Christopher St John Sprigg (20 October 1907 – 12 February 1937), best known by his pseudonym Christopher Caudwell, was an English

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

writer, literary critic, intellectual and activist.

Life

Christopher St John Sprigg was born into a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

family, in

Putney Putney () is an affluent district in southwest London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. History Putney is an ...

, London, on 20 October 1907. He was educated at the

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

Ealing Priory School, but left school at the age of 15 and worked first as a cub reporter at the ''Yorkshire Observer'', where his father was literary editor, and then as editor of ''British Malaya''. Two years later he founded an aeronautical publishing company with his brother. He also published on automobiles and he designed a infinitely variable gear. He continued scientific studies and published ''The Crisis of Physics'' in 1936. Caudwell became interested in

Marxism Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflict, ...

in 1934 and began to study it with "extraordinary intensity". In the summer of 1935, he wrote his first Marxist book entitled ''Illusion and Reality: A Study of the Sources of Poetry'', which was published by Macmillan. Following the completion of his book he joined the

Communist Party of Great Britain The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist organisation in Britain and was founded in 1920 through a merger of several smaller Marxist groups. Many miners joined the CPGB in the 1926 general strike. In 1930, the CPGB ...

Death and legacy

According to the socialist magazine ''

Monthly Review The ''Monthly Review'' is an independent socialist magazine published monthly in New York City. Established in 1949, the publication is the longest continuously published socialist magazine in the United States. History Establishment Following ...

'', Caudwell on 12 February 1937 "was killed by

fascists Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social h ...

in the valley of Jarama during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

. He died at a machine gun post, guarding the retreat of his comrades in the British Battalion of the

International Brigade The International Brigades () were soldiers recruited and organized by the Communist International to assist the Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War. The International Brigades existed for two ...

". The Marxist historian E. P. Thompson wrote of Caudwell, "It is not difficult to see Caudwell as a phenomenon – as an extraordinary shooting-star crossing England’s empirical night – as a premonitory sign of a more sophisticated Marxism whose true annunciation was delayed until the Sixties". The Marxist academic

John Bellamy Foster John Bellamy Foster (born August 19, 1953) is an American professor of sociology at the University of Oregon and editor of the ''Monthly Review''. He writes about political economy of capitalism and economic crisis, ecology and ecological crisis, ...

similarly credited Caudwell with "breathtaking intellectual achievements in a brief period of time". In his 1942 introduction to ''The Fury of the Living'', a collection of poems by John Singer, Hugh MacDiarmid called Caudwell (along with

John Cornford Rupert John Cornford (27 December 1915 – 28 December 1936) was an English poet and communist. During the first year of the Spanish Civil War, he was a member of the POUM militia and later the International Brigades. He died while fighting aga ...

, another young writer killed fighting in Spain), one of the "few inspiring exceptions" from the "leftist poets of the comfortable classes". In 1949, The Bodley Head also published the posthumously discovered manuscript of ''Further Studies in a Dying Culture,'' which included a preface by Edgell Rickword. His earlier (1938) book ''Studies in a Dying Culture,'' also published by The Bodley Head, was introduced by John Strachey. Both were published posthumously by Monthly Review. Both books have since been republished. Subsequently, Lawrence and Wishart compiled a selection from these two books and from ''The Crisis in Physics'' and published with the title ''The Concept of Freedom''. In 1965, reviewer

Raymond Williams Raymond Henry Williams (31 August 1921 – 26 January 1988) was a Welsh socialist writer, academic, novelist and critic influential within the New Left and in wider culture. His writings on politics, culture, the media and literature contribu ...

picked out what Caudwell has to say about freedom, being as relevant when written as now.

Works

Criticism

*'' Illusion and Reality: A Study of the Sources of Poetry'' (1937) *''Studies in a Dying Culture'' (1938) *''The Crisis in Physics'' (1939) *''Further Studies in a Dying Culture'' (1949) *''Romance and Realism: A Study in English Bourgeois Literature'' (1970) *''Scenes and Actions'' (1986) *''Culture As Politics: Selected Writings of Christopher Caudwell'' (Pluto Press, 2017)

Poetry

*''Poems'' (1939) *''Collected Poems'' (1986)

Short stories

*''Scenes and Actions'' (1986) *"Death at 8:30" *"The Case of the Jesting Miser" (''unpublished'') *"The Case of the Misjudged Husband"

Novels

As Christopher St. John Sprigg: *''The Kingdom of Heaven'' (1929) *''Crime in Kensington/Pass the Body'' (1933) *''Fatality in Fleet Street'' (1933) *''The Perfect Alibi'' (1934) *''Death of an Airman'' (1934) *''The Corpse with the Sunburnt Face'' (1935) *''Death of a Queen'' (1935) *''This My Hand'' (1936) *''The Six Queer Things'' (1937)

Other

*''The Airship: Its Design, History, Operation and Future'' (1931) *''British Airways'' (1934)

References

Helena Sheehan Helena Sheehan is an Irish philosopher, History of science, historian of science, philosophy, culture and politics. Sheehan is professor emeritus at Dublin City University, where she taught media studies and history of ideas in the School of Commu ...

: an extract from ''Marxism and the Philosophy of Science: A Critical History'' (Humanities Press: 1985, 1993). *
A British Hero - Christopher St.John Sprigg aka Christopher Caudwell
' by Dr. James Whetter (Lyfrow Trelyspen: 2011). {{DEFAULTSORT:Caudwell, Christopher 1907 births 1937 deaths 20th-century English poets 20th-century English male writers 20th-century pseudonymous writers British communist poets British communist writers British Marxist journalists English Marxists British people of the Spanish Civil War English military personnel killed in action Communist Party of Great Britain members English anti-fascists English literary critics Former Roman Catholics International Brigades personnel killed in action People educated at St Benedict's School, Ealing People from Putney Writers from the London Borough of Wandsworth