A Popular Vision: The Arts and the Left in New Zealand 1930-1950

Chapter Three: The Left Book Club

Chapter Three: The Left Book Club

1 S. Samuels, 'The Left Book Club', in W. Laqueur and G. Mosse (eds.), The Left-wing Intellectuals Between the Wars, 1919-1939. New York: Harper and Row, 1966, p.65
2 B. Pimlott, Labour and the Left in the 1930s. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977, p.155
3 V. Gollancz, quoted in S. Hodges, Gollancz. The Story of a Publishing House 1928-1978. London: Victor Gollancz Ltd, 1978, p.118
4 J. Lewis, The Left Book Club. An Historical Record. London: Victor Gollancz Ltd, 1970, pp.13-14
5 Left Book Club. 'Please' leaflet, 1936. H. O. Roth. Private collection
6 LBC leaflets. Roth collection
7 Gollancz, editorial, Left News, Nov. 1938
8 P.B.F., The Queen's Hall Meeting', Tomorrow, 2 Mar. 1938 (v.4, n.9), pp.283, 285
9 LBC leaflet, 1938. Roth collection
10 LBC leaflet, [nd]. Roth collection; Pimlott, Labour and the Left p.159
11 Samuels, 'The Left Book Club', p.76
12 Ibid.,p.76;Lewis, TheLeftBookClub,p.27
13 Quoted in ibid., p.78
14 F. Cook, 'National Rally of Left Book Club', Tomorrow, 2 Mar. 1938 (v.4, n.9), p.283
15 Samuels, 'The Left Book Club', p.86
16 C. F. Saunders, 'The Left Book Club', Tomorrow, 21 June 1939 (v.5, n.17), p.529
17 J. Paul. Interview with author, 23 Aug. 1985; P. W. Day, 'Blackwood Paul', Comment, 23, May 1965, pp.10-11
18 The Left Book Club. Conference Decisions', Tomorrow, 26 Apr. 1939 (v.5, n.13), p.412; Left BookClub (Wellington group). Second annual report, 21 Feb. 1940. C.F. Saunders Papers. Jack Locke Deposit: item 10. University of Canterbury Library. Membership figures of LBC groups have also been derived from Tomorrow, 15 Mar. 1939 (v.5, n.10), p.316; reports in the Left News; Report of National Committee New Zealand Left Book Club Association fortheyear 1939-40. Locke Deposit: 10. See Appendix 1 for membership figures of other LBC groups in New Zealand.
19 Proposed Rules of the New Zealand Association ofLeft Book Clubs, [1939]. Roth collection
20 Amendments to Original Draft Constitution submitted by the Dunedin Left Book Club Group, [1939]. Roth collection
21 V. Christensen, secretary, Manawatu LBC group, correspondence, Manawatu Evening Standard 5 Dec. 1939, p.6
22 Samuels, 'The Left Book Club', p.65
23 Report of National Committee . . . 1939-40: Summary of Group Reports, p.2
24 S.M.Skudder, "'Bringing It Home". New Zealand Responses to the Spanish Civil War 1936-1939'. DPhil thesis, Waikato University, 1986, p.381. Information about Saunders is also derived from Saunders Papers. Locke Deposit: 10; New Zealand Society for Closer Relations with the USSR. Christchurch Branch. Executive minutes and other papers. H. W. Rhodes. Private collection; Rhodes. Interview with author, 4 June 1985
25 Saunders, The Left Book Club', p.529
26 'The Left Book Club. Conference Decisions', p.412; remits for first LBC national conference, April 1939. Roth collection
27 Report of National Committee . . . 1939-40: Remits, p.[4]
28 Workers' Weekly, 25 Nov. 1938, p.8; Left News, Oct. 1938, p.1019; Report of Na- tional Committee . . . 1939-40; People's Voice, 18 Aug. 1939, p.8; The Left Book Club. Conference Decisions'; People's Voice, 8 Dec. 1939, p.8
29 See below, pp. 83-4
30 Tomorrow, 21 Dec. 1938 (v.5, n.4), p.115; Workers' Weekly, 5 Nov. 1937, p.3; Left News, Dec. 1938, p.1100; programme, Till the Day I Die, Dec. 1937. Locke Deposit: 10; Left Book Club (Christchurch group). Notice of annual general meeting, 8 Dec. 193?. Ibid.
31 EveningStar, 3 Sept. 1938, p.13; Otago Daily Times, 3 Sept. 1938, p.19,17 July 1939, p.11. The Dunedin group's dramatic productions were also reported in Tomorrow, 1 Feb. 1939 (v.5, n.7), p.210; People's Voice, 18 Aug. 1939, p.8; Left News, Oct. 1938, p.1018
32 Rhodes interview. The inaugural meeting of the Christchurch group was reported in Workers' Weekly, 30 July 1937, p.4
33 Left News, Dec. 1938, p.uoo; Workers' Weekly, 5 Nov. 1937, p.3
34 Rhodes interview
35 Ibid.
36 Left News, Oct. 1938, p.1018; G. H. Brown, Colin McCahotr. Artist. Wellington: A.H. and A. W. Reed, 1984, p.13; E. Olssen, A History ofOtago. Dunedin: John McIndoe, 1984, p.192; R. Kennedy. Interview with author, 26 Jan. 1987; P. and W. Powell. Interview with author, 22 Oct. 1989
37 Left News, Oct. 1938, p.1019
38 Ibid., Feb. 1939, p.1171; Report of National Committee . . . 1939-40: Summary of Group Reports, p.4
39 Left News, Sept. 1938, p.980
40 AJ. Redfern to C. F. Saunders, 25 May 1939. Locke Deposit: 10
41 J. Locke. Interview with author, 6 June 1985
42 LBC (Wellington group), second annual report; LBC (Wellington group). Bulletin No.1, 31 May 1939. Locke Deposit: 10; A. R. Perry. Interview with author, 15 Oct. 1985; A,M. Finlay. Interview with author, 5 Sept. 1985; E. Locke. Interview with author, 6 June 1985
43 LBC (Wellington group), second annual report, p.2
44 Finlay interview
45 Workers' Weekly, 5 Nov. 1937, p.3, 9 Dec. 1938, p.4; LBC (Wellington group), second annual report; Left News, Aug. 1939
46 Left News, Oct. 1938, p.1019
47 Report of National Committee . . . 1939-40: Summary of Group Reports, pp.3-4
48 Report of National Committee . . . 1939-40, p.5
49 Mass Observation (1937), quoted in S. Laing, 'Presenting "Things as They Are": John Somerfield's May Day and Mass Observation', in F. Gloversmith (ed.), Class Culture and Social Change. A New View of the 1930s. Sussex: Harvester Press, 1980, pp.153, 156
50 LBC (Wellington group), second annual report, pp.2-3
51 'Mass Observation. NZ Organisation Formed', Workers'Weekly, 5 May 1939, p.4
52 'Group Observation', Salient, 21 June 1939 (v.2, n.11), p.3
53 Ibid.
54 Tomorrow, 20 Nov. 1935 (v.2, n.4), p.16, 15 Apr. 1936 (v.2, n.20), p.26; J. H. Robb, The Life and Death of Official Social Research in New Zealand 1956-1940. Occasional Papers in Sociology and Social Work, 7. Wellington: Department of Sociology, Victoria University of Wellington, 1987
55 Finlay interview
56 Tomorrow, 26 May 1937 (v.3, n.15), p.452
57 Statutory Regulations, 1939, p.569
58 Ibid., 1940, p.63
59 The principal source for this discussion of wartime censorship is N. M. Taylor, The New Zealand People at War: The Home Front. Wellington: Historical Publications Branch, Department of Internal Affairs/ Government Printer, 1986, pp.997-1013
60 'Censorship!', Union Record 15 Jan. 1941 (v.1, n.19), p.5
61 Co-operative Book News, May 1942 (v.1, n.5), p.5
62 Quoted in Taylor, The Home Front, p.1007
63 'What is the Left Book Club?', Tomorrow, 3 Apr. 1940 (v.6, n.11), p.351
64 'An Invitation', [nd]. Locke Deposit: 10
65 J.W.D. Hall to J. A. McCullough, 24 Oct. 1939. Roth collection
66 Workers'Weekly, 5 Nov. 1937, p.3, 9 Dec. 1938, p.4
67 'What is the Left Book Club?'
68 Workers' Weekly, 28 Apr. 1939, p.4; 'Report of National Committee . . . 1939-40', p.5
69 Manawatu Evening Standard, 12 Dec. 1939, p.6
70 Saunders, 'The Left Book Club'; Manawatu Evening Standard, 13 Dec. 1939, p.2
71 Ibid., 7 Dec. 1939, p.8, 14 Dec. 1939, p.10, 8 Dec. 1939, p.2
72 Saunders, 'The Left Book Club'
73 LBC (Wellington group). Bulletin No.1
74 'What is the Left Book Club?'
75 Report of National Committee . . . 1939-40: Summary of Group Reports, p.2
76 Workers' Weekly, 9 Dec. 1938, p.4
77 Samuels, 'The Left Book Club', p.83
78 Ibid., p.81
79 Report of National Committee . . . 1939-40, p.6
80 'Announcing the New Left Book Club', 1949. Roth collection
81 A. Jackson-Thomas to secretary, Wellington Co-operative Book Society, 19 Jan. 1949. Wellington Co-operative Book Society Ltd. Papers, 1938-1970. Ms Papers 1122: folder 25. Alexander Turnbull Library
82 WCBS secretary to A. Jackson-Thomas, 14 Jan. 1949. WCBS Papers: 25