ABSTRACT
Throughout the 1930s Allan Flanders worked at a number of different occupations but the single most important was that of ‘professional revolutionary’. When he wasn’t engaged in manual work in order to earn a living, the main focus of his life was political activity: writing articles in The Socialist Vanguard, journal of the British section of the Militant Socialist International (MSI), speaking at meetings, selling literature and trying to recruit new members into the MSI. This chapter describes Flanders’ political work and thought from the early 1930s through to the outbreak of World War Two, starting with his return to Britain as a leading member of the Militant Socialist International. After a brief description of some of the main features of left-wing political activity in Britain in the 1930s, the next section details the organization and activities of the MSI. The second part of the chapter outlines Flanders’ political thinking during the 1930s and identifi es the factors that began to undermine the revolutionary component of his socialism while maintaining its ethical socialist foundations.
