Michael Costello (born June 1936, London) is a former British

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a ...

activist. Costello was born into a family of communist activists, as the son of Bella Lerner and Paddy Costello. Paddy left 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 ...

(CPGB) in 1939, but Bella remained a member her entire life. Late in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, Mick's parents moved to work with the New Zealand diplomatic mission in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, and Mick was educated at a state school in the city, where he became fluent in

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

.Graham Stevenson,
Costello Mick
, ''Compendium of Communist Biography'' The family returned to Britain when Mick was fourteen, and he studied at the

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The university owns and operates majo ...

, becoming President of the

Students' Union A students' union, also known by many other names, is a student organization present in many colleges, universities, and high schools. In higher education, the students' union is often accorded its own building on the campus, dedicated to soci ...

. He joined the CPGB in 1956, becoming known as an expert on

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analy ...

and a journalist on the '' Morning Star'', a daily newspaper associated with the party. He wrote two books expounding party views: ''The Communist View'', published in 1969, and ''Workers' Participation in the Soviet Union'', which came out in 1977. In 1979, Costello was elected as the CPGB's National Industrial Organiser, building links with

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits (s ...

s and becoming what the ''

New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members o ...

'' later described as "certainly the best-known communist in Britain, probably the cleverest, and easily the party's best linguist".Francis Beckett,
The Sixth Man
, ''

'', 18 October 2007 In this role, it was suggested in several newspapers that he was working as a spy for the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

, possibly even following his father's footsteps; a charge which Costello denies, and Francis Beckett notes that his role would not be good cover for a spy, and would be unlikely to enable him to discover important secrets. Costello took part in a major debate in 1982 with

Martin Jacques Martin Jacques (born 1945) is a British journalist, editor, academic, political commentator and author. Early life Jacques was born in October 1945 in the city of Coventry (then in Warwickshire, now in the West Midlands), the son of Dennis ...

, editor of ''

Marxism Today ''Marxism Today'', published between 1957 and 1991, was the theoretical magazine of the Communist Party of Great Britain. The magazine was headquartered in London. It was particularly important during the 1980s under the editorship of Martin Jacqu ...

'', who had criticised the

shop steward A union representative, union steward, or shop steward is an employee of an organization or company who represents and defends the interests of their fellow employees as a labor union member and official. Rank-and-file members of the union hold ...

s' movement. Concerned about the party's direction, Costello left his post to become full-time industrial correspondent of the ''Morning Star'', serving in the role through the UK miners' strike. Costello resigned from the CPGB in the mid-1980s, and started the Costello Trading Consultancy, making deals in Russia in fields from oil to fast food and artificial limbs. He also set up an exchange scheme for Russian police and those in the Metropolitan Police.

Nick Cohen Nicholas Cohen (born 1961) is a British journalist, author and political commentator. He was a columnist for ''The Observer'' and a blogger for ''The Spectator''. Following accusations of sexual harassment, he left The Observer in 2022 and bega ...

,
Goodbye Stalin, hello Mammon: Once he was Red Mick, now capitalism calls. Nick Cohen spoke to him
, ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publishe ...

'', 13 December 1992 Later in life, he returned to theoretical work, and in 2008, he joined the

Communist Party of Britain The Communist Party of Britain (CPB) is a communist party in Great Britain which emerged from a dispute between Eurocommunists and Marxist-Leninists in the Communist Party of Great Britain in 1988. It follows Marxist-Leninist theory and ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Costello, Mick 1936 births Living people Alumni of the University of Manchester Communist Party of Britain members Communist Party of Great Britain members