Left politics and labor / Amiel Melburn Trust Archive
Amiel Melburn Trust Archive
Movement documentsArchives and custodyactive
The archive's reading. This holds the organ a defeated critique built for itself: #1725 cites the Reasoner and New Reasoner (1956–59) as the case where the party failed to hold the critics and the critique kept an organ and found a wider field, and here both runs are held whole, ten New Reasoner issues and three of The Reasoner. The holder is a charitable trust with standing independent of the party criticized, and the New Reasoner page states the route ran through the merger into New Left Review.
| Kind | an online database of socialist and radical writings |
|---|---|
| Operator | the Barry Amiel and Norman Melburn Trust, Registered Charity No. 281239, London; site by Common Knowledge |
| Unit of record | an issue of a digitized periodical (or a pamphlet in the Socialist History Society series), searchable by word and phrase |
| What it records | thirteen British socialist and radical periodicals and series, 1956 onward, among them The Reasoner, New Reasoner, Universities & Left Review, Marxism Today, Black Dwarf, Red Rag, 7 Days, Soundings and Socialist History Society Pamphlets |
| Whose record it keeps | the runs of British socialist and radical periodicals, including the journals of the 1956 Communist dissidents (The Reasoner and New Reasoner) and the New Left (Universities & Left Review) |
| Who holds it | the Barry Amiel and Norman Melburn Trust, a registered charity (© Barry Amiel and Norman Melburn Trust); terms of use and license not stated on the saved pages |
| The losing side | the New Reasoner page records the case directly: The Reasoner was critical of what its editors saw as the Communist Party of Great Britain's dogmatism; E.P. Thompson and John Saville refused the leadership's instruction to close it, were suspended, resigned in protest at the Soviet invasion of Hungary, and relaunched as the New Reasoner, which ran ten issues and later merged with Universities and Left Review to become New Left Review. The archive holds The Reasoner (3 issues, 1956) and all ten New Reasoner issues |
| Method | digitization of periodical runs into a searchable database, with an introduction to each publication (New Reasoner's by Peter Worsley with Dorothy Thompson and Stuart Hall) |
| Coverage | geography: Britain (the publications held; the Trust is in London); period: 1956 (The Reasoner) to 2024 (New University, as listed) |
| Count | value: 13 publications, 335 issues summed here from the home page's list; as_of: 2026-10-31 |
| Holdings | Marxism Today: 145 issues, 1978–1998; Socialist History Society Pamphlets: 38 issues, 1956–1976; Soundings: 30 issues, 1995–2000; Black Dwarf: 26 issues, 1968–1969; 7 Days: 22 issues, 1971–1972; Red Rag: 14 issues, 1972–1979; New University: 13 issues, 1960–2024; VIEWS: 11 issues, 1963–1966; New Reasoner: 10 issues, 1957–1959; New Formations: 10 issues, 1987–1990; Universities & Left Review: 7 issues, 1957–1959; Race & Class Articles: 6 issues, 1998–2005; The Reasoner: 3 issues, 1956 |
| Stated limits | not stated on the saved pages |
| Data access | free online search and browsing by publication, with phrase search and an advanced search; access terms not stated |
| Licence | not stated in the saved sources ('© Barry Amiel and Norman Melburn Trust') |
| Lifecycle | state: active; detail: the database is live with search, lectures and a link to the Trust's website; the date it was founded is not stated on the saved pages |
What its record can settle
- what The Reasoner and New Reasoner printed, issue by issue, after the editors refused the CPGB leadership's order to close
- where a word or phrase appears across the held runs of British socialist and radical periodicals
- which issues of each held publication are in the database
What it cannot settle
- the Communist Party leadership's own account of the 1956 dispute (no party records appear in the saved holdings list)
- the full runs of publications held only in part where the span exceeds the issues listed (New University: 13 issues, 1960–2024)
- the terms on which the texts may be reused
Kept apart
- NOT the Communist Party of Great Britain's archive, though it holds the dissidents' journals and Marxism Today
- NOT New Left Review: it holds the New Reasoner and Universities & Left Review that merged into it
- NOT a general library of the left: thirteen periodicals and series
Evidence
- self_description (the resource's own statement):
Amiel Melburn Archive: an online database of socialist and radical writings.
https://banmarchive.org.uk/ · read 2026-10-31 · http 200 · sha256 d3c117ad8594c6df… - holder (the resource's own statement):
© Barry Amiel and Norman Melburn Trust
https://banmarchive.org.uk/ · read 2026-10-31 · http 200 · sha256 d3c117ad8594c6df… - charity (the resource's own statement):
Registered Charity No. 281239
https://banmarchive.org.uk/ · read 2026-10-31 · http 200 · sha256 d3c117ad8594c6df… - site_by (the resource's own statement):
Site by Common Knowledge
https://banmarchive.org.uk/ · read 2026-10-31 · http 200 · sha256 d3c117ad8594c6df… - search (the resource's own statement):
Putting two or more words in quotation marks will prompt a search for that exact phrase.
https://banmarchive.org.uk/ · read 2026-10-31 · http 200 · sha256 d3c117ad8594c6df… - filters (the resource's own statement):
Whole Archive 7 Days Black Dwarf Marxism Today New Formations New Reasoner New University Race & Class Articles Red Rag Socialist History Society Pamphlets Soundings The Reasoner Universities & Left Review VIEWS
https://banmarchive.org.uk/ · read 2026-10-31 · http 200 · sha256 d3c117ad8594c6df… - h_7days (the resource's own statement):
7 Days 22 issues 1971–1972
https://banmarchive.org.uk/ · read 2026-10-31 · http 200 · sha256 d3c117ad8594c6df… - h_black_dwarf (the resource's own statement):
Black Dwarf 26 issues 1968–1969
https://banmarchive.org.uk/ · read 2026-10-31 · http 200 · sha256 d3c117ad8594c6df… - h_new_reasoner (the resource's own statement):
New Reasoner 10 issues 1957–1959
https://banmarchive.org.uk/ · read 2026-10-31 · http 200 · sha256 d3c117ad8594c6df… - h_marxism_today (the resource's own statement):
Marxism Today 145 issues 1978–1998
https://banmarchive.org.uk/ · read 2026-10-31 · http 200 · sha256 d3c117ad8594c6df… - h_new_university (the resource's own statement):
New University 13 issues 1960–2024
https://banmarchive.org.uk/ · read 2026-10-31 · http 200 · sha256 d3c117ad8594c6df… - h_red_rag (the resource's own statement):
Red Rag 14 issues 1972–1979
https://banmarchive.org.uk/ · read 2026-10-31 · http 200 · sha256 d3c117ad8594c6df… - h_new_formations (the resource's own statement):
New Formations 10 issues 1987–1990
https://banmarchive.org.uk/ · read 2026-10-31 · http 200 · sha256 d3c117ad8594c6df… - h_soundings (the resource's own statement):
Soundings 30 issues 1995–2000
https://banmarchive.org.uk/ · read 2026-10-31 · http 200 · sha256 d3c117ad8594c6df… - h_ulr (the resource's own statement):
Universities & Left Review 7 issues 1957–1959
https://banmarchive.org.uk/ · read 2026-10-31 · http 200 · sha256 d3c117ad8594c6df… - h_shs (the resource's own statement):
Socialist History Society Pamphlets 38 issues 1956–1976
https://banmarchive.org.uk/ · read 2026-10-31 · http 200 · sha256 d3c117ad8594c6df… - h_race_class (the resource's own statement):
Race & Class Articles 6 issues 1998–2005
https://banmarchive.org.uk/ · read 2026-10-31 · http 200 · sha256 d3c117ad8594c6df… - h_reasoner (the resource's own statement):
The Reasoner 3 issues 1956–1956
https://banmarchive.org.uk/ · read 2026-10-31 · http 200 · sha256 d3c117ad8594c6df… - h_views (the resource's own statement):
VIEWS 11 issues 1963–1966
https://banmarchive.org.uk/ · read 2026-10-31 · http 200 · sha256 d3c117ad8594c6df… - lectures (the resource's own statement):
Lectures
https://banmarchive.org.uk/ · read 2026-10-31 · http 200 · sha256 d3c117ad8594c6df… - reasoner_case (the resource's own statement):
When E.P. Thompson and John Saville were instructed by the leadership of the Communist Party of Great Britain to close down their journal The Reasoner , which had been critical of what the editors saw as the Party’s dogmatism, they refused. Suspended form the party, from which they soon resigned in protest at the Soviet invasion of Hungary, they relaunched with the New Reasoner .
https://banmarchive.org.uk/new-reasoner/ · read 2026-10-31 · http 200 · sha256 33438e937349fc15… - humanist_socialism (the resource's own statement):
The magazine urged a reconsideration of the longer traditions of radical politics and began to lay out the basis of the sort of humanist socialism for which Thompson remains so well known.
https://banmarchive.org.uk/new-reasoner/ · read 2026-10-31 · http 200 · sha256 33438e937349fc15… - merger (the resource's own statement):
Running to ten issues, the New Reasoner would later merge with the Universities and Left Review and become New Left Review .
https://banmarchive.org.uk/new-reasoner/ · read 2026-10-31 · http 200 · sha256 33438e937349fc15… - introduction (the resource's own statement):
by Peter Worsley, assisted by Dorothy Thompson and Stuart Hall
https://banmarchive.org.uk/new-reasoner/ · read 2026-10-31 · http 200 · sha256 33438e937349fc15… - nr_first (the resource's own statement):
Summer 1957 issue 1
https://banmarchive.org.uk/new-reasoner/ · read 2026-10-31 · http 200 · sha256 33438e937349fc15… - nr_last (the resource's own statement):
Autumn 1959 issue 10
https://banmarchive.org.uk/new-reasoner/ · read 2026-10-31 · http 200 · sha256 33438e937349fc15…
Unchecked
the About page (founding, terms of use, how the runs were digitized); the Peter Worsley introduction to the New Reasoner; the Lectures page and the Amiel & Melburn Trust website; the issues themselves and the search's live output; the 1960–2024 span listed for New University with 13 issues (recorded as stated)
Cite: Lee Sharks, ed. "Amiel Melburn Trust Archive." Mary Lee Labor meta-aggregator: left politics and labor, maryleelabor.org, compiled 2026-10-31. https://www.maryleelabor.org/aggregators/banmarchive