Our Flag Stays Red

Our Flag Stays Red is a unique account of communist and anti-fascist activity in London's East End in the 1930s and 1940s. Its author was Communist MP for Stepney from 1945 to 1950, and played a leading role in the events described in the book - which are an important part of twentieth-century working-class history.

The highlight of the book is its account of the events leading up to the famous 'Battle of Cable Street' in 1936. But the author also describes how this battle was part of the wider campaigning work of the Communist Party and the working-class movement in the East End. He describes the rent strikes and protests of the immediate pre-second world war period; the wartime struggles for the equal right to civil defence (including the famous invasion of the Savoy Hotel in 1940 and the campaign to use London underground stations as bomb shelters); and the momentous events of the 1945 election campaign. All are vividly brought to life here, together with the men and women who worked tirelessly alongside Piratin.

- From the back cover