- Plebs' League
The Plebs' League was a British educational and political organisation which originated around
Marxist ideals.Central to the formation of the League was
Noah Ablett , aminer from theRhondda who was at the core of a group atRuskin College, Oxford who opposed the lecturers' opposition to Marxism. In the 1907 - 8 academic year, Ablett began leading unofficial classes in Marxistpolitical economy which were attended byEbby Edwards , among others. Ablett returned to South Wales in 1908, where he began promoting Marxist education through local branches of theIndependent Labour Party . [http://www.whatnextjournal.co.uk/Pages/History/Nextstep.html Syndicalism in South Wales] , Bob Pitt]A mixture of students and former students at Ruskin founded the Plebs' League in November 1908, also launching the "Plebs' Magazine". ["Proletcult", Eden Paul (1921)] In the first issue of the "Plebs", dated February 1909, Ablett contributed an article on the need for independent
working class education. ["Biographical Dictionary of European Labor Leaders", A. T. Lane (1995) p3] The League ran classes teaching Marxist principles and later syndicalist ideas."The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales". John Davies,Nigel Jenkins , Menna Baines and Peredur Lynch (2008) pg687 ISBN 9780708319536]During 1909, student agitation for Marxism continued at Ruskin. The students were supported by the Principal, Dennis Hird, and when he was dismissed the students went on strike, refusing to attend classes. The rebels formed the
Central Labour College , which worked closely with the Plebs' League.By 1910, the Plebs' League was active in South Wales, Lancashire and Scotland. Activists included
A. J. Cook ,William Mainwaring and John Maclean. [ [http://www.marxists.org/archive/hallas/works/1986/12/ruskin.htm The Ruskin Debate: Their college or ours?] , "Socialist Worker Review 93",Duncan Hallas (1986)]The League had sympathies with
De Leonism , primarily represented in Britain by the Socialist Labour Party. It later had a relationship with theCommunist Party of Great Britain ."Encyclopedia of British and Irish Political Organizations", Peter Barberis, John McHugh and Mike Tyldesley (2000) p157]The League was absorbed by the National Central Labour College the year after the
1926 United Kingdom general strike , although the "Plebs' Magazine" continued to appear for many years.References
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