Dona Torr

Dona Torr is often mentioned in passing or in a footnote or an index when the work of the now famous Communist Party Historians’ Group (CPHG) is discussed, but rarely in her own right as a historian and much less as the lynchpin and mentor of the Group. Born into a world where women’s voices were often marginalized, Torr defied the norms of her time by immersing herself in the study of history with a focus on Marxist theory. She became a founding member of the Communist Party of Great Britain in 1920, marking the start of a lifelong commitment to Marxist politics and historical scholarship.As a mentor and key influence on the predominantly male Communist Party Historians’ Group (CPHG), Torr played a crucial role in guiding and shaping the work of her contemporaries. As such, it is now clear that she had a profound influence on many of the influential books authored by members of the Group through her extensive historical knowledge, but above all as a Marxist with a firm grasp of historical materialism as the basis for all historical research and interpretation.The recent re-discovery and current cataloguing of a Dona Torr archive in Marx Memorial Library (MML) has substantiated these claims. The archive was donated by Torr’s husband Walter Holmes after her death in 1957. This archive reveals Torr’s extensive involvement in the conceptualisation of the work of the CPHG, and critique of many key works produced by the Group, affirming her status as an indispensable figure in the annals of Marxist historiography. Dona Torr’s archive at MML consists of copious letters to her from now famous historians asking for her advice and acknowledging its value. Her archive also contains some details of the work of the Communist Party Historians Group (CPHG) and her role within it, especially relating to the major debates on Absolutism, the English Revolution, mercantilism, the peasantry, the transition from feudalism to capitalism,19th century history and more. It also contains Torr’s abundant, often handwritten research notes on a huge array of historical subjects and periods. In addition, the archive comprises her unpublished interventions on issues relating to Marxist method, the application of historical materialism and Marx’s own writings on China.Author Mary Davis, a renowned Marxist historian of the British labour movement, has rediscovered the richness of Dona Torr’s work through extensive research in the Dona Torr archive at MML.