Beatrix Campbell
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Mary Lorimer Beatrix Campbell (''née'' Barnes; born 3 February 1947) is an English writer and activist who has written for a number of publications since the early 1970s. Her books include ''Wigan Pier Revisited'' (1984), ''Goliath: Britain's Dangerous Places'' (1993) and ''Diana, Princess of Wales: How Sexual Politics Shook the Monarchy'' (1998). She has also made films, including ''Listen to the Children'' (1990), a documentary about child abuse.


Early life

Campbell was born in
Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from ) is a city in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. Carlisle's early history is marked by the establishment of a settlement called Luguvalium to serve forts along Hadrian's Wall in Roman Britain. Due to its pro ...
,
Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is an area of North West England which was historically a county. The county was bordered by Northumberland to the north-east, County Durham to the east, Westmorland to the south-east, Lancashire to the south, and the Scottish ...
,
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
. She was educated at Harraby Secondary Modern School and Carlisle and County High School for Girls (
grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a Latin school, school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented Se ...
), since 2008 the Richard Rose Central Academy.


Personal life

Beatrix Barnes took the name Beatrix Campbell on her marriage to Bobby Campbell, a former Glasgow shipyard fitter and fiddle player, who was part of the renaissance of radical politics and music in Scotland in the early 1960s. They met in London at the end of 1966 and lived in a commune in Tower Hamlets. They divorced in 1978, but remained close friends until his death in 1998. Bobby encouraged Beatrix to get a job in journalism, and she joined him at the communist daily '' The Morning Star'', formerly '' The Daily Worker'', where he was the boxing correspondent. She became a sub-editor and later a reporter. She became deeply committed to the
women's liberation movement The women's liberation movement (WLM) was a political alignment of women and feminist intellectualism. It emerged in the late 1960s and continued till the 1980s, primarily in the industrialized nations of the Western world, which resulted in g ...
in 1970, and from that time was oriented towards women and women's issues. Having come out as a lesbian aged 23, Campbell subsequently married a woman, with no thought given, she stated, to the distinction between 'civil partnership' and 'marriage'.


Working and political life

Campbell was fourteen when, in 1961, she took part in the
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is an organisation that advocates unilateral nuclear disarmament by the United Kingdom, international nuclear disarmament and tighter international arms regulation through agreements such as the Nucl ...
's march from Aldermaston to London in protest against nuclear weapons, and was still a teenager when she joined the Communist Party. At that time, the party was deeply divided over its relationship with the Soviet Union. She belonged to the party's anti-Stalinist wing that opposed the
Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia On 20–21 August 1968, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was jointly invaded by four fellow Warsaw Pact countries: the Soviet Union, the Polish People's Republic, the People's Republic of Bulgaria, and the Hungarian People's Republic. The in ...
in 1968. In London, she and Bobby Campbell joined a dissident group within the Communist Party founded by university lecturer Bill Warren that produced a critique of both
Stalinism Stalinism (, ) is the Totalitarianism, totalitarian means of governing and Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union (USSR) from History of the Soviet Union (1927–1953), 1927 to 1953 by dictator Jose ...
and the party's economic policy. From the early 1970s Campbell's engagement with the Communist Party was increasingly as that of a feminist: from this perspective she challenged the tenets of the Communist Party, both its political approach to organising among women and its overall strategy. Geoff Andrews wrote of her opinions in his book ''End Games and New Times: The Final Years of British Communism 1964–1991'' feminism now "became a priority, not subordinate to some higher goal. It was a crucial part of redefining socialism". Campbell was one of a group of journalists on '' The Morning Star'' who in the early 1970s challenged the editor to break the paper's exclusive ties to the Communist Party and the trade union movement, and open a dialogue with newly emerging social movements. After the appointment of Tony Chater as editor in 1976 Campbell felt the struggle to reform the ''Star'' had been lost, and resigned, joining the journal '' Marxism Today'' and the
Gramscian Antonio Francesco Gramsci ( , ; ; 22 January 1891 – 27 April 1937) was an Italian Marxist philosopher, linguist, journalist, writer, and politician. He wrote on philosophy, political theory, sociology, history, and linguistics. He was a foun ...
New Times. By the end of the 1970s, Campbell was working principally for '' Time Out'', whose staff were involved in a long strike and occupation in 1981 over equal pay for all and for the right of staff to be consulted about major investments. Ultimately, she and the majority of the staff left and started the cooperatively-owned London magazine ''
City Limits City limits or city boundaries refer to the defined boundary (real estate), boundary or border of a city. The area within the city limit can be called the city proper. Town limit/boundary and village limit/boundary apply to towns and villages. ...
''. The emergence of the
women's liberation movement The women's liberation movement (WLM) was a political alignment of women and feminist intellectualism. It emerged in the late 1960s and continued till the 1980s, primarily in the industrialized nations of the Western world, which resulted in g ...
changed Campbell's life. With Nell Myers, she set up a women's liberation movement group in Stratford, East London and in 1972 was in the group of women Communist Party members that founded '' Red Rag''. It immediately opened itself up to women in the wider women's movement, describing itself not only as a Marxist but as a "feminist journal", and defining feminism as "the political movement which emerges as women's response to their own oppression". When the Communist Party banned ''Red Rag'', the editorial collective's response was "it's not yours to ban", and the journal continued to flourish for ten years. In the 1980s, Campbell's writing focused on the transformation of Britain by
Thatcherism Thatcherism is a form of British conservative ideology named after Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party leader Margaret Thatcher that relates to not just her political platform and particular policies but also her personal character a ...
. She set off on a six-month journey around England and wrote a polemical critique of
George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950) was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to a ...
's book ''
The Road to Wigan Pier ''The Road to Wigan Pier'' is a book by the English writer George Orwell, first published in 1937. Its first half documents his sociological investigations of the bleak living conditions among the working class in Lancashire and Yorkshire in the ...
'' (1937) and what she saw as the myopia of sexist socialism. She investigated the Conservative Party's appeal to women. She also became associated politically and professionally with the emergence of radical municipalism, particularly in London, under the leadership of Labour's
Ken Livingstone Kenneth Robert Livingstone (born 17 June 1945) is an English former politician who served as the Leader of the Greater London Council (GLC) from 1981 until the council was Local Government Act 1985, abolished in 1986, and as Mayor of Londo ...
. In 1998 Campbell reported on a
Newcastle City Council Newcastle City Council is the local authority for the city of Newcastle upon Tyne in the ceremonial county of Tyne and Wear in North East England. Newcastle has had a council from medieval times, which has been reformed on numerous occasions. ...
report into allegations of child abuse at the Shieldfield Nursery in the city in 1993. She claimed the council inquiry was "stringent" and had found "persuasive evidence of sadistic and sexual abuse of up to 350 children". The alleged perpetrators were workers at the nursery, Dawn Reed and Christopher Lillie, who had already been cleared of multiple charges in a criminal trial in 1994. They subsequently successfully sued the Council, the "Independent Review Team" who produced the report, and the local ''
Evening Chronicle The ''Evening Chronicle'', now referred to in print as ''The Chronicle'', is a daily newspaper produced in Newcastle upon Tyne covering North regional news, but primarily focused on Newcastle upon Tyne and surrounding area. The ''Evening Chronic ...
'' newspaper for
libel Defamation is a communication that injures a third party's reputation and causes a legally redressable injury. The precise legal definition of defamation varies from country to country. It is not necessarily restricted to making assertions ...
. Awarding Reed and Lillie the maximum possible damages of £200,000 each, the judge in the case made a "very rare" finding of " malice" on the part of the Independent Review Team, in that "they included in their report a number of fundamental claims which they must have known to be untrue and which cannot be explained on the basis of incompetence or mere carelessness." One of the four people on the Independent Review Team was Campbell's close working partner Judith Jones. Campbell also wrote in favour of now discredited allegations raised in the Cleveland Child sex abuse Scandal, as well as similar discredited allegations in Nottingham. On 9 February 1991 Campbell appeared on television discussion programme '' After Dark'' together with the then deputy director of Nottinghamshire social services Andy Croall and others. Campbell stood twice as a
Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...
candidate in local elections, (in the
London Borough of Camden The London Borough of Camden () is a London boroughs, borough in Inner London, England. Camden Town Hall, on Euston Road, lies north of Charing Cross. The borough was established on 1 April 1965 from the former Metropolitan boroughs of the Cou ...
) and in the 2010 parliamentary election (in Hampstead and Kilburn constituency), where she obtained only 1.4% of the votes, the seat being held by Labour's
Glenda Jackson Glenda May Jackson (9 May 1936 – 15 June 2023) was an English actress and politician. Over the course of her distinguished career she received List of awards and nominations received by Glenda Jackson, numerous accolades including two Academy ...
. That year, following the cancellation of a Julie Bindel speech, Campbell wrote an opinion piece in support of Bindel, saying of the incident, "Transgender people who used to live as men and now live as women persuaded the May 2009 NUS women's conference to mandate its officers to share no platform with Julie Bindel." Campbell concluded:
The transgender vigilantes should listen up, wise up and grow up, participate in, not proscribe, the debate they started. And their best friends in the NUS should do what best friends do: tell them to stop it, their politics stink.
Campbell left the Green Party in 2020, citing policies on transgender issues. "Women’s rights and resources are at grave risk, not only from the effects of ‘austerity’ funding regimes, but also from an extreme trans activism seeking to silence women and assail feminist organisations", Campbell wrote of the decision. She characterized identifying as transgender as "a kind of an exemplar of a neoliberal version of what it means to be human, at its most idiosyncratic, i.e. you can choose! You can choose to be anything you like," adding, "Well, I’m sorry, you can’t."


Honours and citations

Campbell has received several academic honours including honorary doctorates conferred by Salford University,
Oxford Brookes University Oxford Brookes University (OBU; formerly known as Oxford Polytechnic) is a public university, public university in Oxford, England. It is a new university, having received university status through the Further and Higher Education Act 1992. Th ...
and
The Open University The Open University (OU) is a Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate ...
. Her work has gained her several awards, including the Cheltenham Literature Festival Prize in 1984 for the book ''Wigan Pier Revisited'', the Fawcett Society Prize in 1987 for the book ''The Iron Ladies'' and the First Time Producers' Award in 1990 for her Dispatches documentary film ''Listen to the Children''. In June 2009, Campbell was appointed an OBE for "services to equal opportunities". Writing in ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'', she self-defined as a "republican with politics rooted in Marxism and feminism" and explained the apparent contradiction in accepting the award as:
By clinging to symbols and rituals that belong to a cruel imperial order the government compromises the gonged. You ask yourself the question: how can I accept anything from this horrible imperial regime? And yet, getting gonged confers recognition of "citizens" contributions' to a good society – in my case equality – and the gesture affirms our necessity; the radicals – not the royalists – are the best of the British.
In 2012, she was in the World Pride Power List of the 100 most influential gay people of the year.World Pride Power List 2012: 100 most influential LGBT people of the year ''The Guardian'', London 7 July 2012


Selected publications

* ''Sweet Freedom: Struggle for Women's Liberation,'' by
Anna Coote Anna Coote is an English writer, editor, policy analyst and policy advocate who is Principal Fellow at the New Economics Foundation. She has been a lifelong political activist in support of civil rights, women’s rights, social justice and susta ...
, Beatrix Campbell & Christine Roche (1982), Picador Books * ''Wigan Pier Revisited: Poverty and politics in the Eighties,'' Beatrix Campbell (1984), Virago Press * ''The Iron Ladies: Why Do Women Vote Tory?'' by Beatrix Campbell (1987), Virago Press * ''Unofficial Secrets: Child Abuse – The Cleveland Case,'' by Beatrix Campbell (1988), Virago Press * ''Goliath: Britain's Dangerous Places,'' Beatrix Campbell (1993), Methuen Books * ''Diana, Princess of Wales: How Sexual Politics Shook the Monarchy,'' by Beatrix Campbell (1998), Women's Press * ''And All the Children Cried,'' by Beatrix Campbell and Judith Jones (2005), Oberon Books * ''Agreement: The State, Conflict and Change in Northern Ireland,'' by Beatrix Campbell (2008), Lawrence & Wishart * ''End of Equality'' by Beatrix Campbell (2014), Seagull.


References


External links

*
''Guardian'' blog profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Campbell, Beatrix 1947 births Living people English communists English journalists British women Marxists English LGBTQ rights activists English LGBTQ writers English LGBTQ politicians 20th-century English LGBTQ people English republicans English women journalists Communist Party of Great Britain members Green Party of England and Wales politicians People from Carlisle, Cumbria The Guardian journalists Marxist feminists Officers of the Order of the British Empire Communist women writers English socialist feminists