By Robert Morrell

The Monument: The Story Of The Socialist Party Of Great Britain. By Robert Barltrop. 200pp. Paperback. Pluto Press, £3.90. 

And

THE ANARCHISTS IN LONDON, 1935-1955. By Albert Meltzer. 40pp. Large size paperback. Cienfuegos Press, £1.00. 

THIS JOURNAL IS not the place to discuss the political differences between the S.P.G.B. and the Anarchists. Not unnaturally both these publications are concerned with the political philosophies adopted by each group, with the Anarchists being the rather more confused due to their habit of adopting different tendencies. However, both books deserve mention as they are concerned mainly with ordinary folk who have played a role in making people examine reasonably specific ideas relating to the running of society, and this I feel is something Paine would have approved of. 

There is another reason both these volumes deserve mention, and this is that both contain short items on people who have been or are members of the Thomas Paine Society. These include the late Ella Twynam, who gave the Ambrose Barker Paine Collection to the Thetford Public Library through the TPS, F.A. Ridley, TPS Vice-President, and Len Ebury, described by both writers as an able speaker. The book on the SPGB is, for a paperback, rather on the steep side to say the least. It will also be found that reference 29 in the text refers in fact to 28 in the notes. 

THOMAS PAINE, DEFENDER OF HUMAN RIGHTS By Zofia Libiszowska. 291pp. Illustrated Paperback. Warsaw: Ksiazka I Wiedza, £1.40. 

ALTHOUGH POLAND WAS THE first nation on earth to feature Thomas Paine on a postage stamp, and at an early date Paine’s works appear to have circulated in translation in Poland, at least In part, until this book appeared there had been no life of Paine in Polish, hence this work, written by a member of the Thomas Paine Society, is very much a first. The book is paperback, well printed and compact, and has a very interesting range of illustrations, some of which I have not seen before. 

There is nothing new in the volume, at least this is the impression I get having had a Polish friend translate various parts for me, but Professor Liblszowska does relate the data she utilises in a very refreshing manner, and one wishes that an English translation was available, however, our Polish readers now have an excellent life of Paine in their own language which should, we hope, promote a measure of interest in Paine in Poland and this might just mean that some discoveries will be made respecting the influence of Paine in Poland, indeed Professor Libiszawaka has herself made such discoveries. All in all, then, an excellent book, and a landmark in Paine studies.