David Crook (14 August 1910 – 1 November 2000) was a prominent British communist who spent most of his life teaching in China. A committed
Marxist
Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...
from 1931, he joined the
International Brigades
The International Brigades ( es, Brigadas Internacionales) were military units set up by the Communist International to assist the Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War. The organization existed f ...
to fight against the
Spanish nationalists
Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Spai ...
in the
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...
(1936–1939). After being wounded in combat, he was recruited by the
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union.
...
, the Soviet secret police, and was sent to
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
during the
Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...
(1937–1945). There he met and married his wife,
Isabel
Isabel is a female name of Spanish origin. Isabelle is a name that is similar, but it is of French origin. It originates as the medieval Spanish form of '' Elisabeth'' (ultimately Hebrew ''Elisheva''), Arising in the 12th century, it became popul ...
, a teacher and social activist. Following the
Second World War
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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
and the
Chinese Civil War
The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on m ...
, the couple stayed in China and taught English.
In 1959, the Crooks published ''Revolution in a Chinese Village, Ten Mile Inn'' and in 1966 came ''The First Years of Yangyi Commune''. The British sinologist
Delia Davin
Delia Davin (9 June 1944 – 13 October 2016) was a writer and lecturer on Chinese society and particularly Chinese women's stories. She was one of the first foreign scholars to consider the impact of the policies of the Chinese Communist Party on ...
wrote that through that "classic study" and other writings and talks, the Crooks "provided a positive picture of China to the outside world at a time when cold war simplifications were the norm."
["David Crook A communist who fought against Franco, spied for Stalin and wrote a classic book on change in China"](_blank)
(Obituary) Delia Davin The Guardian, Sunday 17 December 2000 The
Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist-Leninist)
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 ...
called ''Revolution'' a "seminal work, which has been bringing the achievements and challenges of the Chinese agrarian revolution to life for English-speaking readers since 1959." Crook died at 90 after spending his last five decades in China, his political beliefs largely unshaken despite five years' imprisonment during the
Cultural Revolution
The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goal ...
(1966–1976).
Biography
Youth and education
Crook was born in London in 1910. "My father was a Jewish cockney Royalist, raised in the East End of London, by immigrant parents who fled Czarist Russia to avoid anti-semitism and conscription into a pork-eating army," wrote Crook in his autobiography. Crook was educated at
Cheltenham College
("Work Conquers All")
, established =
, closed =
, type = Public schoolIndependent School Day and Boarding School
, religion = Church of England
, president =
, head_label = Head
, head = Nicola Huggett
...
and graduated from
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
in 1935 and participated in protests on campus against
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
.
International communist
After being wounded on his first day at the front in Spain, he was returned to a hospital in
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
. While in Madrid, he was recruited by the
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union.
...
to spy on those whom the
Stalinists
Stalinism is the means of governing and Marxist-Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union from 1927 to 1953 by Joseph Stalin. It included the creation of a one-party totalitarian police state, rapid industrialization, the theory ...
called
Trotskyites
Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International. Trotsky self-identified as an orthodox Marxist, a ...
, a group which included
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalitar ...
. Crook later expressed regret for his part in the deaths of innocent members of the Workers' Party of Marxist Unification (
POUM
The Workers' Party of Marxist Unification ( es, Partido Obrero de Unificación Marxista, POUM; ca, Partit Obrer d'Unificació Marxista) was a Spanish communist party formed during the Second Spanish Republic, Second Republic and mainly active a ...
).
The NKVD then sent him to China. There he taught English at
Saint John's University, Shanghai
St. John's University (SJU) was a Christian university in Shanghai. Founded in 1879 by American missionaries, it was one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in China, often regarded as the Harvard of China.
After the founding of th ...
to spy on a
Trotskyite
Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International. Trotsky self-identified as an Orthodox Marxism, orthod ...
whose arguments in fact began to convince him. Crook proceeded to
Chengdu
Chengdu (, ; Simplified Chinese characters, simplified Chinese: 成都; pinyin: ''Chéngdū''; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively Romanization of Chi ...
and was there when it was bombed by the Japanese. While there he met his future wife,
Isabel Brown
Isabel Brown (6 December 1894 – 22 October 1984) was a British communist activist.
Born in Tyneside, Brown obtained a scholarship to attend the Sunderland Teacher Training College. Initially highly religious, she changed her views as a resul ...
, daughter of Canadian missionaries.
Hitler's invasion of Russia in June 1941 ended Crook's fling with Trotskyism. Upon his return to England, Crook re-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 CPG ...
and joined the
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
, then married Isabel. During the war, he worked for British intelligence throughout Asia and contacted local communist movements.
Residing in China
After study at University of London, the Crooks returned to China to teach English in a rural school which trained staff for the foreign service of the future government. They observed and participated in the land reform movements carried out by the Chinese Communist Party in North China villages and produced a "thick description" which they published in their widely cited ''Ten Mile Village'' (1959).
They entered Beijing with the victorious Communists at "Liberation" in 1949 and for the next forty years, the Crooks taught at the Peking First Foreign Languages Institute (now the
Beijing Foreign Studies University
Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU; ), is a public university in Beijing, China. BFSU boasts the oldest language programs in China offering the largest number of foreign language majors on different educational levels. Located in Haidia ...
).
Despite his long-time loyalty to the
Chinese Communist Party
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victoriou ...
, Crook was imprisoned in 1967 by
Red Guards
Red Guards () were a mass student-led paramilitary social movement mobilized and guided by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1966 through 1967, during the first phase of the Cultural Revolution, which he had instituted.Teiwes According to a Red Guard lead ...
during the
Cultural Revolution
The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goal ...
. When he was freed in 1973 he found his captors sincere but misguided. After his death, his wife told ''China Daily'' that "He was well aware that 'revolution is not a dinner party' so he never blamed China for his lengthy stay in
Qincheng prison
The Ministry of Public Security Qincheng Prison () is a maximum-security prison located in Qincheng Village, Xingshou, Changping District, Beijing in the People's Republic of China. The prison was built in 1958 with aid from the Soviet Unio ...
."
Crook was convinced by reading George Orwell, on whom he had spied in Spain in the 1930s. In 1989, the Crooks criticized the suppression of the
Tiananmen Square protests
The Tiananmen Square protests, known in Chinese as the June Fourth Incident (), were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square, Beijing during 1989. In what is known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre, or in Chinese the June Fourth ...
. While Crook remarks in his autobiography, written in 1990, that he still believes what he mentioned in his 75th birthday (in 1985) speech: "Some people say they are disillusioned by the negative aspects of Chinese society today. But
Chairman Mao
Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ...
said (in 1949) our past work is only the first step on a
long march of 10,000 li... Over the years I have come to realize that the re-making of a society of hundreds of millions of people, steeped in centuries of
feudalism
Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structur ...
, cannot be accomplished quickly and easily, without setbacks and mistakes. But I am confident that by the end of this century - which with a bit of luck I may live to see... this China, which Isabel and I love, which has become our second homeland, will be creating a strong socialist society, and in the course of its modernization will strive to avoid the evils, suffering, ugliness and injustice which have beset modernization elsewhere."
Personal life
Crook died in Beijing in 2000. He was survived by his wife,
Isabel
Isabel is a female name of Spanish origin. Isabelle is a name that is similar, but it is of French origin. It originates as the medieval Spanish form of '' Elisabeth'' (ultimately Hebrew ''Elisheva''), Arising in the 12th century, it became popul ...
, and their three sons. One of his sons, Paul Crook, has given extensive interviews about his experience growing up as a foreigner in China during the Cultural Revolution.
Notes
Further reading
* Li Zhengling 李正凌 et al. (eds.). ''Kēlǔkè fūfù zài Zhōngguó'' 柯鲁克夫妇在中国 : ''David and Isabel Crook in China''. Wàiyǔ jiàoxué yǔ yánjiū chūbǎnshè 外语教学与研究出版社, ²2010, . In Chinese and English, with articles by
Israel Epstein,
Sidney Shapiro
Sidney Shapiro () (December 23, 1915 – October 18, 2014) was an American-born Chinese lawyer, translator, actor and writer who lived in China from 1947 to 2014. He lived in Beijing for more than 50 years and eventually became a member of the ...
etc.
*"Reconstructing the Foreign Teacher: The Nativization of David Crook in Beijing," Craig K. JACOBSE
''Frontiers of Education in China''7.3 (2012) 443–46
* Julian Voloj, Henrik Rehr: ''David Crook. Souvenirs d’une révolution''. Paris: Urban China, 2018; .
Publications
* Isabel Crook and David Crook. ''Revolution in a Chinese Village, Ten Mile Inn.'' (London,: Routledge and Paul, International Library of Sociology and Social Reconstruction, 1959. .
* Isabel Crook and David Crook. ''The First Years of Yangyi Commune.'' (London,: Routledge & K. Paul, International Library of Sociology and Social Reconstruction, 1966. ISBN
* Isabel Crook and David Crook. ''Ten Mile Inn : Mass Movement in a Chinese Village.'' (New York: Pantheon Books, The Pantheon Asia Library 1st, 1979.
* 北京外国语大学英语系词典组. ''Chinese-English Dictionary.'' 外语教学与研究出版社, 1994. .
External links
Hampstead Heath to Tian An Men – The autobiography of David Crookin
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crook, David
1910 births
2000 deaths
Writers from London
British emigrants to China
English communists
British people of the Spanish Civil War
British spies for the Soviet Union
Double agents
International Brigades personnel
British intelligence operatives
Columbia College (New York) alumni
Beijing Foreign Studies University faculty