Cornforth Maurice

Maurice Campbell Cornforth

Born in 1909, Cornforth is principally remembered as philosopher. Initially, he was a follower of Wittgenstein but joined the Communist Party in the 1930s and produced many works in the Marxist tradition. 

He was active in the local Communist Party branch helping in the fight against unemployment. He was full-time party secretary in East Anglia in the 1930s, then director of Lawrence and Wishart. His introductory Dialectical Materialism sold in great numbers on publication in 1951. 

He died in 1980.

Amongst his publications are:

`Food and farming for victory’, Communist party pamphlet

`Science Versus Idealism: An Examination of “Pure Empiricism” and Modern Logic’ (1946)

`Dialectical materialism and science’ (1949)

`In Defence of Philosophy – Against Positivism and Pragmatism’ (1950)

`Science for Peace and Socialism’ (c.1950) with J. D. Bernal

`Dialectical Materialism’ (1952) Vol 1: Materialism and the Dialectical Method, Vol 2: Historical Materialism, Vol 3: Theory of Knowledge

`Readers’ Guide to the Marxist Classics’ (1952)

`Rumanian Summer: A View of the Rumanian People’s Republic’ (1953) with Jack Lindsay

`Philosophy for Socialists’ (1959)

`Marxism and the Linguistic Philosophy’ (1965)

`The Open Philosophy and the Open Society: A Reply to Dr. Karl Popper’s Refutations of Marxism’ (1968)

`Communism and Human Values’ (1972)

`Rebels and Their Causes: Essays in honour of A. L. Morton’ (1978) editor

`Communism & Philosophy: Contemporary Dogmas and Revisions of Marxism’ (1980)