Skip to main content
Jean Ross: the real Sally Bowles
PETER FROST remembers a mysterious woman he met in the Communist Party half a century ago

When I first joined the Young Communist League in the early 1960s I met some amazing people.

One was Joe Bent, a well-known and leading communist in community politics in Southwark.

Bent was a regular communist candidate in many elections. In one Greater London Council election he narrowly missed winning a seat by fewer than 1,000 votes.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
mea allen
Books / 3 July 2026
3 July 2026

GAVIN O’TOOLE is enthralled by the colourful portrait of a woman who pioneered a path into the tough, magical world of journalism

Victor Grossman with some of the works he published in the G
Features / 5 February 2026
5 February 2026

Hundreds in Berlin gathered on January 15 to honour the US-born socialist who made East Germany his home. Florentine Morales Sandoval reports

Wilfred Willett and his seminal Birds of Britain / Pic of Willett Country Standard
History / 19 December 2025
19 December 2025

A WWI hero, renowned ornithologist, medical doctor, trade union organiser and founder member of the Communist Party of Great Britain all rolled in one. MAT COWARD tells the story of a life so improbable it was once dismissed as fiction