David Crook | |
|---|---|
 David Crook in Madrid, 1937 | |
| Born | 14 August 1910 London, England |
| Died | 1 November 2000 (aged 90) Beijing, China |
| Nationality | British |
| Education | Columbia University (BA) |
| Occupation(s) | Author, spy, teacher |
| Political party | Communist Party of Great Britain Chinese Communist Party |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance | International Brigades |
| Battles/wars | Spanish Civil War |
David Crook (14 August 1910 – 1 November 2000) was a British communist who spent most of his life teaching in China. A committed Marxist from 1931, he joined the International Brigades to fight against the Spanish nationalists in the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939). After being wounded in combat, he was recruited by the NKVD, the Soviet secret police, and was sent to China during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945). There he met and married his wife, Isabel, a teacher and social activist. Following the Second World War and the Chinese Civil War, the couple stayed in China and taught English.[1]
In 1959, the Crooks published Revolution in a Chinese Village, Ten Mile Inn[2] and in 1966 came The First Years of Yangyi Commune.[3] The British sinologist Delia Davin 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."[4] The Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist-Leninist) 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."[5] 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 (1966–1976).[6]
- ^ "Hampstead Heath to Tian An Men – The autobiography of David Crook". Archived from the original on 25 January 2021. Retrieved 7 February 2006.
- ^ London: Routledge & Paul, 1959; reprinted: New York: Pantheon Books, 1979
- ^ London: Routledge & K. Paul, 1966
- ^ "David Crook A communist who fought against Franco, spied for Stalin and wrote a classic book on change in China" Archived 14 December 2020 at the Wayback Machine (Obituary) Delia Davin The Guardian, Sunday 17 December 2000
- ^ Review: Ten Mile Inn by David and Isabel Crook Archived 28 September 2020 at the Wayback Machine Proletarian Online Archived 20 May 2020 at the Wayback Machine 51 (December 2012)
- ^ Hochschild, Adam (19 Dec 2013), “Orwell: Homage to the ‘Homage’” Archived 30 December 2014 at the Wayback Machine, New York Review of Books.