RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP
This is an annual initiative which is carried out in conjunction with a partner organization. The Fellowship is intended to facilitate research with a socialist orientation, consistent with the broad aims of the Trust. One of the aims of the initiative is to provide an opportunity for young researchers to develop their research interests and capacities in a politically-focused environment, and thus over time enhance the human resources which can support radical research.

In the first year of this initiative Compass was chosen as the partner organisation and the project was tremendously successful. Zoe Gannon was the Fellowship beneficiary based at Compass and she completed an important piece of research about the regulation of the pharmaceutical industry that was published in Autumn 2008. In the second year two fellowships were chosen with each of Ruskin College and the TUC. In the third year, one fellowship at The Equality Trust. Jacob Mohun has recently commenced the next Fellowship at The New Economics Foundation .

Nina Fishman’s Arthur Horner: A Political Biography was published in 2010.
For more information on the book see http://www.lwbooks.co.uk/books/archive/arthurhorner.html.

Nina Fishman, trustee of the Barry Amiel & Norman Melburn trust , died on Saturday 5th December. Neal Lawson remembers her.
No one had more layers than Nina Fishman. She would arrive at any meeting at any time of the year decked in waistcoats, coats, overcoats and then her whole cycling regalia. As soon as these wrappings were off she would be off: "You see Neal it's the same as the problem in the 1940s when Arthur Horner was General Secretary of the NUM ...." And she would sweep through the historical significance of this or that event as it related to today.
Nina was always finishing yet another Labour history book - deep in research and thought. Her political passions were electoral reform and a social Europe and when I say passions I mean passions. She never gave up on either, no matter how slow the progress, always earnest, always positive and always looking for answers.

Nina was a great friend of Compass. She prodded, pushed and backed us. She opened doors to others and actively supported what we did. She believed in us in a way that gave you the strength and determination to go on even when things got rough or difficult. We couldn't let people like Nina down. She was always "so pleased" to hear good news or help you through harder times.

She had been ill with cancer but still unexpectedly and peacefully Nina died on Saturday. Our thoughts are with Phil and her family. We grieve with them because we feel the loss too; of a friend and a true comrade.

Nina Fishman had lots of layers and those of us who were lucky enough to know her loved all of them.

Neal Lawson

News & events

Dave Cope's remarkable BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF GB is now available on line

Dave Cope’s CPGB Bibliography is a hugely valuable resource for those of us involved with both researching and supporting research in the politics of the left. With 10 categories of materials produced by the CP, and 4 categories of material about the CP users can efficiently and quickly drill down through the database. The keyword facility is a useful additional tool, especially as it includes in its scope the (where applicable) “comments” field, with its explications and often fascinating nippets of additional information’.
John Powles, Head of Special Collections at Glasgow Caledonian University

Long after its dissolution, the history of the Communist Party of Great Britain continues to capture the interest and imagination of academics, writers and researchers. There can have been few political projects that generated such an intensity of debate, and produced such an enormous volume of literature. Despite its relatively small size, the influence of the CPGB - in the fields of politics, theory, culture, social policy, and anti-racism - was enormous.
Now, for the first time, through Dave Cope’s definitive survey, researchers can gain a true picture of the breath-taking pace of production, and ambitious range of projects undertaken by the Party during its 71year history.
Available to all on the web, this bibliography represents both a labour of love and an immensely valuable practical tool for anyone with an interest in Left-wing politics. It is to be highly recommended as an example of scholarship and clarity, and as an example of the manner in which the internet can be used to share, document, and democratise knowledge of our radical past.
John Callow, Marx Memorial Library