The insights gained by a biographical approach to history are often disparate, usually complex and sometimes surprising. In this issue contributors explore aspects of three lives in which politics and personality are inextricably intertwined.

Richard Pankhurst draws on hitherto unused correspondence to document the passionate opposition to Italian fascism of his mother, Sylvia Pankhurst, and specifically the Women's International Matteottti Committee and the issues it confronted in the years 1932-35.

Alison Macleod's witty memoir to her great uncle John reveals a life devoted to political activism that culminated in his selection as a Labour candidate for the Scottish highlands in the 1920s. His eccentricities, no less than his staunch opposition to alcohol, tobacco and landlords, were both socialist and quintessentially Scottish.

Andy Croft's portrait of Randall Swingler — poet, writer, poacher and communist — traces the slwo downfall of a creative spirit. Croft closely follows the political and personal repercussions for Swingler of the dramatic events of 1956, when Swingler left the CPGB and briefly figured prominently in the 'first New Left'.

As well as the usual reviews section, the issue is rounded off by an interview with John Saville by Malcolm Chase, to celebrate the appearance of the tenth volume of the Dictionary of Labour Biography.