University Archives
League Against Imperialism/Colonial Information Bureau
The LAI grew out of discussions in the Communist International in 1924 about pursuing a policy of anti-imperialist unity. A League Against Colonial Oppression was established at a meeting in Berlin in 1926 and a conference convened in Brussels a year later to bring together anti-imperialist organisations. A British section was formed, with Fenner Brockway as chairman, George Lansbury as treasurer and Reginald Bridgeman as secretary. After the second world congress in 1929, the Labour Party declared the League to be an organisation ancillary to the Communist Party and excluded its members from the Labour Party. Bridgeman, who fought the 1929 election for Uxbridge as Labour candidate, was forced to resign. Between 1929 and 1932 the (British) LAI devoted itself to the campaign on behalf of the Meerut prisoners and in 1933, following the rise of the Nazi regime in Germany, the international centre of the LAI moved to London with Bridgeman as international secretary. Ben Bradley became the new secretary of the British section and conferences continued to be held until the sixth and last one in 1937, after which the LAI closed down and was succeeded by the Colonial Information Bureau. The Bureau continued until 1944.
The papers of Reginald Bridgeman include four files of LAI records containing: reports of annual conferences in the 1930s; minutes of the international executive committee for 1935 and 1936; report of the international secretariat, 1934, pamphlets; correspondence, 1927-1937; and press cuttings, 1927-1930 [DBN/25]. Papers relating to the Meerut campaign are at DBN/19. Papers about the Colonial Information Bureau are less extensive and survive mainly for 1942-44, including material about the Communist Party position on the colonies [DBN/26].