1956

This chapter looks at the controversial ending of the celebrated era of the Historians’ Group following Khrushchev’sKhrushchev, Nikita speech and the HungaryHungary crisis in 1956 and debates about inner-party democracy in 1957. After some discussion of Morton and other members of the Historians’ Group visiting the Soviet UnionSoviet Union over Christmas and New Year 1954–55, there is analysis of why Morton remained in the CPGBCommunist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) while some of his close colleagues left. This involves Morton’s ongoing belief in the importance of the Soviet UnionSoviet Union, his understanding of the uneven development and difficulties brought about by historical progression, and his critiques of intellectuals being too close to the bourgeois world of the universities. Morton gave further reasons for his position after he was sent to the Soviet UnionSoviet Union as a part of a CPGBCommunist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) delegation to assess and report back on what had happened in Stalin’s later years and what was happening in the Soviet UnionSoviet Union after Khrushchev’sKhrushchev, Nikita speech. There is also evidence from this time that Morton used the historically complex figure of Cromwell to reassess his thinking about StalinStalin, Joseph.