Nathan Moore
Paper Title:
Capitalism on Trial: ‘The Great Communist Trial of 1925,’ and British Spaces of Governance
Institution:
George Mason University European History Graduate Program
Abstract:
In 1925 the British Government brought twelve of the leading British Communists to trial
for publishing “seditious” literature in Communist newspapers and pamphlets that called on
soldiers to “turn their weapons on their oppressors.” After a weeklong trial that drew thousands
of Communist supporters into the streets to protest and parade, all twelve men were found guilty
and sentenced from six to twelve months in prison based on their previous arrest record. What
may look like a victory for the British Government was in actuality a colossal failure. Even
though they achieved their goal of locking up the leading Communists, they gave the
Communists the opportunity to defend themselves in court, which they used to give long
speeches that basically “put capitalism on trial.” These speeches were then sold as pamphlets by
the Communist Party as propaganda. In this case it is clear that the Old Bailey Courthouse,
which was supposed to act as a space of governance and display of British power, was turned
into a subversive space where that very power could be challenged. And just as state power was
being challenged in the courtroom, it was also being challenged in the streets and parks of
London where numerous protests took place from the moment that the Communists were
arrested until the last man left prison. This trial offers the unique opportunity to examine British
spaces of governance in the interwar years and show how these spaces could be subverted and
turned into spaces of dissent and protest.