First Published: Vanguard, Vol. 3, No. 1, January-February 1966.
Transcription, Editing and Markup: Paul Saba and Sam Richards
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On principle, as a firm believer in Scientific Socialism, Marxism-Leninism, it is impossible for me to continue membership of a Party whose 29th. National Congress has just confirmed its continuance of a policy, embodied in ’The British Road to Socialism,’ no different in fundamental content from the assumptions underlying that of the British Labour Party.
It is thirty-five years this month since I joined the Communist Party of Great Britain, my membership having been continuous, except for a short period as a member of the Communist Party of Spain in 1938. I did so believing that Socialism implied, without doubt, a revolutionary change in our social system. It is therefore a great disappointment to me, at this late period, to witness the decline of the Party in which I had placed all my political hopes, through its desertion of the infallible guiding principles of Marxism-Leninism.
Nevertheless, the necessity of revolution, arising from the nature of the class struggle, will continue to assert itself in the ranks of the workers of this country, just as will be the case in every other capitalist country.
In due course the revisionist opportunism of our recent Congress will be recalled as a sad episode, by a new and genuine Marxist revolutionary movement.
I specially regret parting politically with many very genuine comrades, meantime at any rate, but they can be assured of any help I can give in activity calculated to advance the cause of scientific socialism.
Herewith please find my 1966 membership card. Doubtless you will formally intimate to the Scottish District Committee, and to the Party Centre at 16, King Street, London, that I am no longer a member of the C.P.G.B.
Yours fraternally,
(signed) TOM MURRAY