The problem with this question is that the issue is now beyond living memory. Most studies of the CPGB are written by hostile elements relying on second hand narratives, third-rate research, the dusty archives of the CPGB and the stories that ultimately come from the intelligence services. These days communist scholars can only rely on passed down memories for alternative interpretations.

I can, however, remember Sid French saying (at an internal history meeting in the early days of the NCP) that there was an active bloc within the pre-war ILP youth movement in the 1930s that came under the direction of King Street and eventually led a wing into the CP.

But in the old days those in the know in King Street never wanted to talk about this -- or even discuss the events in the ETU (libel case etc) that helped the right smash the left leadership and impose the bans on communists that my Cambridge friend refered to.

Guy Burgess
Eton & Cambridge