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Peter Fryer
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Peter Fryer
Peter Fryer (18 February 1927 – 31 October 2006) was an English Marxist writer and journalist. Among his most influential works is the 1984 book Staying Power: The History of Black People in Britain.
Peter Fryer was born near Hull on 18 February 1927. He was the son of a master mariner. He was awarded a scholarship to attend Hymers College in 1938. After joining the Young Communist League in 1942, he left school in 1943 to become a reporter on the Yorkshire Post.
In 1945, Fryer became a member of the Communist Party. In 1947 he was dismissed from his job after refusing to leave the party.
In 1948, Fryer joined the staff of the Daily Worker, becoming its parliamentary correspondent and covering foreign affairs. He also contributed to the American paper of the same name.
In 1949, he reported on the show trial of the Hungarian communist László Rajk, who had falsely confessed to being an agent of Tito and others. After Rajk's execution and eventual "rehabilitation" early in 1956, Fryer felt guilty about having reported the coerced confession, and gave a letter of resignation to his editor, Johnny Campbell. Campbell persuaded him to continue working for a year's notice period.
In October 1956, Fryer was sent to Hungary to cover the uprising. His dispatches, including a description of the suppression of the uprising by Soviet troops, were either heavily censored or suppressed. He wrote a book about the uprising, Hungarian Tragedy (1956). Fryer was expelled from the Communist Party for criticising Hungarian Tragedy's suppression in the "capitalist" press. Many members left the party during the crisis that followed.
Fryer then became the editor of The Newsletter, the journal of The Club, a Trotskyist organisation led by Gerry Healy, and with Healy was a founder member of the Socialist Labour League. He soon parted company with Healy, however, and worked away from organised politics until 1985, when he wrote a weekly column for the Workers Press.
In 1948, Fryer covered the arrival at Tilbury Docks in Britain of HMT Empire Windrush bringing settlers from the Caribbean. He maintained a long standing interest in black history and music. Peter Fraser wrote of Fryer: "In 1981, he attended a conference on the history of blacks in Britain to deliver a paper on black musicians. He went away convinced that the larger story needed to be told."
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Peter Fryer
Peter Fryer (18 February 1927 – 31 October 2006) was an English Marxist writer and journalist. Among his most influential works is the 1984 book Staying Power: The History of Black People in Britain.
Peter Fryer was born near Hull on 18 February 1927. He was the son of a master mariner. He was awarded a scholarship to attend Hymers College in 1938. After joining the Young Communist League in 1942, he left school in 1943 to become a reporter on the Yorkshire Post.
In 1945, Fryer became a member of the Communist Party. In 1947 he was dismissed from his job after refusing to leave the party.
In 1948, Fryer joined the staff of the Daily Worker, becoming its parliamentary correspondent and covering foreign affairs. He also contributed to the American paper of the same name.
In 1949, he reported on the show trial of the Hungarian communist László Rajk, who had falsely confessed to being an agent of Tito and others. After Rajk's execution and eventual "rehabilitation" early in 1956, Fryer felt guilty about having reported the coerced confession, and gave a letter of resignation to his editor, Johnny Campbell. Campbell persuaded him to continue working for a year's notice period.
In October 1956, Fryer was sent to Hungary to cover the uprising. His dispatches, including a description of the suppression of the uprising by Soviet troops, were either heavily censored or suppressed. He wrote a book about the uprising, Hungarian Tragedy (1956). Fryer was expelled from the Communist Party for criticising Hungarian Tragedy's suppression in the "capitalist" press. Many members left the party during the crisis that followed.
Fryer then became the editor of The Newsletter, the journal of The Club, a Trotskyist organisation led by Gerry Healy, and with Healy was a founder member of the Socialist Labour League. He soon parted company with Healy, however, and worked away from organised politics until 1985, when he wrote a weekly column for the Workers Press.
In 1948, Fryer covered the arrival at Tilbury Docks in Britain of HMT Empire Windrush bringing settlers from the Caribbean. He maintained a long standing interest in black history and music. Peter Fraser wrote of Fryer: "In 1981, he attended a conference on the history of blacks in Britain to deliver a paper on black musicians. He went away convinced that the larger story needed to be told."