Twenty years after the demise of the Communist Party of Great Britain, eight former members, all of whom who stayed in the party until the bitter end, reflect here on some of the personal, political and cultural changes of the last twenty years. The paths of Dave Cope, Andy Croft, Alistair Findlay, Stuart Hill, Kate Hudson, Andy Pearmain, Mark Perryman and Lorna Reith have followed very different political trajectories since 1991 – taking them into the Green Party, the Labour Party, the CPB, SLP, Respect and no party at all. But most have remained politically active.

Combining personal and political history, analysis and autobiography, anecdote and argument, the contributors consider the consequences of the CP’s dissolution for British political and intellectual life.