The Rearguard of the Revolution: MI5, Communism and British musicians

Williamson, J. C. (2019) The Rearguard of the Revolution: MI5, Communism and British musicians. Cold War, Aesthetics and Popular Culture, Turku, Finland, 13 December 2019. (Unpublished)

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between Communism and the British music profession between the 1930s and 1960s. It considers the methods employed by the British state (MI5) to investigate and counteract this, drawing on recently released files on Alan Bush, Ewan MacColl, and Peter Pears. On this evidence, it concludes that despite considerable resources being deployed to monitor the music profession, it presented little in the way of an organised threat to state security.

• Item Type: Conference or Workshop Item
• Keywords: Cold War, Britain, MI5, Ewan MacColl, Alan Bush, Peter Pears, Communism, CPGB.
• Status: Unpublished
• Refereed: No
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Williamson, Dr John
• Authors: Williamson, J. C.
• Subjects: M Music and Books on Music > M Music
• College/School: College of Arts > School of Culture and Creative Arts > Music
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2019 The Author
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced with the permission of the author