for the socialist movement, which was growing in strength but was lacking a coherent body of ideas…. The Political Quarterly… was to provide a bridge between the world of thought and the world of action, between the writer, the thinker and the teacher on the one hand and the statesman, the politician and the official on the other". Leonard Woolf later described the journal as being "written for experts by experts". Kingsley Martin and William Robson, who were then junior members of the teaching staff of the London School of Economics and Political Science, took the lead in bringing the idea to fruition. The first meeting of the Political Quarterly The first meeting was held at the London School of Economics and consisted of about 40 or 50 leading intellectuals. Soon afterwards the founders issued a printed prospectus. The signatories included adherents of both the Labour and Liberal parties, and some were not known to belong to any party. The first edition of the Political Quarterly The minimum amount considered necessary to ensure a trial run of three years was £2,000, allowing for substantial deficits during this period. Martin, Robson and Woolf persuaded a number of their friends and acquaintances to contribute sums varying from £5 to £150, but the total came to less than half the amount needed. After a series of persuasive letters from Robson, Bernard Shaw was convinced to donate £1,000 to plug the gap. They set up a small committee to take responsibility for launching the quarterly. This consisted of Leonard Woolf, A. M. Carr-Saunders, Harold Laski, J. M. Keynes, T. E. Gregory, Kingsley Martin and William Robson. Publication by Macmillan began in January 1930. Virginia Woolf hand-sewed early editions of the journal. Early years The first issue of The Political Quarterly stated that:"The function of The Political Quarterly will be to discuss social and political questions from a progressive point of view. It will act as a clearing-house of ideas and a medium of constructive thought. It will not be tied to any party and will publish contributions from persons of various political affiliations. It will be a journal of opinion, not of propaganda. But it has been planned by a group of writers who hold certain general political ideas in common and it will not be a mere collection of unrelated articles..."The year before the financial crisis of 1931 was a difficult moment at