Kmflett's Blog

Verso Books gathering to honour Ernest Mandel in 1986. Picture L-R Marion Kozak, Tariq Ali, Perry Anderson, Susan Watkins

Marion Kozak (Miliband) on the launch of the Socialist Register in 1964

The Socialist Register which has  been produced annually since 1964 started life as a continuity project for the first New Left after Perry Anderson and others took control of the New Left Review.

The Register was edited by John Saville and Ralph Miliband but also had links to E P Thompson

Marion Kowzak’s account of the formation of the Register can be found in the 1995 edition which is freely available on-line. It underlines her perhaps under played role in the development of new left politics and indeed after..

The first issue of The Register was launched at a dinner at Schmidt’s Restaurant in Charlotte Street on April 29 1964, with Deutscher and Michael Foot present. Schmidt’s, like the Budapest in Greek Street, was one of those cheap but satisfactory restaurants patronised by the left where you could always fill up on goulash or pancakes. I don’t remember whether Lawrence Daly came to the launch dinner which cost 12/6, including the speeches, but certainly Shakespeare was back on the agenda. In January 1964 Ralph had written to John ‘What about a piece on Shakespeare socialist view for 1965, certainly I would like to jazz the thing up somewhat – you know, Culture, Freud and all that jazz’. Victor Kiernan was asked to do something for Shakespeare’s 400^th anniversary…