Poetry Corner: [To Margot Heinemann] by John Cornford

[To Margot Heinemann] by John Cornford

John Cornford from a relatively privileged families and attended Cambridge University. It was at Cambridge that he met and fell in love with Margot Heinemann and where they both joined the Communist Party. John’s mother, Frances Crofts Cornford, was a poet, and he himself was already writing poems at school.

After gaining a BA first-class honours in History, he became the first Englishman to enlist against Franco in the Spanish Civil War and was killed in battle on the Andujar and Cordoba Front on 27 or 28 December 1936.

Cornford wrote just a few poems in Spain, including A Letter from Aragon, Full Moon at Tierz: Before The Storming of Huesca and the poem featured here [To Margot Heinemann].

YCL100: Conquer Your Future

Robin Talbot explains why you should celebrate 100 years of the Young Communist League of Britain, 1921-2021. Today (24 December 2020) the YCL will be launching a new online platform for celebrating our centenary. For the next 100 days, we will be counting down towards the live launch of our 100 year celebrations, starting in April and reaching a finale in April 2022.

Poetry Corner: Call to Account! by Vladimir Mayakovsky

Call to Account! by Vladimir Mayakovsky, 1917.

Vladimir Mayakovsky (1893-1930) was a Bolshevik revolutionary and came to be one of the most celebrated communist poets in the Soviet Union and internationally. He was also a talented playwright, artist and actor who used art as a medium to convey the politics and ideals of the new socialist state.

CP to hold online feminist festival on ‘Sisterhood, Socialism & Struggle’ in January 2021

The Communist Party is organising a new year marxist feminist festival celebrating ‘Sisterhood, Socialism & Struggle’ in Britain and across the world. The free weekend event, January 16 -17 2021, will provide an opportunity for women and men on the left to enjoy culture, discussion and debate focused on the importance of women’s liberation for the whole human race.

Disability and Austerity

Since the imposition of austerity on our country in 2010, the working class have felt the effects of underfunded public services and brutal cuts to the lifelines we all rely on.

Remembering Dolores Ibárruri – la Pasionaria

Today marks the 125th anniversary of the birth of Dolores Ibárruri – La Pasionaria – the Spanish Republican and communist politician of the Spanish Civil War, known for her now famous slogan ¡No Pasarán! (“They shall not pass”) during the Battle for Madrid in November 1936. Here we reproduce a short biography of her life and contribution to the struggle.