Vols. 20 to 21;
1929
v.20(4): 233–305
1929 Jan
v.21(1): 3–66
1929 Apr
v.21(2): 83–161
1929 Jul
v.21(3): 167–239
1929 Oct

Vols. 19 to 20;
1928
v.19(4): 267–345
1928 Jan
v.20(1): 1–72
1928 Apr
v.20(2): 75–144
1928 Jul
v.20(3): 153–224
1928 Oct

Vols. 18 to 19;
1927
v.18(4): 285–375
1927 Jan
v.19(1): 1–60
1927 Apr
v.19(2): 103–143
1927 Jul
v.19(3): 181–258
1927 Oct

Vols. 17 to 18;
1926
v.17(4): 233–332
1926 Jan
v.18(1): 1–55
1926 Apr
v.18(2): 91–181
1926 Jul
v.18(3): 189–257
1926 Oct

Vols. 16 to 17;
1925
v.16(4): 259–320
1925 Jan
v.17(1): 1–51
1925 Apr
v.17(2): 73–124
1925 Jul
v.17(3): 141–222
1925 Oct

Vols. 15 to 16;
1924
v.15(4): 545–641
1924 Jan
v.16(1): 1–73
1924 Apr
v.16(2): 93–171
1924 Jul
v.16(3): 177–239
1924 Oct

Vols. 14 to 15;
1923
v.14(4): 225–300
1923 Jan
v.15(1): 305–375
1923 Apr
v.15(2): 383–453
1923 Jul
v.15(3): 459–532
1923 Oct

Vols. 13 to 14;
1922
v.13(4): 499–559
1922 Jan
v.14(1): 1–60
1922 Apr
v.14(2): 71–135
1922 Jul
v.14(3): 149–214
1922 Oct

Vols. 12 to 13;
1921
v.12(4): 257–318
1921 Jan
v.13(1): 325–375
1921 Apr
v.13(2): 381–424
1921 Jul
v.13(3): 439–494
1921 Oct

Vols. 11 to 12;
1920
v.11(4): 175–248
1920 Jan
v.12(1): 1–73
1920 Apr
v.12(2): 81–130
1920 Jul
v.12(3): 147–251
1920 Oct

Vols. 10 to 11;
1919
v.10(4): 195–239
1919 Jan
v.11(1): 1–50
1919 Apr
v.11(2): 53–109
1919 Jul
v.11(3): 113–157
1919 Oct

Vols. 9 to 10;
1918
v.9(4): 277–355
1918 Jan
v.10(1): 1–54
1918 Apr
v.10(2): 63–114
1918 Jul
v.10(3): 133–176
1918 Oct

Vols. 8 to 9;
1917
v.8(4): 297–373
1917 Jan
v.9(1): 1–70
1917 Apr
v.9(2): 95–155
1917 Jul
v.9(3): 183–259
1917 Oct

Vols. 7 to 8;
1916
v.7(4): 229–303
1916 Jan
v.8(1): 1–75
1916 Apr
v.8(2): 93–176
1916 Jul
v.8(3): 189–276
1916 Oct

Vols. 6 to 7;
1915
v.6(4): 271–327
1915 Jan
v.7(1): 1–68
1915 Apr
v.7(2): 91–140
1915 Jul
v.7(3): 163–214
1915 Oct

Vols. 5 to 6;
1914
v.5(4): 295–373
1914 Jan
v.6(1): 1–72
1914 Apr
v.6(2): 97–174
1914 Jul
v.6(3): 195–252
1914 Oct

Vols. 4 to 5;
1913
v.4(4): 331–412
1913 Jan
v.5(1): 1–79
1913 Apr
v.5(2): 93–179
1913 Jul
v.5(3): 197–282
1913 Oct

Vols. 3 to 4;
1912
v.3(4): 287–365
1912 Jan
v.4(1): 1–106
1912 Apr
v.4(2): 117–212
1912 Jul
v.4(3): 223–320
1912 Oct

Vols. 2 to 3;
1911
v.2(4): 253–329
1911 Jan
v.3(1): 1–71
1911
v.3(2): 83–182
1911 Jul
v.3(3): 187–278
1911 Oct

Vols. 1 to 2;
1910
v.1(4): 221–295
1910 Jan
v.2(1): 1–87
1910
v.2(2): 89–154
1910 Jul
v.2(3): 161–250
1910 Nov

Vol. 1
1909
v.1(1): 1–63
1909 Apr
v.1(2): 65–137
1909 Jul
v.1(3): 141–216
1909 Oct

Posted: **Fri Mar 27, 2020 11:33 am**

Green Park, Delhi
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 3/27/20

The Young Lamas' Home School opened in a large, detached house in Green Park in south Delhi in October 1961....

Lang-Sims saw at close quarters the setting up of the Home School. The house was newly built with stone floors, standing on raised ground on an 'exceptionally pleasant' site amid an expanse of scrubland. She was invited to stay there but demurred because the plumbing didn't seem to be up-and-running, but she was on hand when the first pupils moved in.

Immediately before the opening of the school two contingents of young Lamas arrived at the [Bedis'] flat. All were refugees and in sore need of the robes with which Freda intended to provide each one as a welcome-present. Several were no more than children; but the behaviour even of these was strangely adult. They sat smiling and talking quietly in Tibetan, accepting everything that was done for them with perfect courtesy and no trace of anxiety or fuss. When the time came for the move they piled into the taxis together with all the furniture, crates, boxes, bedding-rolls and miscellaneous oddments, their gentle gaiety as undisturbed as if they were off on a picnic.

Two days later, Lang-Sims -- feeling guilty that she had abandoned Freda and the young lamas for a hotel -- returned to see how they were settling in. 'I followed Freda into the house and gazed about me in astonishment. The disorder was cleared away; everything was in its place even to the tankas [religious paintings] on the walls; there was an atmosphere of peace. I remembered the plumbing and glanced at a large pool of water in the vicinity of the wash-place. Something had overflowed but at least there was water to flow.' Still more impressive was the shrine that had been constructed in one of the two principal rooms, taking up the whole of a wall, 'a thing of wonder and yet made out of nothing but the simplest oddments, an ordered profusion of colours and shapes seeming as if it had fallen into a pattern of itself. There were a few small images; a number of crude prints and tinted photographs; scarves; ribbons; bits of coloured materials; rows of offering cakes (called 'tormas'); bowls containing water and offerings of seeds, sweets and rice; and, of course, the lighted butter-lamps.' Seated on floor mats, the pupils were chanting their morning office each one crouched over a sacred book and rocking to and fro. 'The boys, on Freda's instructions but left entirely to themselves, had produced this shrine in a day by their own unaided imagination and efforts. They were all working hard; although, of course, they did not expect to be asked to perform "menial" tasks: the actual work of the house was done entirely by Freda's servants and the servant-monks.'

Freda's energy, drive and organisation had established the school and marshalled the young lamas. She was every bit as effective at developing the profile of the new school, which was so important in ensuring continued government support and private fundraising. With an eye perhaps on both goals, Freda took Lois Lang-Sims to meet Nehru, then in his early seventies and increasingly worn-out after fourteen years in office. 'Freda expressed her gratitude for his encouragement and assistance in her school project: suddenly he really smiled, seeming to wake out of his dream, and said teasingly, in a very low, quiet voice: "It was not for you I did it." Then he half closed his eyes and appeared almost to go to sleep.'...

Within a few weeks of the founding of the school, the New York Times came calling -- though they weren't allowed inside. '"We're sorry, but one of our young lamas is in bed with chicken pox,'" their reporter was told. 'Mrs. Bedi treats the seventeen boys at the school as members of her family. She listens patiently to their problems of growing up. "Even lamas have them," she says.' Freda explained that the purpose of the school was to impart traditional education in the context of the modern world. '"It aims," Mrs Bedi said, "at constructing a bridge of understanding between the young lamas and the changing young people of their own generation. It will make them aware of the new world into which they have found their way after the tragic fate of Tibet.'" She estimated that there were in total about seventy-five incarnate lamas under the age of twenty-five in India. Each group would study for six months, then a new intake would take their place. Four such intakes would cover all the tulkus, then the initial group would return. The plan was to give three semesters of instruction to each group of lamas in rotation -- a six-year project. And the school was hoping for financial contributions from abroad, towards which goal sympathetic coverage in one of America's leading daily papers was as good as gold dust.

-- The Lives of Freda: The Political, Spiritual and Personal Journeys of Freda Bedi, by Andrew Whitehead

Green Park Neighbourhood
Location in Delhi, India
Country India
State Delhi
District South Delhi
Metro New Delhi

Green Park is an upscale and affluent locality, in the South Delhi district of Delhi, India. It is among the most posh and popular districts of Delhi. The Locality falls under Category 'A' of residential colonies in Delhi alongside other Category 'A' colonies like Greater Kailash , Defense Colony and Gulmohar Park.The neighbourhood registered a 4.4% growth in residential sales and was recently featured alongside Greater Kailash, Defense Colony, Vasant Vihar and Anand Niketan in the 2019 edition of Knight Frank's quarterly report on prime luxury residential properties in various mega cities around the globe.

The locality is divided into two parts i.e. Main and Extension.

Real Estate

Established in the early 1960's, Green Park today is among the most desired neighborhoods in the capital city. The Locality not only has its very own metro station on the yellow line but also has numerous professionally maintained parks in each block. It has its own prime market which hosts numerous chic salons, boutiques and eating joints. It also borders the famous Deer Park which is known to be among the very few large green spaces left in today's heavily urbanized Delhi.

Hauz Khas Jheel located inside Deer Park

Deer Park, Delhi

Green Park Delhi

The real estate market however has been witnessing a downturn due to the increased circle rates of the colony. This has discouraged fresh purchases of builder floors and independent villas in the colony which now cost anywhere between INR 6-50 crores (US $800,000 - $7,000,000). The plot sizes are plenty and range from 200 sq. yards to 1500 sq.yards. Rental values have however witnessed a constant increase due to the direct metro connectivity and plenty of other facilities which other colonies of New Delhi lack. To address the parking problems in the colony due to the heavy footfall, two multilevel parking towers are being built near the metro station which will accommodate 60-70 cars at a given time.

History

It was established in early 1960's and today has all the amenities of a rich cosmopolitan culture along with large residential and commercial areas and many religious places. Green Park is considered by some as the "lungs" of Delhi, as it is near one of the largest green areas in the city. It is also believed to be an upscale residential area with real estate prices soaring as high as ₹100 crore (US $14.5 million). It is part of the New Delhi (Lok Sabha constituency), and its current electorate member is Meenakshi Lekhi of BJP

It is divided into two parts: Green Park Main and Green Park Extension. The Main hosts a medium-sized market with several restaurants and a shopping complex. The Extension mostly consists of residential areas. It has a number of open and wooded spaces in its vicinity -- Deer Park, District Park and Rose Garden. These are very popular areas with morning walkers and laughter clubs.

The Uphaar Cinema fire, one of the worst fire tragedies in recent Indian history, occurred on Friday, 13 June 1997 at Uphaar Cinema, near Green Park Extension Block A, Delhi, during the premiere screening of Border, a Hindi movie. 59 people died and 103 were seriously injured in the subsequent stampede; most of the victims were trapped on the balcony and were asphyxiated as they tried to reach dimly marked exits to escape the smoke and fire, and found the doors locked.

The fire broke out at 5:10 pm, after the transformer at the parking level burst, and 20 cars in the parking lot caught fire, eventually leading to a large scale fire in the five-storey building which housed the cinema hall and several offices. The cinema hall was situated in one of the busiest areas of South Delhi and the fire services were delayed owing to the heavy evening traffic. At least 48 fire tenders were pressed into service at 5.20 p.m. and it took them over an hour to put out the fire. Later the dead and the injured were rushed to the nearby All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and Safdarjung Hospital, where scenes of chaos and pandemonium followed, as relatives and family members of the victims scurried around to look for known faces.

The victims of the tragedy and the families of the deceased later formed 'The Association of Victims of Uphaar Fire Tragedy' (AVUT), which filed the landmark Civil compensation case and won Rs 25 crore (Rs 250 million) in civil compensation for the relatives and families of victims, the judgment is now considered a breakthrough in Compensation Law in India; today they meet at every anniversary at 'Smriti Upavan' memorial, outside the hall, where a prayer meeting is held. However the Supreme Court on 13/10/2011, nearly halved the sum of compensation awarded to them by the Delhi high court and slashed punitive damages to be paid by cinema owners Ansal brothers from Rs 2.5 crore to Rs 25 lakh. Contents

Geography

It is bounded on the 4 sides by major avenues: Inner Ring Road, Outer Ring Road, Aurobindo Marg and Africa Avenue. Hauz Khas, Safdarjung Enclave, SDA are adjoining colonies and 2 major hospitals, AIIMS and Safdarjung Hospital touch its boundaries.

[img][img]http://rapeutation.com/newthoughtwik1d.jpg[/img][/img]
Dadi-Poti ka Gumbad (mausoleums), at the edge of Green park, close to the Hauz Khas Complex, Delhi

Historical places

The adjoining areas of Green Park is Hauz Khas, of great historical significance with numerous monuments dating back to the medieval period of the Delhi Sultanate, and the Deer Park, which is a large public space with greenery and also the DLTA Tennis courts. and Uphaar Cinema is in Green Park.

Dining

Green Park market includes various restaurants of various cuisines, ranging from pizzas, kebabs to South Indian delights.[1]

Religious places

Jagannath Temple, New Delhi, Iyappa Temple, Balaji Temple (backside of GP, R K Puram), and Shri Parashnath Digambar Jain Mandir (Green Park Extension) is also situated in the locality.

Shri Sanatan Dharm Mandir

Transportation

The Green Park area is served by the Green Park metro station of the Delhi Metro.

References

1. "Reviews". tripadvisor.in.

External links

• Green Park, Delhi, webpage

Posted: **Fri Mar 27, 2020 10:56 pm**

Communist Party of India
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 3/27/20

Communist Party of India
Abbreviation: CPI
Secretary: D. Raja[1]
Lok Sabha leader: K. Subbarayan
Rajya Sabha leader: Binoy Viswam
Founder: M.N. Roy; Abani Mukherji; Ahmed Hasan; Hasrat Mohani; Rafiq Ahmed; Sultan Ahmed Khan Tarin
Founded: 26 December 1925 (94 years ago) at Cawnpore, British Raj (presently Kanpur, India)
Headquarters: Ajoy Bhavan, 15, Indrajit Gupta Marg, New Delhi, India-110002
Newspaper: New Age (English); Mukti Sangharsh (Hindi); Janayugom (Malayalam); Kalantar (Bengali); Janasakthi (Tamil); Kholao Thakhai (Manipuri); Prajapaksham (Telugu); Nuadunia (Odia); Kembavuta (Kannada)
Student wing: AISF
Youth wing: AIYF
Women's wing: NFIW
Labour wing: AITUC and BKMU
Peasant's wing: AIKS (AB)
Ideology: Communism[2]; Marxism–Leninism[3]; Socialism[2]; Secularism[2]
Political position: Left-wing[4][5]
International affiliation: IMCWP
Colours: Red
ECI Status: National Party[6]
Alliance: UPA (2004–2008); LF West Bengal; LF Tripura; LDF Kerala; PDA
Seats in Lok Sabha: 2 / 543
Seats in Rajya Sabha: 1 / 245
Seats in: 19 / 140 (Kerala Legislative Assembly (2016); 1 / 294 (West Bengal Legislative Assembly 2016)
Election symbol

Website: https://www.communistparty.in/

The Communist Party of India (CPI) is the oldest communist political party in India, and one of the eight national parties in the country.[7][8] There are different views on exactly when it was founded. The date maintained as the foundation day by the CPI is 26 December 1925.[9] The Communist Party of India (Marxist), also a national party, separated from the CPI in 1964 following an ideological rift between China and the Soviet Union, continues to claim having been founded in 1920. The party remains committed to Marxism–Leninism.[3]

History

Formation

The Communist Party of India has officially stated that it was formed on 26 December 1925 at the first Party Conference in Kanpur, then Cawnpore. S.V. Ghate was the first General Secretary of CPI. But as per the version of CPI (M), the Communist Party of India was founded in Tashkent, Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic on 17 October 1920, soon after the Second Congress of the Communist International. The founding members of the party were M.N. Roy, Evelyn Trent Roy (Roy's wife), Abani Mukherji, Rosa Fitingof (Abani's wife), Mohammad Ali (Ahmed Hasan), Mohammad Shafiq Siddiqui, Hasrat Mohani, Rafiq Ahmed of Bhopal and M.P.T. Aacharya, and Sultan Ahmed Khan Tarin of North-West Frontier Province.[10][11][12] The CPI says that there were many communist groups formed by Indians with the help of foreigners in different parts of the world and the Tashkent group was only one of. contacts with Anushilan and Jugantar groups in Bengal. Small communist groups were formed in Bengal (led by Muzaffar Ahmed), Bombay (led by S.A. Dange), Madras (led by Singaravelu Chettiar), United Provinces (led by Shaukat Usmani) and Punjab and Sindh (led by Ghulam Hussain). However, only Usmani became a CPI party member.[13]

Involvement in independence struggle

During the 1920s and the early 1930s the party was badly organised, and in practice there were several communist groups working with limited national co-ordination. The British colonial authorities had banned all communist activity, which made the task of building a united party very difficult. Between 1921 and 1924 there were three conspiracy trials against the communist movement; First Peshawar Conspiracy Case, Meerut Conspiracy Case and the Kanpur Bolshevik Conspiracy Case. In the first three cases, Russian-trained muhajir communists were put on trial. However, the Cawnpore trial had more political impact. On 17 March 1924, Shripad Amrit Dange, M.N. Roy, Muzaffar Ahmed, Nalini Gupta, Shaukat Usmani, Singaravelu Chettiar, Ghulam Hussain and R.C. Sharma were charged, in Cawnpore (now spelt Kanpur) Bolshevik Conspiracy case. The specific pip charge was that they as communists were seeking "to deprive the King Emperor of his sovereignty of British India, by complete separation of India from imperialistic Britain by a violent revolution." Pages of newspapers daily splashed sensational communist plans and people for the first time learned, on such a large scale, about communism and its doctrines and the aims of the Communist International in India.[14]

Singaravelu Chettiar was released on account of illness. M.N. Roy was in Germany and R.C. Sharma in French Pondichéry, and therefore could not be arrested. Ghulam Hussain confessed that he had received money from the Russians in Kabul and was pardoned. Muzaffar Ahmed, Nalini Gupta, Shaukat Usmani and Dange were sentenced for various terms of imprisonment. This case was responsible for actively introducing communism to a larger Indian audience.[14] Dange was released from prison in 1927. Rahul Dev Pal was a prominent communist leader

On 25 December 1925 a communist conference was organised in Kanpur.[15] Colonial authorities estimated that 500 persons took part in the conference. The conference was convened by a man called Satyabhakta. At the conference Satyabhakta argued for a 'National communism' and against subordination under Comintern. Being outvoted by the other delegates, Satyabhakta left the conference venue in protest. The conference adopted the name 'Communist Party of India'. Groups such as Labour Kisan Party of Hindustan (LKPH) dissolved into the unified CPI.[16] The émigré CPI, which probably had little organic character anyway, was effectively substituted by the organisation now operating inside India.

Soon after the 1926 conference of the Workers and Peasants Party of Bengal, the underground CPI directed its members to join the provincial Workers and Peasants Parties. All open communist activities were carried out through Workers and Peasants Parties.[17]

The sixth congress of the Communist International met in 1928. In 1927 the Kuomintang had turned on the Chinese communists, which led to a review of the policy on forming alliances with the national bourgeoisie in the colonial countries. The Colonial theses of the 6th Comintern congress called upon the Indian communists to combat the 'national-reformist leaders' and to 'unmask the national reformism of the Indian National Congress and oppose all phrases of the Swarajists, Gandhists, etc. about passive resistance'.[18] The congress did however differentiate between the character of the Chinese Kuomintang and the Indian Swarajist Party, considering the latter as neither a reliable ally nor a direct enemy. The congress called on the Indian communists to utilise the contradictions between the national bourgeoisie and the British imperialists.[19] The congress also denounced the WPP. The Tenth Plenum of the Executive Committee of the Communist International, 3 July 1929 – 19 July 1929, directed the Indian communists to break with WPP. When the communists deserted it, the WPP fell apart.[20]

Portrait of 25 of Meerut Prisoners taken outside the jail. Backrow:(left to right) K.N. Sehgal, S.S. Josh, H.L. Hutchinson, Shaukat Usmani, B.F. Bradly, A. Prasad, Philip Spratt, and G. Adhikari. Middle Row: K.R. Mitra, Gopan Chakravarthy, Kishore Lal Ghosh, K.L. Kadam, D.R. Thengdi, Goura Shanker, S. Banerjee, K.N. Joglekar, Puran Chand Joshi, and Muzaffar Ahmed. Front Row: M.G. Desai, G. Goswami, R.S. Nimkar, S.S. Mirajkar, S.A. Dange, S.V. Ghate and Gopal Basak.

On 20 March 1929, arrests against WPP, CPI and other labour leaders were made in several parts of India, in what became known as the Meerut Conspiracy Case. The communist leadership was now put behind bars. The trial proceedings were to last for four years.[21][22]

As of 1934, the main centres of activity of CPI were Bombay, Calcutta and Punjab. The party had also begun extending its activities to Madras. A group of Andhra and Tamil students, amongst them P. Sundarayya, were recruited to the CPI by Amir Hyder Khan.[23]

The party was reorganised in 1933, after the communist leaders from the Meerut trials were released. A central committee of the party was set up. In 1934 the party was accepted as the Indian section of the Communist International.[24]

When Indian leftwing elements formed the Congress Socialist Party in 1934, the CPI branded it as Social Fascist.[18]

The League Against Gandhism, initially known as the Gandhi Boycott Committee, was a political organisation in Calcutta, founded by the underground Communist Party of India and others to launch militant anti-Imperialist activities. The group took the name ‘League Against Gandhism’ in 1934.[25]

In connection with the change of policy of the Comintern toward Popular Front politics, the Indian communists changed their relation to the Indian National Congress. The communists joined the Congress Socialist Party, which worked as the left wing of Congress. Through joining CSP, the CPI accepted the CSP demand for a Constituent Assembly, which it had denounced two years before. The CPI however analysed that the demand for a Constituent Assembly would not be a substitute for soviets.[26]

In July 1937, the first Kerala unit of CPI was founded at a clandestine meeting in Calicut. Five persons were present at the meeting, P. Krishna Pillai E.M.S. Namboodiripad, N.C. Sekhar, K. Damodaran and S.V. Ghate. The first four were members of the CSP in Kerala. The latter, Ghate, was a CPI Central Committee member, who had arrived from Madras.[27] Contacts between the CSP in Kerala and the CPI had begun in 1935, when P. Sundarayya (CC member of CPI, based in Madras at the time) met with EMS and Krishna Pillai. Sundarayya and Ghate visited Kerala at several times and met with the CSP leaders there. The contacts were facilitated through the national meetings of the Congress, CSP and All India Kisan Sabha.[23]

In 1936–1937, the co-operation between socialists and communists reached its peak. At the 2nd congress of the CSP, held in Meerut in January 1936, a thesis was adopted which declared that there was a need to build 'a united Indian Socialist Party based on Marxism-Leninism'.[28] At the 3rd CSP congress, held in Faizpur, several communists were included into the CSP National Executive Committee.[29]

In Kerala communists won control over CSP, and for a brief period controlled Congress there.

Two communists, E.M.S. Namboodiripad and Z.A. Ahmed, became All India joint secretaries of CSP. The CPI also had two other members inside the CSP executive.[26]

On the occasion of the 1940 Ramgarh Congress Conference CPI released a declaration called Proletarian Path, which sought to utilise the weakened state of the British Empire in the time of war and gave a call for general strike, no-tax, no-rent policies and mobilising for an armed revolutionary uprising. The National Executive of the CSP assembled at Ramgarh took a decision that all communists were expelled from CSP.[30]

In July 1942, the CPI was legalised, as a result of Britain and the Soviet Union becoming allies against Nazi Germany.[31] Communists strengthened their control over the All India Trade Union Congress. At the same time, communists were politically cornered for their opposition to the Quit India Movement.

CPI contested the Provincial Legislative Assembly elections of 1946 of its own. It had candidates in 108 out of 1585 seats. It won in eight seats. In total the CPI vote counted 666 723, which should be seen with the backdrop that 86% of the adult population of India lacked voting rights. The party had contested three seats in Bengal, and won all of them. One CPI candidate, Somnath Lahiri, was elected to the Constituent Assembly.[32]

After independence

During the period around and directly following Independence in 1947, the internal situation in the party was chaotic. The party shifted rapidly between left-wing and right-wing positions. In February 1948, at the 2nd Party Congress in Calcutta, B. T. Ranadive (BTR) was elected General Secretary of the party.[33] The conference adopted the 'Programme of Democratic Revolution'. This programme included the first mention of struggle against caste injustice in a CPI document.[34]

In several areas the party led armed struggles against a series of local monarchs that were reluctant to give up their power. Such insurgencies took place in Tripura, Telangana and Kerala.[citation needed] The most important rebellion took place in Telangana, against the Nizam of Hyderabad. The Communists built up a people's army and militia and controlled an area with a population of three million. The rebellion was brutally crushed and the party abandoned the policy of armed struggle. BTR was deposed and denounced as a 'left adventurist'.

In Manipur, the party became a force to reckon with through the agrarian struggles led by Jananeta Irawat Singh. Singh had joined CPI in 1946.[35] At the 1951 congress of the party, 'People's Democracy' was substituted by 'National Democracy' as the main slogan of the party.[36]

Communist Party was founded in Bihar in 1939. Post independence, communist party achieved success in Bihar (Bihar and Jharkhand). Communist party conducted movements for land reform, trade union movement was at its peak in Bihar in the sixties, seventies and eighties. Achievement of communists in Bihar placed the communist party in the forefront of left movement in India. Bihar produced some of the legendary leaders like Kishan leaders Sahjanand Saraswati and Karyanand Sharma, intellectual giants like Jagannath Sarkar, Yogendra Sharma and Indradeep Sinha, mass leaders like Chandrashekhar Singh and Sunil Mukherjee, Trade Union leaders like Kedar Das and others. It was in Bihar that JP's total revolution was exposed and communist party under the leadership of Jagannath Sarkar fought Total Revolution and exposed its hollowness. "Many Streams" Selected Essays by Jagannath Sarkar and Reminiscing Sketches, Compiled by Gautam Sarkar, Edited by Mitali Sarkar, First Published : May 2010, Navakaranataka Publications Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore . In the Mithila region of Bihar Bhogendra Jha led the fight against the Mahants and Zamindars. He later went on the win Parliamentary elections and was MP for seven terms.

In early 1950s young communist leadership was uniting textile workers, bank employees and unorganised sector workers to ensure mass support in north India. National leaders like S A Dange, Chandra Rajeswara Rao and P K Vasudevan Nair were encouraging them and supporting the idea despite their differences on the execution. Firebrand Communist leaders like Homi F. Daji, Guru Radha Kishan, H L Parwana, Sarjoo Pandey, Darshan Singh Canadian and Avtaar Singh Malhotra were emerging between the masses and the working class in particular. This was the first leadership of communists that was very close to the masses and people consider them champions of the cause of the workers and the poor. In Delhi, May Day (majdoor diwas or mai diwas) was organised at Chandni Chowk Ghantaghar in such a manner that demonstrates the unity between all the factions of working classes and ignite the passion for communist movement in the northern part of India.

In 1952, CPI became the first leading opposition party in the Lok Sabha, while the Indian National Congress was in power.

Communist movement or CPI in particular emerged as a front runner after Guru Radha Kishan undertook a fast unto death for 24 days to promote the cause of textile workers in Delhi. Till than it was a public misconception that communists are revolutionaries with arms in their hands and workers and their families were afraid to get associated with the communists but this act mobilised general public in the favour of communist movement as a whole. During this period people with their families used to visit 'dharna sthal' to encourage CPI cadre.

This model of selflessness for the society worked for the CPI far more than what was expected. This trend was followed by almost all other state units of the party in the Hindi heartland. Communist Party related trade union AITUC became a prominent force to unite the workers in textile, municipal and unorganised sectors, the first labour union in unorganised sector was also emerged in the leadership of Comrade Guru Radha Kishan during this period in Delhi's Sadar Bazaar area. This movement of mass polarisation of workers in the favour of CPI worked effectively in Delhi and paved the way for great success of CPI in the elections in working class dominated areas in Delhi. Comrade Gangadhar Adhikari and E.M.S. Namboodiripad applauded this brigade of dynamic comrades for their selfless approach and organisational capabilities. This brigade of firebrand communists gained more prominence when Telangana hero Chandra Rajeswara Rao rose to be General Secretary of the Communist Party of India.

In the 1952 Travancore-Cochin Legislative Assembly election, Communist Party was banned, so it couldn't take part in the election process.[37] In the general elections in 1957, the CPI emerged as the largest opposition party. In 1957, the CPI won the state elections in Kerala. This was the first time that an opposition party won control over an Indian state. E. M. S. Namboodiripad became Chief Minister. At the 1957 international meeting of Communist parties in Moscow, the Communist Party of China directed criticism at the CPI for having formed a ministry in Kerala.[38]

Ideological differences lead to the split in the party in 1964 when two different party conferences were held, one of CPI and one of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). There is a common misconception that the rift during the Sino-Indian war, when Communist Party Of India proudly supported China in the war led to the 1962 split.[citation needed] In fact, the split was leftists vs rightists, rather than internationalists vs nationalists.[citation needed] The presence of nationalists in CPI, and internationalists P. Sundarayya, Jyoti Basu, and Harkishan Singh Surjeet in the Communist Party of India (Marxist) proves this fact.

During the period 1970–77, CPI was allied with the Congress party. In Kerala, they formed a government together with Congress, with the CPI-leader C. Achutha Menon as Chief Minister. After the fall of the regime of Indira Gandhi, CPI reoriented itself towards co-operation with CPI(M).

In 1986, the CPI's leader in the Punjab and MLA in the Punjabi legislature Darshan Singh Canadian was assassinated by Sikh extremists. Then on 19 May 1987, Deepak Dhawan, General Secretary of Punjab CPI(M), was murdered. Altogether about 200 communist leaders out of which most were Sikhs were killed by Sikh extremists in Punjab.[citation needed]

Present situation

[RED] State/s which had a chief minister from the Communist Party of India (CPI).
[ORANGE] State/s which had a chief minister from the CPI-M.
[MAROON] State/s which had chief ministers from both the CPI-M and the Communist Party of India (CPI).
[GREY] States which did not have/had a chief minister from the CPI-M or the CPI.
[WHITE] Union territories without a state government.

Mural in Thiruvananthapuram

CPI was recognised by the Election Commission of India as a 'National Party'. To date, CPI happens to be the only national political party from India to have contested all the general elections using the same electoral symbol. Owing to a massive defeat in 2019 Indian general election where the party saw its tally reduce to 2 MP, the Election Commission of India has sent a letter to CPI asking for reasons why its national party status should not be revoked.[39][40][41][42][43] If similar performance is repeated in the next election, the CPI will no longer be a national party.

On the national level they supported the Indian National Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government along with other parliamentary Left parties, but without taking part in it. Upon attaining power in May 2004, the United Progressive Alliance formulated a programme of action known as the Common Minimum Programme. The Left bases its support to the UPA on strict adherence to it. Provisions of the CMP mentioned to discontinue disinvestment, massive social sector outlays and an independent foreign policy.

On 8 July 2008, the General Secretary of CPI(M), Prakash Karat, announced that the Left was withdrawing its support over the decision by the government to go ahead with the United States-India Peaceful Atomic Energy Cooperation Act. The Left parties combination had been a staunch advocate of not proceeding with this deal citing national interests.[44]

In West Bengal it participates in the Left Front. It also participated in the state government in Manipur. In Kerala the party is part of Left Democratic Front. In Tripura the party is a partner of the Left Front, which governed the state till 2018. In Tamil Nadu it is part of the Progressive Democratic Alliance. It is involved in the Left Democratic Front in Maharashtra

The current general secretary of CPI is D. Raja.

Party Congress

22nd Congress of Communist Party of India being held in Pondicherry

Party Congress / Year / Place

1 / 1925 December 25 to 28 / Kanpur [45]
2 / 1948 February 28 to March 27 / Calcutta
3 / 1953 December 27 to January 4 / Madhura
4 / 1956 April 19 to 29 / Palakkad
5 / 1958 April 6 to 13 / Amritsar
6 / 1961 April 7 to 16 / Vijayawada
7 / 1964 December 13-23 / Bombay
8 / 1968 February 7–15 / Patna
9 / 1971 October / Cochin
10 / 1975 January 27 - 2 February / Vijayawada
11 / 1978 March 31-April 7 / Bathinda
12 / 1982 March 22 to 28 / Varanasi
13 / 1986 March 2 to 17 / Patna
14 / 1989 March 6–12 / Calcutta
15 / 1992 April 10 to 16 / Hyderabad
16 / 1995 October / Delhi
17 / 1998 September 14-19 / Chennai
18 / 2002 March 26 to 31 / Thiruvananthapuram
19 / 2005 March 29 0 April 3 / Chandigarh
20 / 2008 March 23–27 / Hyderabad
21 / 2012 March 27–31 / Patna
22 / 2015 March 25–29 / Pondicherry
23 / 2018 April 25–29 / Kollam

Leadership

Newly Elected CPI National Leadership The following are the members of the Central Control Commission, National Council and Candidate Members to National Council, National Executive, National Secretariat and Party Programme Commission elected at the 23rd Party Congress of Communist Party of India held from 25 to 29 April 2018 in Kollam, Kerala:

Central Control Commission

1. Pannian Ravindran (Chairman)
2. C.A. Kurien
3. Dr Joginder Dayal (Punjab)
4. C.R. Bakshi (Chattisgarh)
5. P.J.C. Rao (Andhra Pradesh)
6. Bijoy Narayan Mishra (Bihar)
7. Moti Lal (Uttar Pradesh)
8. M. Sakhi Devi (Tripura)
9. T. Narsimhan (Telangana)
10. M. Arumugham (Tamil Nadu)
11. Apurba Mandal (West Bengal)

National Council Members

• S. Sudhakar Reddy
• Gurudas Dasgupta
• D. Raja
• Shameem Faizee
• Atul Kumar Anjaan
• Ramendra Kumar
• Amarjeet Kaur
• Dr. K. Narayana
• Nagendranath Ojha
• Dr. B.K. Kango
• Binoy Viswam
• Pallab Sengutpa
• Kanhaiya Kumar
• Azeez Pasha
• Annie Raja - Women Front
• CH Venkatachalam - Bank Front
• B.V. Vijaylakshmi - TU Front
• S. V. Damle - TU Front
• Vidyasagar Giri - TU Front
• R.S. Yadav - Mukti Sangharsh
• Manish Kunjam - Tribal Front
• C. Srikumar - Defence
• Gargi Chakravarthy - Women Front
• Anil Rajimwale - Education Department
• Viswajeet Kumar - Student Front
• R. Thirumalai - Youth Front
• A.A. Khan - Minority Front

Andhra Pradesh

• K. Ramakrishna
• M.N. Rao
• J.V.S.N. Murthy
• Jalli Wilson
• Akkineni Vanaja

Assam

• Munin Mahanta
• Kanak Gogoi

Bihar

• Satya Narayan Singh
• Ram Naresh Pandey
• Janki Paswan
• Jabbar Alam
• Rajendra Prasad Singh
• Rageshri Kiran
• Om Prakash Narayan
• Pramod Prabhakar
• Ram Chandra Singh
• Nivedita

Chhattisgarh

• R.D.C.P. Rao
• Rama Sori

Delhi

• Dhirendra K. Sharma
• Prof. Dinesh Varshney

Goa

• Chirstopher Fonseca

Gujarat

• Raj Kumar Singh
• Vijay Shenmare

Haryana

• Dariyao Singh Kashyap

Himachal Pradesh

• Shayam Singh Chauhan

Jharkhand

• Bhubaneshwar Prasad Mehta
• K.D. Singh
• Rajendra Prasad Yadav
• Mahendra Pathak

Jammu and Kashmir

Vacant

Karnataka

• P.V. Lokesh
• Saathi Sundaresh

Kerala

• Kanam Rajendran
• K.E. Ismail
• K. Prekash Babu
• E. Chandrasekharan
• Adv. P. Vasantham
• T.V. Balan
• C.N. Jayadevan
• K.P. Rajendran
• J. Chinju Rani
• Adv. N. Anirudhan
• Adv. Rajan

Manipur

• M. Nara Singh
• L. Sotin Kumar

Meghalaya

• Samudra Gupta

Maharashtra

• Tukaram Bhasme
• Namdev Gavade
• Ram Baheti
• Prakash Reddy

Madhya Pradesh

• Arvind Shrivastava
• Haridwar Singh

Odisha

• Dibakar Nayak
• Ashish Kanungo
• Abhaya Sahoo
• Ramakrushna Panda
• Souribandhu Kar

Puducherry

• A.M. Saleem
• A. Ramamoorthy

Punjab

• Bant Singh Brar
• Jagrup Singh
• Hardev Singh Arshi
• Nirmal Singh Dhaliwal
• Jagjit Singh Joga

Rajasthan

• Narendra Acharya
• Tara Singh Sidhu

Tripura

Vacant

Tamil Nadu

• R. Nallakkannu
• D. Pandian
• R. Mutharasan
• C. Mahendran
• K. Subbarayan
• M. Veerapandian
• T.M. Murthi
• G. Palaniswamy
• P. Padmavathi
• P. Sethuraman

Telangana

• Chada Venkat Reddy
• Palla Venkat Reddy
• K. Sambasiva Rao
• Pasya Padma
• K. Srinivas Reddy
• K. Shanker
• T. Srinivas Rao

Uttar Pradesh

• Dr. Girish Sharma
• Arvind Raj Swarup
• Imtiyaz Ahmed
• Prof. Nisha Rathor
• Ram Chand Saras

Uttarakhand

• Samar Bhandari

West Bengal

• Swapan Banerjee
• Manju Kumar Mazumdar
• Santosh Rana
• Shyama Sree Das
• Ujjawal Chaudhury
• Chittaranjan Das Thakur
• Prabir Deb
• Tarun Das

Candidate Members

• Krishna Jha (New Age)
• Prof. Arun Kumar (Teachers)
• Aftab Alam Khan (Youth Front)
• Wali – Ullah – Khadri (Student Front)
• N. Chidambaram (New Age/Office)
• Dr. Arun Mitra (Doctor’s Front)
• M. Bal Narsima (Telangana)
• Mithlesh Jha (Bihar)
• Suhaas Naik (Goa)
• Mahesh Kakkath (Kerala)
• Kh. Surchand Singh (Manipur)
• Richard B. Thabah (Meghalaya)
• G. Obulesu (Andhra Pradesh)

Invitee Members Lakshdweep

National Executive

1. S. Sudhakar Reddy
2. D. Raja
3. Shameem Faizee
4. Atul Kumar Anjaan
5. Amarjeet Kaur
6. Ramendra Kumar
7. Dr. K. Narayana
8. Kanam Rajendran
9. Binoy Viswam
10. Dr. B.K. Kango
11. Pallab Sengupta
12. Nagendra Nath Ojha
13. Dr. Girish Sharma
14. Annie Raja
15. Azeez Pasha
16. K. Ramakrishna
17. Satya Narayan Singh
18. Janaki Paswan
19. Ram Naresh Pandey
20. Bhubaneshwar Prasad Mehta
21. K.E. Ismail
22. Dr. M. Nara Singh
23. Dibakar Naik
24. R. Mutharasan
25. C. Mahendran
26. Chada Venkata Reddy
27. K. Subbarayan
28. Swapan Banerjee
29. Bant Singh Brar
30. Munin Mahanto
31. C.H. Venkatachalam

Ex-Officio Members

1. Pannian Ravindran (Chairperson, Central Control Commission)
2. Gurudas Dasgupta (Chairman, Permanent Programme Commission)

National Secretariat

1. S. Sudhakar Reddy
2. D. Raja
3. Shameem Faizee
4. Atul Kumar Anjaan
5. Amarjeet Kaur
6. Ramendra Kumar
7. Dr. K. Narayana
8. Kanam Rajendran
9. Binoy Viswam
10. Dr. B.K. Kango
11. Pallab Sen Gupta

Party Programme Commission

1. Gurudas Dasgupta (Chairman)
2. Pallab Sen Gupta (Secretary)
3. Prekash Babu
4. C.R. Bakshi
5. Dr. Nara Singh
6. Anil Rajimwale

State Committee secretaries

• Andhra Pradesh : K.Ramakrishna
• Assam : Munin Mahanta
• Bihar : Satya Narayan Singh
• Chhattisgarh : RDCP Rao
• Delhi

rof.Dinesh Varshney
• Goa : RD Mangueshkar
• Gujarat : Rajkumar Singh
• Haryana : Dariyao Singh Kashyap
• Himachal Pradesh : Shayam Singh Chauhan
• Jharkhand : Bhubneshwar Prasad Mehta
• Kerala : Kanam Rajendran
• Karnataka : Saathi Sundaresh
• Maharashtra : Tukaram Bhasme
• Madhya Pradesh : Arvind Shrivastava
• Manipur : L. Sotin Kumar
• Meghalaya : Samudra Gupta
• Odisha : Ashish Kanungo
• Puducherry : A.M. Saleem
• Punjab : Bant Singh Brar
• Rajasthan : Narendra Acharya
• Tamilnadu : R. Mutharasan
• Telangana : Chada Venkat Reddy
• Uttar Pradesh : Dr. Girish Sharma
• Uttarakhand : Samar Bhandari
• West Bengal : Swapan Banerjee

Principal mass organisations

• All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC)
• All India Youth Federation (AIYF)
• All India Students Federation (AISF)
• National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW)
• All India Kisan Sabha - AIKS (peasants organisation)
• Bharatiya Khet Mazdoor Union - BKMU (agricultural workers)
• Indian People's Theatre Association - IPTA (cultural wing)
• All India State Government Employees Federation (State government employees)
• Indian Society for Cultural Co-operation and Friendship (ISCUF)
• All India Peace and Solidarity Organization (AIPSO)

General Secretaries

• Sachchidanand Vishnu Ghate
• Gangadhar Adhikari
• Puran Chand Joshi
• B. T. Ranadive
• Chandra Rajeswara Rao
• Ajoy Ghosh
• E. M. S. Namboodiripad
• Indrajit Gupta
• Ardhendu Bhushan Bardhan
• Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy
• D Raja (Present)

Notable leaders

• N.E. Balaram - Founding leader of the communist movement in Kerala, India
• Mohit Banerji (Mohit Bandopadhay) (1912–1961)
• M. N. Govindan Nair – Kerala state secretary during the first communist ministry and a freedom fighter
• C. Achutha Menon – Finance minister in first Kerala ministry Former chief minister of Kerala
• Hasrat Mohani – founding member
• T. V. Thomas – Minister in first Kerala ministry
• M. Kalyanasundaram – Parliamentarian
• P. K. Vasudevan Nair – Ex. Chief minister of Kerala,Former AISF general secretary,Former AIYF general secretary
• Puran Chand Joshi – first general secretary of the Communist Party of India
• Indrajit Gupta – Parliamentarian, former general secretary and a former central minister
• Bhupesh Gupta – Parliamentarian
• Ajoy Ghosh – Former general secretary of CPI, freedom fighter
• Chandra Rajeswara Rao – former general secretary, Telangana freedom fighter
• Jagannath Sarkar – former National Secretary, freedom fighter, builder of communist movement in Bihar and Jharkhand
• Hirendranath Mukherjee-Parliamentarian & He was awarded Padma Bhushan in 1990 and Padma Vibhushan in 1991 by the President of India for his lifelong services.
• Geeta Mukherjee - Parliamentarian & Former President of National Federation of Indian Women
• Ardhendu Bhushan Bardhan – Former general secretary & Parliamentarian
• Chaturanan Mishra parliamentarian & former Central Minister of India
• Gurudas Dasgupta - Parliamentarian & Former General Secretary of the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) .
• Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy – current general secretary of the party
• D. Raja – parliamentarian & secretary of the party
• Shripad Amrit Dange – Freedom fighter & former chairman of the party
• Hijam Irabot – Founder leader of CPI in Manipur
• P. S. Sreenivasan – Former minister of Kerala
• C. K. Chandrappan – Parliamentarian & former Kerala state secretary of the party
• Annabhau Sathe - Samyukta Maharashtra movement leader
• Pannyan Raveendran – Former Kerala state secretary of the party
• Kanam Rajendran – Current Kerala state secretary of the party
• Nallakannu – Parliamentarian & former Tamil Nadu state secretary of the party
• D. Pandian - Parliamentarian & former Tamil Nadu state secretary
• Binoy Viswam – Member of Rajya Sabha, Former minister in the Government of Kerala
• Bhalchandra Kango - Veteran Trade Unionist, Marxist Thinker, CPI National Secretariat Member
• Thoppil Bhasi – Writer, film director & parliamentarian
• Veliyam Bharghavan – Parliamentarian & Former Kerala state secretary of the party
• E. Chandrasekharan Nair – Senior leader and Former Minister in the Government of Kerala
• Ramendra Kumar – Former Parliamentarian, national executive member, national president AITUC
• Meghraj Tawar – Udaipur district secretary
• Govind Pansare – Prominent activist and lawyer
• R.Sugathan - Prominent trade unionist, mass leader and member of Kerala Legislative assembly
• Kanhaiya Kumar - CPI National Council Member, Ex JNUSU President, Leader of AISF National Council
• C. Divakaran - Senior leader, former minister and National Council Member from Kerala
• C. N. Jayadevan - Senior leader, parliamentarian
• Rajaji Mathew Thomas - Journalist, former MLA and CPI National council Member, from Kerala
• Chittayam Gopakumar - Kerala MLA and State council member

Former Chief Ministers

• E. M. S. Namboodiripad(First communist Government Kerala 1957-1959)
• C. Achutha Menon-Kerala(1969-1970)(1970-1977)
• P. K. Vasudevan Nair-Kerala(1978-1979)

Lok Sabha election tally

Performance of Communist Party of India in Lok Sabha elections

Lok Sabha / Year / Lok Sabha constituencies / Seats Contested / Won / Net Change in seats / Votes / Votes % / Change in vote % / Reference

First 1952 489 49 16 - 3,487,401 3.29% - [48]
Second 1957 494 109 27 Increase 11 10,754,075 8.92% Increase 5.63% [49]
Third 1962 494 137 29 Increase 02 11,450,037 9.94% Increase 1.02% [50]
Fourth 1967 520 109 23 Decrease 06 7,458,396 5.11% Decrease 4.83% [51]
Fifth 1971 518 87 23 Steady 00 6,933,627 4.73% Decrease 0.38% [52]
Sixth 1977 542 91 7 Decrease 16 5,322,088 2.82% Decrease 1.91% [53]
Seventh 1980 529 ( 542* ) 47 10 Increase 03 4,927,342 2.49% Decrease 0.33% [54]
Eighth 1984 541 66 6 Decrease 04 6,733,117 2.70% Increase 0.21% [55][56]
Ninth 1989 529 50 12 Increase 06 7,734,697 2.57% Decrease 0.13% [57]
Tenth 1991 534 43 14 Increase 02 6,898,340 2.48% Decrease 0.09% [58][59]
Eleventh 1996 543 43 12 Decrease 02 6,582,263 1.97% Decrease 0.51% [60]
Twelfth 1998 543 58 09 Decrease 03 6,429,569 1.75% Decrease 0.22% [61]
Thirteenth 1999 543 54 04 Decrease 05 5,395,119 1.48% Decrease 0.27% [62]
Fourteenth 2004 543 34 10 Increase 06 5,484,111 1.41% Decrease 0.07% [63]
Fifteenth 2009 543 56 04 Decrease 06 5,951,888 1.43% Increase 0.02% [64]
Sixteenth 2014 543 67 01 Decrease 03 4,327,298 0.78% Decrease 0.65% [65]
Seventeenth 2019 543 02 Increase 01
* : 12 seats in Assam and 1 in Meghalaya did not vote.[66]

State / No. of candidates 2014 / No. of elected 2014 / No. of candidates 2009 / No. of elected 2009 / Total no. of seats in the state

Andhra Pradesh 1 0 2 0 (25)(2014)/42(2009)
Arunachal Pradesh 0 0 0 0 2
Assam 1 0 3 0 14
Bihar 2 0 7 0 40
Chhattisgarh 2 0 1 0 11
Goa 2 0 2 0 2
Gujarat 1 0 1 0 26
Haryana 2 0 1 0 10
Himachal Pradesh 0 0 0 0 4
Jammu and Kashmir 0 0 1 0 6
Jharkhand 3 0 3 0 14
Karnataka 3 0 1 0 28
Kerala 4 1 4 0 20
Madhya Pradesh 5 0 3 0 29
Maharashtra 4 0 3 0 48
Manipur 1 0 1 0 2
Meghalaya 1 0 1 0 2
Mizoram 0 0 0 0 1
Nagaland 0 0 0 0 1
Odisha 4 0 1 1 21
Punjab 5 0 2 0 13
Rajasthan 3 0 2 0 25
Sikkim 0 0 0 0 1
Tamil Nadu 8 0 3 1 39
Tripura 0 0 0 0 2
Uttar Pradesh 8 0 9 0 80
Uttarakhand 1 0 1 0 5
West Bengal 3 0 3 2 42

Union Territories:

Andaman and Nicobar Islands 0 0 0 0 1
Chandigarh 0 0 0 0 1
Dadra and Nagar Haveli 0 0 0 0 1
Daman and Diu 0 0 0 0 1
Delhi 1 0 1 0 7
Lakshadweep 1 0 0 0 1
Puducherry 1 0 0 0 1
Total: 67 1 56 4 543

State election results

State / No. of candidates / No. elected / Total no. of seats in Assembly / Year of Election

Andhra Pradesh 38 0 294 2014
Assam 15 0 126 2016
Bihar 98 0 243 2015
Chhattisgarh 13 0 90 2013
Delhi 5 0 70 2015
Goa 2 0 40 2017
Gujarat 3 0 182 2012
Haryana 14 0 90 2014
Himachal Pradesh 6 0 68 2012
Jammu and Kashmir 3 0 87 2014
Jharkhand 24 0 81 2014
Karnataka 8 0 224 2013
Kerala 25 19 140 2016
Madhya Pradesh 23 0 230 2013
Maharashtra 33 0 288 2014
Manipur 6 0 60 2017
Meghalaya 1 0 60 2013
Mizoram 0 0 40 2013
Odisha 32 0 147 2014
Puducherry 7 0 30 2016
Punjab 23 0 117 2017
Rajasthan 23 0 200 2013
Tamil Nadu 25 0 234 2016
Tripura 1 0 60 2018
Uttar Pradesh 68 0 403 2017
Uttarakhand 4 0 70 2017
West Bengal 11 1 294 2016

Results from the Election Commission of India website. Results do not deal with partitions of states (Bihar was bifurcated after the 2000 election, creating Jharkhand), defections and by-elections during the mandate period.

See also

• List of political parties in India
• Politics of India
• List of communist parties
• Marxist League (India)
• Jana Yuddha
• Calcutta Thesis

Footnotes

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54. "LS Statistical Report : 1980 Vol. 1" (PDF). Election Commission of India. p. 86. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 July 2014. Retrieved 18 October 2014.
55. "LS Statistical Report : 1984 Vol. 1" (PDF). Election Commission of India. p. 81. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 July 2014. Retrieved 18 October 2014.
56. "LS Statistical Report : 1985 Vol. 1" (PDF). Election Commission of India. p. 15. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 18 October 2014.
57. "LS Statistical Report : 1989 Vol. 1" (PDF). Election Commission of India. p. 88. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 July 2014. Retrieved 18 October 2014.
58. "LS Statistical Report : 1991 Vol. 1" (PDF). Election Commission of India. p. 58. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 July 2014. Retrieved 18 October 2014.
59. "LS Statistical Report : 1992 Vol. 1" (PDF). Election Commission of India. p. 13. Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 June 2016. Retrieved 18 October 2014.
60. "LS Statistical Report : 1996 Vol. 1" (PDF). Election Commission of India. p. 93. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 July 2014. Retrieved 18 October 2014.
61. "LS Statistical Report : 1998 Vol. 1" (PDF). Election Commission of India. p. 93. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 July 2014. Retrieved 18 October 2014.
62. "LS Statistical Report : 1999 Vol. 1" (PDF). Election Commission of India. p. 92. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 July 2014. Retrieved 18 October 2014.
63. "LS Statistical Report : 2004 Vol. 1" (PDF). Election Commission of India. p. 101. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 July 2014. Retrieved 18 October 2014.
64. "LS 2009 : Performance of National Parties" (PDF). Election Commission of India. Archived (PDF) from the original on 20 October 2014. Retrieved 18 October 2014.
65. "LS 2014 : List of successful candidates" (PDF). Election Commission of India. p. 93. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 October 2014. Retrieved 18 October 2014.
66. "Seventh Lok Sabha elections (1980)". Indian Express. Indian Express. 14 March 2014. Archived from the original on 26 October 2014. Retrieved 18 October 2014.

Further reading

• N.E. Balaram, A Short History of the Communist Party of India. Kozikkode, Cannanore, India: Prabhath Book House, 1967.
• John H. Kautsky, Moscow and the Communist Party of India: A Study in the Postwar Evolution of International Communist Strategy. New York: MIT Press, 1956.
• M.R. Masani, The Communist Party of India: A Short History. New York: Macmillan, 1954.
• Samaren Roy, The Twice-Born Heretic: M.N. Roy and the Comintern. Calcutta: Firma KLM Private, 1986.
• Wendy Singer, "Peasants and the Peoples of the East: Indians and the Rhetoric of the Comintern," in Tim Rees and Andrew Thorpe, International Communism and the Communist International, 1919-43. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1998.
• G. Adhikari (ed.), Documents of the History of the Communist Party of India: Volume One, 1917-1922. New Delhi: People's Publishing House, 1971.
• G. Adhikari (ed.), Documents of the History of the Communist Party of India: Volume Two, 1923-1925. New Delhi: People's Publishing House, 1974.
• V.B. Karnick (ed.), Indian Communist Party Documents, 1930-1956. Bombay: Democratic Research Service/Institute of Public Relations, 1957.

External links

• Official website

Posted: **Sat Mar 28, 2020 1:14 am**

Liberty (advocacy group) [National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL)]
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 3/27/20

Liberty
The National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL)
Motto: To protect civil liberties and promote human rights for everyone
Formation: 22 February 1934; 86 years ago
Type: Political pressure group
Legal status: Trust
Purpose: Human rights
Headquarters: London, England
Director: Martha Spurrier
Website: http://www.libertyhumanrights.org.uk

Liberty, formerly called the National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL),[1] is an advocacy group and membership organisation based in the United Kingdom, which campaigns to challenge injustice, protect civil liberties and promote human rights – through the courts, in Parliament and in the wider community.

The NCCL was founded in 1934 by Ronald Kidd and Sylvia Crowther-Smith (later Scaffardi).[2]

Ronald Hubert Kidd (11 July 1889 – 13 May 1942) was a British civil rights campaigner.

Born in London, England, the son of surgeon Leonard Joseph Kidd, grandson of doctor Joseph Kidd, and nephew of doctors Percy Kidd and Walter Aubrey Kidd, Ronald Hubert Kidd had a variety of jobs before finding his vocation as a campaigner against injustices in 1930s and 1940s Britain.

In 1934, angered by Police responses to hunger marchers, he founded the Council for Civil Liberties (later the National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL) and now known as Liberty), which included such figures as E. M. Forster as its President, and Clement Attlee, Aneurin Bevan, Havelock Ellis, Aldous Huxley, J. B. Priestley, Bertrand Russell, and H. G. Wells among its vice-presidents....

Kidd continued to administer the Council's affairs, despite serious illness, until his death in 1942.

-- Ronald Kidd, by Wikipedia

Sylvia Scaffardi (born Crowther-Smith; 20 January 1902 – 27 January 2001) was a civil rights campaigner and one of the co-founders of the National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL), later known as Liberty. Later in life, she became a published writer, with her first book published in 1982.[2]

In the late 1980s, Scaffardi joined the Green Party UK.

Scaffardi was working as an actress in London in 1926 when she met Ronald Kidd, with whom she went on to set up the NCCL. The formation of the NCCL in 1934 was the high point of their political collaboration, which ended with his death in 1942. Scaffardi continued to sit on the organisation's Executive Committee until the mid-1950s, and remained a lifelong supporter of Liberty.

-- Sylvia Scaffardi, by Wikipedia

I met Sylvia Scaffardi, who was one of the people who risked her life to protest Moseley.[sic] She went on to found the National Council for Civil Liberties. I don't think she would have supported 'No Platform' policies. She fought for free speech. (Her papers are collected at Hull U)

-- by JamesHeartfield@JamesHeartfield, Sep 9, 2018

Liberty's aim is to not only protect civil liberties but also to engender a "rights culture" within British society.[2]

Liberty announced Martha Spurrier as its new director on 31 March 2016.[3]

History

Foundation and early years

The immediate spur to the organisation's formation was the National Hunger March of 1932.[4] The first Secretary was Ronald Kidd, and first President E. M. Forster; Vice-Presidents were the politician and author A. P. Herbert and the journalist Kingsley Martin of the New Statesman. H. G. Wells, Vera Brittain, Clement Attlee, Rebecca West, Edith Summerskill and Harold Laski were also founder members.[5]

The National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL) was founded in 1934. The inaugural meeting took place in the church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London on 22 February. A letter published in The Times and The Guardian newspapers announced the formations of the group, citing "the general and alarming tendency to encroachment on the liberty of the citizen" as the reason for its establishment.[6] The first campaign was against the criminalisation of pacifist or anti-war literature. Under the proposed Incitement to Disaffection Bill, commonly known as the 'Sedition Bill', it would have been a criminal offence to possess pacifist literature, for example anti-war pamphlets. Although the Bill became law as the Incitement to Disaffection Act 1934, NCCL succeeded in watering it down.[5] Other prominent early themes included campaigning against fascists, against film censorship and support for striking miners in Nottinghamshire.[7]

World War II

When Oswald Mosley was released from prison in 1943 (he had been imprisoned without trial under Defence Regulation 18B), the National Council for Civil Liberties oddly demanded his continued imprisonment. A.W. Brian Simpson notes that the NCCL "had become an enthusiastic supporter of detention without trial".[8] Harold Nicolson and 38 others resigned from the NCCL over the issue.[9]

Liberty

In 1989 NCCL changed its name to "Liberty". During this period, the organisation was headed by Andrew Puddephatt and John Wadham.

On 10 September 2001, Shami Chakrabarti joined Liberty.[10] After working as in-house counsel, she was appointed director of Liberty in 2003. As director, she began campaigning against what the pressure group saw as the "excessive" anti-terrorist measures that followed the 11 September 2001 attacks in the United States, such as the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 (ATCSA).[11] Liberty became increasingly high-profile, with Chakrabarti making regular appearances in the media. She was described in The Times newspaper as "the most effective public affairs lobbyist of the past 20 years".[12][13]

Since the 2015 UK general election, Liberty has spearheaded the campaign to save the Human Rights Act. In August 2015, Chakrabarti said Liberty intended to become "more vigilant and active" in Scotland.[14] She later shared a platform with Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to jointly defend the HRA.[15]

In January 2016 it emerged that Chakrabarti was standing down as Liberty's director.[16] Martha Spurrier took up the post at the end of May.[3][17]

Since 2016, Liberty's work has been dominated by taking a High Court challenge to the Investigatory Powers Act, and campaigning against the so-called 'hostile environment' policies and for an end to the use of indefinite immigration detention in the UK.[18][19]

Campaigns

Post-war

BBC ban

During the 1940s, the NCCL led protests against a BBC ban on artists who attended a 'People's Convention' organised by the Communist Party.[5]

Soldiers' civil liberties

In the years following the Second World War, the NCCL campaigned for better civil liberties protections for members of the Armed Forces, including for better education and vocational training, a fairer military justice system and freedom of voluntary association.[20]

Miscarriages of justice

At this time NCCL was also involved in several miscarriage of justice cases, including that of Emery, Powers and Thompson, who were sentenced to between four and ten years imprisonment for assaulting a police officer, even though someone else confessed to the crime and the prosecution evidence was flawed. NCCL found a witness who confirmed the men's alibi and they were released from prison and granted a royal pardon.[21]

Reform of the Mental Health System

During the 1950s NCCL campaigned for reform of the mental health system, under which people known to be sane but deemed 'morally defective' – unmarried mothers, for example – could be locked up in an asylum.

By 1957, the campaign had seen the release of around 2,000 former inmates, the abolition of the Mental Health Act 1913 and the establishment of new Mental Health Review Tribunals and the Mental Health Act 1959.[22]

1960–1974

The 1960s saw the organisation broaden its scope, particularly from 1966 under new general secretary Tony Smythe. It campaigned on racial issues, on behalf of gypsies, children, prisoners and servicemen who had changed their decision about joining the forces.[7] This broader range of campaigning resulted in a large rise in membership and a higher profile in the media.[23]

Opposition to racial discrimination

After 1960, NCCL responded to the tightening of immigration laws and a rise in race-hate incidents by lobbying for the Race Relations Act, which came into force in 1965. NCCL also published pamphlets exposing the effective 'colour bar', whereby black and Asian people were refused service in certain pubs and hotels.[5]

Following Conservative MP Enoch Powell's Rivers of Blood speech in 1968 the NCCL set about organising an emergency "Speak out on Race" meeting and also presented an NCCL petition to the Prime Minister.

Women's rights

Campaigning for women's rights was also a major part of NCCL's work in this period, including successfully calling for reform of jury service laws that effectively prevented women and the poor from serving on juries by means of a property qualification.[5]

Right to public protest

NCCL intervened on behalf of groups refused permission to protest and monitoring the policing of demonstrations such as those against the Vietnam War.[5]

Support for reluctant servicemen

NCCL also campaigned to raise awareness of the difficulty faced by 'reluctant servicemen' – men in the armed forces who had often signed-up as teenagers then realised they'd made a mistake but were prevented from discharging themselves for anything up to 16 years.[5]

Northern Ireland

In 1972 NCCL campaigned for civil rights in Northern Ireland.[24]

Data protection

In 1975 NCCL bought 3 million credit rating files from Konfax Ltd after they were offered for sale in the Evening Standard. The files were destroyed and the major privacy protection 'Right to Know' campaign to give individuals greater control over their personal information was launched in 1977.[5]

1975–1989

Near the end of 1974, Patricia Hewitt, later a Labour cabinet minister, was appointed as general secretary.[7] A number of other future high-profile Labour politicians worked at the organisation at this time, such as Harriet Harman, who worked as the legal officer from 1978–82, Jack Dromey, later her husband, was a member (1970–79) and chairman of the Executive Committee, and Diane Abbott was employed as Race Relations Officer (1978–80).[25]

Paedophilia

In 1976, the NCCL in a submission to the Criminal Law Revision Committee of the British Parliament argued that "Childhood sexual experiences, willingly engaged in, with an adult result in no identifiable damage… The real need is a change in the attitude which assumes that all cases of paedophilia result in lasting damage". The NCCL also sought to place the "onus of proof on the prosecution to show that the child was actually harmed" rather than having a blanket ban on child pornography and advocated the decriminalisation of incest.[26] Organisations such as Paedophile Information Exchange (P.I.E.), a pro-paedophile activist group, and Paedophile Action for Liberation became affiliated to the pressure group.[27] Prominent pro-paedophile activist Tom O'Carroll also sat on the NCCL's sub-committee for gay rights.[28] Shami Chakrabarti, the former director of Liberty, issued an apology about the links between the NCCL and the PIE. In December 2013, she said: "It is a source of continuing disgust and horror that even the NCCL had to expel paedophiles from its ranks in 1983 after infiltration at some point in the 70s."[29][30]

Gay rights and censorship

NCCL acted for the owners of Gay's the Word bookshop, whose stock was confiscated by Customs officers in 1984. All charges were dropped in 1986.[31]

Miners' strike

During the miners' strike, NCCL campaigned on behalf of miners stopped from picketing outside their home regions.[5]

MI5 surveillance

The European Court of Human Rights ruled that MI5 surveillance of Harriet Harman and Patricia Hewitt during the pair's tenure at Liberty breached the European Convention on Human Rights.[21]

1990–2004

Detention without charge

During the Gulf War, Liberty successfully campaigned for the release of over 100 Iraqi nationals – some of whom were openly opposed to Saddam Hussein – detained without charge in Britain on the grounds that they posed a risk to national security.[5]

Miscarriage of justice

Throughout the 1990s Liberty focused again on miscarriage of justice cases and campaigned for reform of the criminal justice system. High-profile cases included that of the Birmingham Six, who were released after 16 years in prison for IRA bombings they did not commit.[5]

Human Rights Act

At the start of the 2000s, Liberty used the protections in the new Human Rights Act 1998 to fight a number of landmark cases, including supporting terminally-ill Diane Pretty's fight to die with dignity and Christine Goodwin's fight for transgender rights.

A and others v Secretary of State for the Home Department

Liberty intervened in the long-running A and others v Secretary of State for the Home Department case following which the Law Lords ruled that detaining non-British nationals without trial was unlawful. In a 2005 judgment the Law Lords also confirmed that evidence obtained through torture was not admissible in British courts.[32]

Katherine Gun

In 2004, Liberty acted for the translator and whistleblower Katharine Gun who claimed that the American National Security Agency had requested the British Government's help in illegal surveillance on the UN. She was prosecuted under the Official Secrets Act 1989. The charges were dropped when the prosecution failed to offer any evidence.[21]

2005–2014

Pre-charge detention

During 2007 and 2008 Liberty led the opposition to government plans to extend detention without charge for those suspected of terrorism to 42 days.[33] Chakrabarti and Liberty claimed a major campaign victory when the government dropped the proposal after it was rejected by the House of Lords in October 2008.[34]

Gooch Gang

In April 2009, Liberty protested against a poster campaign by Greater Manchester Police which depicted a series of notorious Manchester gangsters, the Gooch Gang, as pensioners. The billboard campaign used computer-generated images of Colin Joyce and Lee Amos to show how the "aged" criminals would look when they are finally released from prison in the 2040s. Liberty supported claims that the posters should be removed following complaints from family members of the gangsters, not involved with their relative's criminality, who claimed they were being targeted in the community after the posters were erected.[35]

Cream of Conscience

November 2011 saw Liberty successfully assist in preventing Westminster City Council from implementing a proposed byelaw which would have essentially criminalised "soup runs" within areas of Southwark.[36][37]

Freedom Games?

In response to the vast security systems which were put in place ahead of the London 2012 Olympic Games, Liberty raised concerns with regards to the infringements to civil liberties which would subsequently occur. Liberty argued that neither peaceful protest nor the right to free speech were a factor in ensuring the safety of the Games.[38]

For their eyes only

Another prominent campaign in 2012 was "For their eyes only"[39] in response to the proposed Justice and Security Bill which was introduced in the House of Lords on 28 May 2012. The Bill was introduced as a result of prolific media investigations and litigation surrounding the UK Government and proposed "secret courts"[40] and evidence which would be non-disclosable. A campaign presence and attendance by Shami Chakrabarti at the Liberal Democrats Conference in September 2012 in Brighton successfully led to the passing of a motion by Jo Shaw, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Spokesperson for Holborn and St Pancras, against the Bill.[41] Nevertheless, the substantially unchanged Bill became law in April 2013.[42]

Extradition Watch

A prominent campaign by Liberty was in relation to fairer extradition laws and the opposition of unfair extradition proceedings, the most prominent case being that of Gary McKinnon who gained world wide press attention. Other prolific cases included that of Babar Ahmed, Talha Ahsan and Christopher Tappin.

Gary McKinnon

16 October 2012 saw a victory for Gary McKinnon, after a decade-long ordeal, as the Home Secretary, Theresa May, announced that she was refusing to allow Gary's extradition to the US on the basis that doing so would breach his Human Rights.[43] Gary McKinnon was charged in 2002 of hacking into US military and NASA systems, but maintains that he was looking for UFOs and evidence of free energy suppression. Gary, who has Asperger syndrome, could have spent up to 70 years in a US jail if convicted[44] and it was argued by his lawyers in an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) that because of this factor and because the crime was committed in the UK that he should be tried in the UK. Director of Liberty, Shami Chakrabarti said of the Home Secretary's decision "This is a great day for rights, freedoms and justice in the United Kingdom."[45] The Home Office also admitted that it was the Human Rights Act which essentially prevented the extradition.[46][47]

Gay rights

Liberty intervened in the case of gay couple Michael Black and John Morgan who were turned away from a bed and breakfast because of the owner's religious views. On 18 October 2012 it was ruled that the B&B owner was in breach of equality legislation by unlawfully discriminating against the couple on the basis of their sexual orientation. Liberty's Legal Director James Welch, said of the decision "Hopefully today's ruling signals the death knell of such 'no gays' policies – policies that would never be tolerated if they referred to a person's race, gender or religion."[48][49]

2015 onwards

Save our Human Rights Act

Immediately following the 2015 General Election result, Liberty launched a campaign to save the Human Rights Act. The Conservative Party – which had won a majority – had included a pledge in its manifesto to repeal the Act.[50] Liberty called this "a knowing attempt by Government ministers to hand itself the right to end the universality of human rights and choose when and to whom they apply".[51]

In May 2016, Liberty, Amnesty International UK and the British Institute of Human Rights published a statement opposing repeal of the Act, backed by more than 130 organisations including UK Families Flight 103, Friends of the Earth, Refuge, Quakers in Britain, Stonewall, the Terrence Higgins Trust, the Down's Syndrome Association and the Football Supporters' Federation.[52]

In July 2015, Liberty coordinated an intervention from a number of former Anti-Apartheid campaigners including Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane and Denis Goldberg.[53]

The Deepcut inquests

Liberty represents the families of three of four young soldiers who died of gunshot wounds at Deepcut army barracks between 1995 and 2002 – Cheryl James, Sean Benton and James Collinson.[54] Liberty used the Human Rights Act to compel Surrey Police to disclose evidence about the deaths to the families, which they were then able to use to apply for fresh inquests.

The second inquest into the death of Cheryl James took place at Woking Coroner's Court from January to April 2016. On 3 June 2016, Coroner Brian Barker QC recorded a verdict of suicide, delivering a narrative verdict that strongly condemned the culture at Deepcut.[55] Following the verdict, Liberty called for reform to tackle the "pervasive sexualised culture" in the Armed Forces.

The second inquest into the death of Sean Benton also took place from January to June 2018, also in Woking. On 18 July 2018, Coroner Peter Rook QC also recorded a verdict of suicide and again strongly criticised failings at Deepcut and in the Surrey Police investigation.[56] Following the verdict, Liberty and Sean's family called for all serious crimes within the Armed Forces to be investigated by the civilian police, rather than the Royal Military Police.[57]

Corporal Anne-Marie Ellement

Liberty represented the family of Corporal Anne-Marie Ellement, a Royal Military Police Office who took her own life in 2011 after alleging that she had been raped by two colleagues.[54] The allegations were investigated by military police themselves, and no charges were brought.[58]

An initial inquest in March 2012 recorded a verdict of suicide, but Anne-Marie's family, represented by Liberty, used the Human Rights Act to secure a second, more thorough inquest. They alleged that Anne-Marie had been bullied and that the Royal Military Police had failed in their duty of care.[59]

On 3 July 2014, Nicholas Rheinberg – Coroner in the second inquest – ruled that bullying, the lingering effect of the alleged rape and "work-related despair" had contributed to Anne-Marie's suicide.[58]

In 2013, Anne-Marie's family, represented by Liberty, also used the threat of legal action under the Human Rights Act to compel the Ministry of Defence and Royal Military Police to agree to refer the Anne-Marie's rape allegations for a fresh, independent investigation. This was carried out by RAF Police and Bedfordshire Police, overseen by the Crown Prosecution Service.[60]

On 29 October 2015, the Service Prosecuting Authority announced that two former soldiers had been charged with raping Anne-Marie and stated that "the original decision by the SPA not to prosecute was "wrong.[61] The two men were acquitted on 20 April 2016.[62]

In October 2016, the Royal Military Police apologised to Anne-Marie's family for failings and mistakes in the original rape investigation.[63]

In November 2017, the Ministry of Defence announced it would stop Commanding Officers investigation allegations of sexual assault themselves – a call Liberty had made from Corporal Ellement's 2014 inquest.[64]

Mass surveillance

Following Edward Snowden's whistleblowing in 2013, mass surveillance became a major part of Liberty's work.

Shortly after the revelations, Liberty brought a legal challenge to the UK government's practices with a coalition of other organisations, including Amnesty International, Privacy International and ACLU.[65] In September 2018, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that GCHQ's bulk interception practices had violated privacy rights and failed to provide sufficient safeguards.[66]

In 2014, Liberty represented MPs David Davis and Tom Watson in a legal challenge to the Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act (DRIPA), claiming that it breached privacy rights.[67] The case was referred to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) by the Court of Appeal, and in December 2016 the ECJ ruled that the general and indiscriminate retention of emails and electronic communications by governments was illegal.[68] In January 2018, the Court of Appeal found DRIPA unlawful.[69]

Throughout 2016, Liberty campaigned against what it believed to be a serious lack of privacy safeguards in the Investigatory Powers Bill. The Bill passed in November 2016. In January 2017, Liberty launched a crowdfunder to raise funds to challenge the Act in the High Court, raising more than more than £53,000 in a week.[70]

Liberty's challenge to various parts of the Investigatory Powers Act is ongoing. In April 2018, the High Court issued its ruling on the first part of the challenge, giving the government six months to rewrite core parts of the Act, which it found incompatible with EU law.[71]

Equal pensions for same-sex couples

Liberty represented John Walker in a legal challenge to a loophole in the Equality Act which let employers exempt same-sex spouses from spousal pension benefits. Upon retirement from Innospec, John had discovered that his husband would only receive a few hundred pounds a year. If he were married to a woman, she would have received around £45,000.

In July 2017, the Supreme Court found the loophole unlawful under EU law.[72]

Hostile environment policies

Liberty campaigned against the introduction of the 'hostile environment' policies and has since campaigned for their repeal.[73] It has also campaigned against data-sharing arrangements between immigration enforcement and public services including hospitals, schools and police. In August 2017, Liberty exposed that the Home Office had secretly gained access to nationality data on homeless people in London.[74]

Facial recognition

In June 2018, Liberty announced it would be representing Cardiff resident Ed Bridges in a legal challenge to South Wales Police's use of facial recognition technology in public spaces.[75] Liberty argues that the technology "is dangerously inaccurate and has the potential to trample on the freedoms we all take for granted".[76]

Immigration detention

In January 2017, Liberty launched a campaign calling for a 28-day statutory limit on immigration detention in the UK.[19]

Organisation

Liberty is both a non-profit company that employs staff and runs campaigns, and a member-based association. Both work closely with the Civil Liberties Trust. Liberty is divided into three organisations:

• Liberty – an unincorporated association

A democratically-run membership association, which individuals can join.[77]

• Liberty – the company

A non-profit company that employs staff and runs campaigns etc. It leases buildings and works closely with the Civil Liberties Trust (see below).[77]

• The Civil Liberties Trust

The Civil Liberties Trust (CLT) is a registered charity (No. 1024948), independent of Liberty. The CLT has no staff, but commissions Liberty to conduct charitable work such as providing public advice and information, also research, policy work, and litigation.[78]

Causes and associations

The main issues Liberty is campaigning in 2018 include:

• Mass surveillance
• Police use of facial recognition and other intrusive surveillance technology such as IMSI catchers
• Human rights in the UK after Brexit
• Hostile environment policies and public service data-sharing with UK immigration enforcement
• Soldiers' rights, in particularly campaigning for an overhaul of the military justice system
• Immigration detention
• Public spaces protection orders

In addition, Liberty campaigns on a number of 'core' issues that remain constant:

• Torture
• Privacy
• Free speech
• Equality
• Protest rights
• Policing

General secretaries and directors

1932: Ronald Kidd
1942: Elizabeth Acland Allen
1960: Martin Ennals
1966: Tony Smythe
1973: Martin Loney
1974: Patricia Hewitt
1984: Larry Gostin
1985: Sarah Spencer
1989: Andrew Puddephatt
1995: John Wadham
2003: Shami Chakrabarti
2016: Martha Spurrier

Publications

Liberty produces briefings on its campaign issues, as well as researching and writing reports on particular areas of human rights and civil liberties.

Reports

• A Guide to the Hostile Environment: The border controls dividing our communities and how we can bring them down. April 2018.
• Bringing human rights home? What's at stake for rights in the incorporation of EU law after Brexit. February 2018.
• Military Justice: Proposals for a fair and independent military justice system. June 2014. ISBN 978-0-946088-62-1
• A Journalist's Guide to the Human Rights Act. January 2011. ISBN 978-0-946088-60-7
• Parliamentarian's Guide to the Human Rights Act (PDF) (Report). September 2010. ISBN 978-0-946088-58-4.
• Common Sense - Reflections on the HRA book (PDF) (Report). June 2010. ISBN 978-0-946088-57-7.
• Comparative Law Study - Pre-charge Detention (PDF) (Report). July 2010.
• a Manifesto for Justice (PDF) (Report). the Bar Council. December 2009.
• Churchill's Legacy - the Conservative Case for the HRA (PDF) (Report). October 2009. ISBN 978-0-946088-56-0.
• Overlooked: Surveillance and personal privacy in modern Britain (PDF) (Report). December 2007.
• Setting the record straight: the Dangers of ‘Off the Record’ Briefings to the Media During Police Counter-Terrorist Operations (PDF) (Report). May 2007.
• Litigating the Public Interest, July 2006[79]
• Twelve Point Terror Package Initial Thoughts, August 2005[80]
• Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005 summary[81]
• Impact of Anti-Terror Measures on British Muslims, June 2004[82]
• ID Card Bill key points, 2004[83]
• A New 'Suspect Community', October 2003[84]
• Rights of victims of crime, February 2003[85]
• Magistrates Court Review, February 2003[86]
• Casualty of War – Counter Terror Legislation in Rural England, 2003[87]
• An Independent Police Complaints Commission, April 2000[88]

Policy Papers

Being a cross-party, non-party political organisation, Liberty regularly publishes briefings to MPs and peers, to provide consultation to parliamentary committees and to respond to consultations on issues relating to human rights and civil liberties in the UK.[89]

See also

• American Civil Liberties Union, an American equivalent[90]
• Civil libertarianism

References

1. Liberty – Constitution and Rules Archived 27 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine | As amended by the AGM 19 May 2007
2. Liberty Archived 7 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine | Entry in the Encyclopedia of British and Irish Political Organisations
3. Bowcott, Owen (31 March 2016). "Liberty names barrister Martha Spurrier as new director". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 31 March 2016. Retrieved 31 March 2016.
4. "Liberty". liberty-human-rights.org.uk. Archived from the original on 10 November 2012. Retrieved 25 October 2012.
5. Dyson, Brian (1994): Liberty in Britain 1934–1994: a diamond jubilee history of the National Council for Civil Liberties. Civil Liberties Trust.
6. "The Guardian and Observer digital archive". the Guardian. Archived from the original on 17 November 2011. Retrieved 12 January 2011.
7. Administrative/Biographical History Archived 16 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine of Liberty | Liberty Archive on the Archives hub at the Centre of great research [retrieved: 16 January 2013]
8. A.W. Brian Simpson, "In the Highest Degree Odious", p. 391, notes that the NCCL "had become an enthusiastic supporter of detention without trial".
9. Richard Thurlow, "Fascism in Britain", I.B. Tauris, 1998, p. 199.
10. "Desert Island Discs featuring Shami Chakrabarti". Desert Island Discs. 2 November 2008. BBC. Radio 4. Archived from the original on 10 February 2009.
11. Chakrabarti, Shami (20 May 2007). "So much freedom lost and on my watch". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 3 August 2012. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
12. Column Archived 31 May 2015 at the Wayback Machine by David Aaronovitch for The Times
13. Jamie Doward. "Profile: Shami Chakrabarti, the undaunted freedom fighter". the Guardian. Archived from the original on 10 May 2017. Retrieved 4 December 2016.
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External links

• https://www.libertyhumanrights.org.uk
Authority control • ISNI: 0000 0001 0192 9346
• LCCN: n80046342
• NKC: vse20181005512
• VIAF: 151870378
• WorldCat Identities: viaf-151870378

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National Council for Civil Liberties
by Working Class Movement Library (WCML)
June, 2010

Pamphlets of the National Council for Civil Liberties (now Liberty)

The National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL) was founded in 1934, by Ronald Kidd, to defend ‘the whole spirit of British freedom', after he had witnessed brutal police attacks at the 1932 Hunger Marches.

From its foundation it has worked to protect civil liberties and promote human rights. In the 1930s-1950s the key issues were the fight against fascism, fighting major miscarriages of justice and mental health reform.

THE STORY OF THE CAIRO FORCES' PARLIAMENT
The national Council for Civil Liberties has always interested itself in freedom of speech. It has recognised that during the war certain restrictions have been necessary in the interests of defeating Fascism, but it insists that those restrictions must be clearly related to that objective.
The Civil Service Branch of the Council comprises Civil Servants who are individual members of the Council, and it realises that Civil Servants have a close affinity with men and women serving in the Forces. Both come under the control of the Government in its capacity as employer, and Civil Servants know that liberty is indivisible. If the very limited freedom of our Forces colleagues is still further curtailed in an arbitrary manner without any reasonable justification in the national interest, then the freedom not only of Civil Servants but of all men and women is placed in jeopardy, and so in the interests of our fundamental liberties we tell this story.

In the 1960s-1980s the NCCL became more involved in equality; campaigning for women's rights and against race discrimination. In the 1990s-2000s they campaigned against the detention without charge of Iraqi nationals in the Gulf War. The Human Rights Act was passed in the late 1990s and the NCCL have used this to fight some landmark cases and the excesses of the ‘War on Terror'.

The National Council for Civil Liberties is now called Liberty and celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2009.

We hold a collection of 5 boxes of the National Council for Civil Liberties papers including annual reports and pamphlets. Ref no. ORG/NCCL

Standing up for your RIGHTS!, liberty, National Council for Civil Liberties

Civil Liberty: NCCL annual report, 1971

Resources about the National Council for Civil Liberties in the library collection

• Brian Dyson, Liberty in Britain, 1934-1994: a diamond jubilee history of the National Council for Civil Liberties (1994) - Shelfmark: N26

• Sylvia Scaffardi, Fire under the carpet: working for civil liberties in the thirties (1986) - Shelfmark: H25

• National Council for Civil Liberties, Civil liberty (1937-1990 - not complete) - Shelfmark: AB Periodicals main sequence

• National Council for Civil Liberties, Civil liberty agenda (1991-1997) - Shelfmark: AB Periodicals main sequence

• National Council for Civil Liberties, Rights (1973-1984 - not complete) - Shelfmark: AB Periodicals main sequence

• National Council for Civil Liberties, Liberty: protecting civil liberties, promoting human rights (1998-2004 - not complete) - Shelfmark: AB Periodicals main sequence

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