Abstract

  This study examines the behavioural norms promoted by the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) for its members in the 1920s.

  The CPGB was established in 1920 as a British section of the Communist International (Comintern). During its formative years, CPGB officials demanded a high degree of self-discipline from its members. They were convinced that the path to revolution in Britain was being paved by the Communist Party, which they regarded as the bastion of disciplined Communists.

  CPGB officials defined disciplined Communists as frugal, abstaining from indulgence, and earnestly working to maintain their physical health to ensure their capacity for revolutionary activity. V.I. Lenin was held up as a model of Communist norms and discipline. The cult of Lenin was further consolidated following his death in January 1924. By the end of the decade, Lenin had become the epitome of Communist ideology and the practices represented by the CPGB.

  However, the CPGB’s puritanical policy was repellent to many young CPGB members and workers and impeded membership growth. By the end of the 1920s, the CPGB had been unsuccessful in implementing its policy in Britain and in producing disciplined Communists, while the Comintern’s directives for closer ties with the working class also went unfulfilled.