Christian Left Pamphlets
| N° | Author | Name | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Collective | What is the Christian Left? | 1938 |
| 2 | Kenneth Ingram | Will Britain go Fascist? | 1938 |
| 3 | Kenneth Ingram | The Christian Left and the Churches | 1939 |
| 4 | Fanny Street | Can the Christian Stay out of Politics? | 1939 |
| 5 | Collective | Where Do We Stand Now? | 1940 |
The purpose of the Christian Left
1. The Christian Left has arisen out of the recognition of the religious nature of the present critical stage in the transformation of society. This recognition shows us that religion is about human community; that a conception of God which is not a conception of human community is meaningless; and that a religion which does not effectively transform human relations in every sphere of life is an illusion.
2. Jesus proclaimed the truth about human life that man cannot fulfil his true nature except in communion with his fellows. The acceptance or rejection of this truth is expressed in the manner in which the material means of life are produced and made available. The effort to deny this truth lies at the root of the present world crisis. Consequently our society is under judgment, as is shown by the collapse of the social and international order.
3. The true nature of man is asserting itself in the demand for a change in the organization of society which will abolish the private ownership of the means of production, and establish production for use in the place of production for profit. It is asserting itself in the desire for an organization of human life that will abolish political and racial domination and establish a universal commonwealth of peoples.
4. The emergence of Socialism in the U.S.S.R. has brought mankind to a new phase of its development. The refusal elsewhere to proceed to a Socialist stage is a deliberate denial of equality and freedom, and thwarts progress towards a universal community.
5. Fascism has its immediate source in this refusal and is the organized form of it. It suppresses the spiritual nature of man and exalts race and nationality. It is a false religion, the negation of Christianity, not because it attacks Christian doctrine and the organized Church, but because it opposes the creative process of Christianity in the world.
6. It is the religious task of the working-class to bring about the Socialist transformation. We therefore identify ourselves with the political struggle of the Socialist working-class movement.
7. The task of the Christian community is not to save Christianity but to save the world. If it seeks to save its own life it will lose it. The life of a Christian community is one of freedom, equality and brotherhood. These are mere words unless they are embodied in the structure of human life, and their extension and realization over the whole field of human life is the purpose of men are not merely the basis of personal life, they are an inherent part of it and the criterion of its reality. In our day the economic integration of humanity determines in large measure what forms of personal life are possible. As result it is no longer possible to maintain or extend the personal life that Christianity demands of us without a transformation of the existing political and economic structure of human life as a whole. It is because we realize that the acceptance or rejection of Christianity is at stake in it that we commit ourselves to an active part in the struggle for Socialism.
8. We recognize that the task of the Christian Left is the true task of the Church. The fact of our existence points to the failure of the Churches. In proclaiming our message: in insisting that the Churches have failed: in pointing the signs of the times which show the inevitability of the transformation: and in preparing the minds of men for its oncoming by putting our lives at the service of the working-class movement, we see our religious task.
(This text was published at the end of three of the five short pamphlets)
Christian Left Members
Warning: this table is a copy from the Wiki’s Christian Left page. The latter is the canonical version.
| First Name | Last Name | Religion1 | Politic2 | Wrote |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Otto | Bauer | |||
| Eugen | Benedikt | |||
| Oscar | Bock | |||
| Alfred | Cannon | |||
| David | Cass Beggs | |||
| Barbara | Cass Beggs | |||
| X and Y | Cornford | |||
| Zoe | Fairfield | |||
| Michael | Fielding | |||
| John | Grosser | |||
| J. | Jordan | |||
| Kenneth | Ingram | An Outline of Sexual Morality (1922); The Changing Order – How a new parson came to the village and disquieted it with strange practices, and how the meaning of Anglo-Catholicism was expounded to the squire (1925); A portrait of six Christian heroes: St. Appian, St. Alban (1926); Why I believe (1927); Out of Darkness: a drama of Flanders (1928); The Coming Civilization (1935); Christianity Right or Left? Which Way Will Religion Move in the World Crisis (1937); The Christian challenge to Christians (1938); “Will Britain go Fascist?” (1938); “The Christian Left and the Churches” (1939); “Defeat of War: Can Pacifism Achieve it?” (1939); Christianity, Communism and Society (1951); Easter journey (1953) | ||
| (Father) Iredell / Iredale | ||||
| Doug | Jolly | |||
| Helen | Kennipcott | |||
| Grossvater | Kolnaï | |||
| Trude | Kurz | |||
| Fritz | Lener | |||
| John | Lewis | part. ed. Christianity and the Social Revolution | ||
| X | Macky / Mac | |||
| Jean | McConnell | |||
| Douglas | McLean | |||
| W.D | McClelland | Attracted by Communist Party[3] | ||
| X | Mansfield | |||
| Elisabeth | MacMurray | |||
| John | Macmurray | |||
| Caspar | Maier | |||
| Douglas | McLean | Communist | ||
| Kenneth | Muir | |||
| Mary | Muir | |||
| Agnes | Murray | |||
| Gilbert | Murray | |||
| Jack | (Poterill?) | High Anglican priest | Left-wing | |
| Marjorie | Reid (née Young) | |||
| Niebuhr | Reinhold | |||
| Kenneth | Ridyard | |||
| Norman | Ridyard | “Devout and proselytizing Christian”[4] | (Chemist at King’s College, University of London) | |
| Timothy | (Room?) | |||
| Leonard | Schiff | Anglican | Left-Wing | |
| Esther (Tess) | Simpson | |||
| John | Strachey | |||
| Fanny | Street | “Can the Christian Stay out of Politics?“ (1939) | ||
| Tammy | Streep | |||
| Leo | Szilard | |||
| x | Tatlow | |||
| Paul | Tillich | (Jewish background) | ||
| x | Tissingdon | |||
| Helen | Turton | |||
| Eleanor | Ullman | |||
| Helen | Ullman | |||
| Gregory | Vlastos | |||
| John | Wesley |
See also : Irene Grant’s conversation with Kari Levitt [30/03]
The Christian Left in the KPA
| KPA | Name | Year |
|---|---|---|
| 20/10 | News Sheet of the Auxiliary Christian Left/Christian Left, nos. 1-19 | 1936•1940 |
| 20/11 | Christian Left Group Bulletin, no. 1 – “Trotzkyism. Earlier Works of Marx” | 1936–1938 |
| 20/12 | Christian Left Group Bulletin, no. 2 – “Notes of a Week’s Study on The Early Writings of Karl Marx and Summary of Discussions on British Working Class Consciousness” | 1938 |
| 20/13 | Christian Left Group Bulletin, no. 3 – “Critique of Pacifism” | 1938 |
| 20/14 | Christian Left Group “Russia in the World” – Bulletins for Socialists, no. 4 | 1939 |
| 20/15 | Christian Left Group “The Cry of the Chartists 1839-1939”, Bulletins for Socialists, no. | 1939 |
| 20/16 | Christian Left Group – “Coercion and Defence” – Bulletins for Socialists, no. 6 | 1939 |
| 20/17 | Christian Left Group Gerrard Winstanley – “The Law of Freedom by Gerrard Winstansley 1652” – Bulletins for Socialists, no. 7 | 1942 |
| 20/18 | Ukrainian Problem (Christian Left Group Draft Manuscript for Bulletin 16, no. 1) | 1938 |
| 21/03 | Christian Movement Group – Synopsis. Three talks on “Social Values in the Post-war World” | 1936 |
| 21/07 | Christian Left Group – Lancing St. Schools | 1937 |
| 21/08 | Christian Left Group – “Nationalism in Europe” – Leeds University, Student Christian Movement Group | 1937 |
| 21/09 | “Church and State on the Continent” – Newark | 1937 |
| 21/14 | The Christian Auxiliary Movement Papers presented at a Conference on the “Christian Answer to Fascism” – Oriel House – St. Asaph, North Wales | 1938 |
| 21/21 | Christian Left Group – Draft memoranda and articles with participation of Karl Polanyi | 1934•1936 |
| 21/22 | Christian Left Group – The Auxiliary Movement – “Statements from Christian Left Training Week-ends” | 1937 |
| 21/23 | Christian Left Group – Minutes and agendas of meetings. File consists of hand-written minutes of the Christian Left meeting. January 18, 1936, 10p | 1936•1937 |
| 21/24 | Christian Left Group Enquiry Committee – Minutes of meetings | 1936 |
| 21/26 | Christian Left Group “Notes on Policy Conference” | 1934•1940 |
| 21/27 | Christian Left Group Correspondence | 1936•1940 |
| 21/28 | Student Christian Movement Pamphlet | 1969-1972 |
| 21/29 | Newspaper clippings | 1935•1936 |
| 21/33 | “Christian Left Study Circle” | 1935 |
| 21/35 | “The Christian Left, The Introductory Sequence” | 1984 |
| 30/03 | Transcript of an Interview with Irene Grant | 1984-1986 |
| 14/02 | Irene and Donald Grant: Austrian anti-fascist material | 1934–1945 |
| 56/13 | Correspondence: Karl Polanyi and Ilona Duczyńska – Irene Grant | 1929-1964 |
| 56/14 | Correspondence: Karl Polanyi and Ilona Duczyńska – Irene Grant | 1933-1969 |
| 56/15 | Correspondence: Irene Grant | 1938-1980 |