7 - Public Spheres: Neighbourhood, School and Work

Summary

Abstract

Dutch and British communist families were connected with the outside world in many ways. They encountered non-communists at work, in school, in their neighbourhood, and through friends and extended family. Because the Dutch and British communist parties were so small, rank-and-file communists couldn't live in a self-sufficient bubble and had to interact and get along with people who did not agree with their political ideas. Based on a series of interviews with 38 British and Dutch cradle communists who participated in an oral history project about communist family life, this chapter analyses the issues that arose in the context of these interactions. It discusses participants’ experiences in non-communist surroundings, such as their neighbourhood, school, and workplace, and explores their friendships and romantic relationships.

Keywords: Dutch communist movement, British communist movement, educational and professional aspirations, Cold War, anti-communism, oral history

Most communist children had their first encounters with non-communists on their street or in their neighbourhood. Communist children growing up in the 1950s and 1960s in working-class areas like the Staatsliedenbuurt in Amsterdam or the East End in London were no exception as other communist families usually lived nearby. In certain neighbourhoods in Amsterdam, communists lived door-to-door, but in others there were hardly any. The majority of participants delivered the communist newspaper, so they knew exactly how many fellow communists lived in their neighbourhoods:

I grew up in a village with only one street and 200 inhabitants. I had a Daily Worker round on Saturdays. I delivered three papers, one to the Irish Catholic, one to an elderly guy who was a gardener and someone else who I can't remember. Quite a high representation of a total of 200! (Peter b. 1954, Cambridge).

We had lots of CPN [Communistische Partij van Nederland; ‘Communist Party of the Netherlands’] members in our neighbourhood, I knew exactly who were communist because my parents would have a special relationship with these people. Or otherwise I found out through delivering the communist newspaper (Annette b. 1946, Krommenie).

At the height of the Cold War, especially in the Netherlands, many people were secretive about their communist sympathies and worried that their neighbours would find out that they read a communist newspaper, so the delivery boys and girls had to put the papers in unmarked envelopes:

I delivered the paper in our neighbourhood. In our street we were the only communists.