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Anti-Parliamentarism and Communism in Britain, 1917-1921 R. F. Jones Authors Introduction - October 1991 This short work was written in 1984 as an article for the journal 'Black Star'. 'Black Star' expired before the article appeared and it eventually appeared in print in 1989 in the Grand Rapids based 'Discussion Bulletin' and later in a slightly revised form in 'The Raven' (No. 11, 1990). The pamphlet attempts to show how an evolving British Communist movement was taken over by the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) and turned into something quite alien. At the moment when the Communist Parties, and the authoritarian communism they represent are collapsing everywhere it is perhaps appropriate that this work should reappear. While commentators are glibly enthusing over the end of "communism" and "socialism" it is important to remember that there was an earlier and very different communist tradition in Britain. Understanding the process by which it ws marginalised and in a large part obliterated may help us to understand what went wrong. It might also help to undermine the assumption that 'libertarian' and 'communist' or 'socialist' are mutually contradictory terms. R.W.Jones