[We have received a letter from Margaret Dewar informing us of a few inaccuracies in the article "Hugo Dewar, 1910-1980" (see Intercontinental Press, September 1, 1980, page 893). Following is the letter.]
This is to thank you for reprinting Pierre Frank's obituary notice for Hugo and for letting me have some extra copies of the issue. I appreciate this thoughtful gesture.
May I, however, correct one or two inaccuracies in the notice:
Hugo Dewar was born in 1908. He joined the ILP [Independent Labour Party] in 1928. (Was co-founder, with F.A. Ridley, of the short-lived Marxist League, whilst still in the ILP.) He joined the CPGB [Communist Party of Great Britain] in 1931 in order to support the Balham Group of the CP then battling against Stalinist policies and for the ideas of Trotsky. They were all expelled in 1932 for "disruptive activities" and together founded the Communist League, the first Trotskyist group in Britain, which published the Red Flag.
Your version somehow gives the impression that he had been a "genuine" CP member for several years.