Swingler, Randall

(1909-1967)

   The son of a clergyman from an industrial background in the Midlands, he was educated at Winchester College and New College, Oxford University, and seemed at one point to be set for a career as a professional flautist. He joined the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) in 1934, set up various newspapers for it, and left the CPGB in 1956. He was one of the organizers of the covert Writer's Group of the late 1930s, attempting to coordinate a "literary policy" of the left, and was also involved also in work for the Unity Theatre, London. He served with the British Army in Italy in World War II, joining as a private soldier, and was awarded the Military Medal. He was a founder of E.P. Thompson's The New Reasoner (from 1957). Having donated most of his inherited wealth to the Communist Party and the Daily Worker, he spent his later years in a state of chaotic poverty in Essex. He collapsed and died in Soho, London. Some of his poems: "Briefing for Invasion," "Letter I," "Letter VIII," "No Pity, No Poetry," "The Years of Anger," "They Live."

   Sources: Comrade Heart: A Life of Randall Swingler. Andy Croft. Manchester University Press, 2003 (http://les.man.ac.uk/chnn/CHNN15ARS.html). Selected Poems of Randall Swingler. Andy Croft, ed. Trent Editions, 2000. The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The Randall Swingler Archives (http://www2.ntu.ac.uk/english/centrearchives/Randall%20Swingler%20Archive.html). The War Poets: An Antholog y of the War Poetry of the 20thCentury. Oscar Williams, ed. John Day, 1945. Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia).