I Saw Democracy Murdered

Colin Chambers is a former journalist and Literary Manager of the Royal Shakespeare Company (1981–1997) and is Emeritus Professor of Drama at Kingston University, London, UK. His stage writing includes co-authoring Kenneth’s First Play and Tynan, and adapting David Pinski’s Treasure. Among his books are: Other Spaces: New Writing and the RSC; The Story of Unity Theatre; Peggy: The Life of Margaret Ramsay, Play Agent (first winner of the Theatre Book Prize); Inside the Royal Shakespeare Company; Here We Stand: Politics, Performers and Performance – Paul Robeson, Isadora Duncan, and Charlie Chaplin; and Black and Asian Theatre in Britain: A History. He edited The Continuum Companion to Twentieth Century Theatre and Peggy to Her Playwrights: The Letters of Margaret Ramsay, and co-edited Granville Barker on Theatre. Sam Russell (1915–2010) was a Communist journalist who began his career reporting from Spain during the Civil War in which he had been wounded, fighting as an anti-fascist volunteer for the International Brigades to defend the Republic. He remained with The Daily Worker and its successor, The Morning Star, for more than 40 years, becoming Foreign Editor and covering many of the key historical events of the century.

Preface Introduction 1. The Road to Spain 2. Fighting Franco 3. From Rifle to Typewriter 4. Defeat in Spain 5. The World Goes to War 6. Wartime Britain 7. Back at the Worker 8. Believing the Unbelievable 9. The ‘Secret’ Speech 10. Trouble in Moscow 11. Farewell to Moscow 12. Meeting Che 13. Democracy Murdered 14. Back in Spain 15. Epilogue Appendix: Letters from Abroad Postscript: MI5 and My Family