Al Richardson (20 December 1941 - 22 November 2003) was a British Trotskyist historian and activist. December 20 is the 354th day of the year (355th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the movie, see 1941 (film). ... November 22 is the 326th day (327th on leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism as advocated by Leon Trotsky. ... An historian is someone who writes history, a written accounting of the past. ...

Born in Barnsley, Richardson studied theology at Hull University before becoming a lecturer at the University of Exeter. He joined the Communist Party of Great Britain, but left after reading Isaac Deutscher's biography of Leon Trotsky. Convinced of Trotskyism, he joined the Socialist Labour League (SLL), and resigned from the faculty at Exeter to become a history teacher in Forest Hill, South London. He soon quit the SLL to join the rival International Marxist Group (IMG), and became prominent in the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign. Barnsley is a large town in South Yorkshire, England, lying on the River Dearne, approximately twenty kilometres north of Sheffield. ... Theology (Greek θεος, theos, God, + λογια, logia, words, sayings, or discourse) is reasoned discourse concerning religion, spirituality and God or the gods. ... The University of Hull, also known as Hull University, is an English university in East Yorkshire which was founded in 1927. ... Lecturer is the name given to university teachers in most of the English-speaking world (but not at most universities in the U.S. or Canada) who do not hold a professorship. ... The University of Exeter is a leading red brick university. ... The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist party in the United Kingdom. ... Isaac Deutscher (3 April 1907 – 19 August 1967), British journalist, historian and political activist of Polish-Jewish birth, became well-known as the biographer of Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin and as a commentator on Soviet affairs. ... Note: This page is very long. ... Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism as advocated by Leon Trotsky. ... The Workers Revolutionary Party was a Trotskyist political party in the United Kingdom. ... Forest Hill is the name of several neighbourhoods: Forest Hill, London in London, England Forest Hill, Toronto in Toronto, Ontario, Canada Forest Hill, San Francisco in San Francisco, California, United States Forest Hill, Newark, New Jersey in Newark, New Jersey, United States It is also the name of a number... South London area South London (known colloquially as South of the River) is the area of London south of the River Thames. ... The International Marxist Group (IMG) was a Trotskyist political party in the United Kingdom between 1964 and 1987. ... The Vietnam Solidarity Campaign (VSC) was originally set in 1966 up activists around the International Group with the personal and financial support of Bertrand Russell. ...

Despite hitchiking to Paris to join the events of May 1968, Richardson was part of a small group which rejected the IMG's turn away from trade unions and the labour movement to work in the student movement. He became a founder member of the break-away Revolutionary Communist League, and was elected to its leadership, but in 1973 he left the League. City flag City coat of arms Motto: Fluctuat nec mergitur (Latin: Tossed by the waves, she does not sink) Paris Eiffel tower as seen from the esplanade du Trocadéro. ... A May 1968 poster: Be young and shut up, with stereotypical silhouette of General de Gaulle. ... A Trade Union (Labour union) ... is a continuous association of wage-earners for the purpose of maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment. ... The labour movement (or labor movement) is a broad term for the development of a collective organization of working people, to campaign in their own interest for better treatment from their employers and political governments, in particular through the implementation of specific laws governing labor relations. ... Student movements accompany university life since the nineteenth century. ... The Revolutionary Communist League was a small Trotskyist political group in the United Kingdom. ... 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday. ...

From the mid-1970s, Richardson focussed his attention on recording the history of Trotskyism in Britain. He began interviewing veterans of the movement, and with Sam Bornstein, published three books on the topic through their "Socialist Platform" publishing house. In 1988 they founded the journal Revolutionary History, dedicated to the history of the anti-Stalinist left. 1. ... Revolutionary History is a British journal dedicated to the history of the far left. ... The anti-Stalinist left is that element of the political left which has been critical of Stalinism, the variant of Communism that developed in the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin. ...

Richardson worked with various Trotskyist groups, in particular Workers Liberty, Workers Action and the Militant Tendency, whose approaches he felt were closest to his own. In contrast to these groups, he opposed any class, gender or sexuality based campaigns, which he believed were popular frontist. The Alliance for Workers Liberty (AWL), also known as Workers Liberty is a small Trotskyist group based in the United Kingdom. ... It has been suggested that Militant (Britain) be merged into this article or section. ... Popular Fronts comprise broad coalitions of political and other groups, often made up of oppositioners or left wingers, and often united against particularly stringent circumstances. ...

He continued teaching and writing until his death.

References

• John McIlroy, "Al Richardson", The Guardian
• Richard Price, "Obituary - Al Richardson 1941-2003: historian of the revolutionary movement", Workers Action
• Bruce Robinson, "Al Richardson: An “unorthodox orthodox” Trotskyist", Workers Liberty
• "Remembering an activist and a scholar", LabourNet