{{short description|British marxist-Leninist}} {{Other people|William Bland}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = William B. Bland | image = Bill Bland.png | birth_date = {{Birth date|1916|4|28}} | birth_place = [[Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire]] | death_date = {{Death date and age|2001|3|13|1916|4|28}} | education = [[Manchester Grammar School]] | political_party = [[Communist League of Great Britain]] }}

'''William Bland''' (28 April 1916 – 13 March 2001) was a British [[Marxist-Leninist]].<ref>[http://www.revolutionarydemocracy.org/rdv7n2/blandobit.htm Obituary], revolutionarydemocracy.org, accessed January 2009</ref>

== Early life == Bland was born in [[Ashton-under-Lyne]], Lancashire, and attended [[Manchester Grammar School]]. His father was director of a printing works, but lost his job during the Depression, and Bland had to leave school to find work at 15. After a visit to the Soviet Union in 1937, Bland migrated to [[New Zealand]] in 1938–39. He returned to England in 1950.

== Political activism == Before becoming a leading figure of the UK [[anti-revisionist]] movement, Bland was a member of the [[Communist Party of New Zealand]] and the [[Communist Party of Great Britain]]. Bland considered [[Mao Zedong]] a left-[[deviationist]] while still maintaining that Hoxha was a true Marxist-Leninist in the tradition of [[Karl Marx]], [[Vladimir Lenin]] and [[Joseph Stalin]]. Bland's line on Mao was problematic since Hoxha and Mao were strategic allies at that time. Bland's position was strengthened after the [[Sino-Albanian split]] and he formed the [[Communist League of Great Britain]].

Bland was one of the founders of the [[Albanian Society]], and three years after its foundation he became its secretary, a post which he held almost continuously for 30 years until the fall of the communist regime in Albania. He was editor of the journal of the society, ''Albanian Life''. He also wrote an English-Albanian dictionary which included information on Albanian life, culture, politics and history. Together with the American Communist, [[Jack Shulman]], he participated in the Alliance Marxist-Leninist (North America) and supported International Struggle Marxist-Leninist (ISML).

In 1991, he helped found the [[Stalin Society]], however, he was later expelled by a [[Maoist]] faction.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.marxists.org/glossary/people/b/l.htm#bland-william |title=Bland, William "Bill" (1916–2001) |website=Encyclopedia of Marxism |access-date=1 June 2021 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20210601221808/https://www.marxists.org/glossary/people/b/l.htm%23bland-william#bland-william |archive-date=1 June 2021 |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Works ==

Bland was the coauthor of ''[https://archive.org/details/ATangledWeb A Tangled Web: A History Of Anglo-American Relations with Albania (1912–1955)]''. Historian {{ill|Peter Prifti|sq}} described the book's treatment of the [[Corfu Channel incident]] as "a masterful exposition of that tragic incident, and a good indication of the level of scholarship that characterizes the contents of the book. . . this well-researched study by W. Bland and I. Price goes a long way to untangle the web, so that we may gain a clearer perspective on the subject."<ref>Prifti, Peter R. ''Unfinished Portrait of a Country''. 2005. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 126.</ref> Aside from theoretical and historical works, Bland wrote a number of plays, directed two films and produced a ballet.

== References == {{Reflist}}

== External links == *[http://marxists.org/history/erol/uk.firstwave/bland-interview.htm Interview with William B. Bland, July 1994] *[http://www.marxists.org/archive/bland/ Articles by Bill Bland at the Marxist Internet Archive] *[http://ml-review.ca/bland/index.html Writings of W.B. Bland] *[http://www.mltranslations.org/Britain/StalinBB.htm Bland on the 'Cult of the Individual'] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20060203090357/http://freespace.virgin.net/pep.talk/Bland.htm Bland on 'Stalinism']

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bland, Bill}} [[Category:1916 births]] [[Category:2001 deaths]] [[Category:Communist Party of Great Britain members]] [[Category:New Zealand communists]] [[Category:Anti-revisionists]] [[Category:Hoxhaists]] [[Category:People from Ashton-under-Lyne]] [[Category:People educated at Manchester Grammar School]] [[Category:British communists]] [[Category:British political party founders]]