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Steeped in conspiracy, scandal and socialism the disappearance of radical icon Victor Grayson is a puzzle thats never been solved. A firebrand and Labour politician who rose to prominence in the early twentieth century, Grayson was idolised by hundreds of thousands of Britons but despised by the establishment. After a tumultuous life, he walked out of his London apartment in September 1920 and was never seen again.After a century, new documents have come to light. Fragments of an unpublished autobiography, letters to his lovers (both men and women), leading political and literary figures including H.G. Wells and George Bernard Shaw, and testimonies from members of the Labour elite such as Clement Attlee have revealed the real Victor Grayson. New research has uncovered the true events leading up to his disappearance and suggests that he was actually blackmailed by his former Party.In a time when homosexuality was illegal, and socialism an international threat to capitalism, Grayson was a clear target for those wanting to stamp out dissent. This extraordinary biography reinstates to history a man who laid the foundations for a whole generation of militant socialists in Britain.
List of contents
Foreword by Jeremy CorbynIntroduction1. The Boy from Liverpool2. The Student Revolutionary3. The By-Election4. 'The Boy who Paralysed Parliament'5. Member for the Unemployed6. 'Englands Greatest Mob Orator'7. Revolution Delayed8. The Battle for a Socialist Party9. More than just a 'Cheap Orator'10. A Taste of War11. To Passchendaele12. On Lloyd Georges Service13. Towards the TruthNotesBibliographyAcknowledgementsIndex
About the author
Harry Taylor is a former Labour councillor who now works as a political director. He is the co-author of Peter Shore: Labour's Forgotten Patriot (Biteback, 2020).
Jeremy Corbyn is a socialist MP, founder and director of the Peace and Justice Project. He has served for 40 years as MP for Islington North in London, was twice elected leader of the Labour Party and is a Parliamentary Member of the Council of Europe. He is a lifelong campaigner for peace, justice and human rights and has been awarded prizes for promoting peace, including the Seán MacBride Peace Prize for his sustained and powerful political work for disarmament and peace.
Summary
The true story of the strange disappearance of a radical icon
