Harry Pollitt

Harry Pollitt
Pollitt in 1934
3rd & 5th General Secretary of the Communist Party of Great Britain[a]
In office
June 1941 – 13 May 1956
Preceded byR. Palme Dutt
Succeeded byJohn Gollan
In office
July 1929 – 11 October 1939
Preceded byJ. R. Campbell
Succeeded byR. Palme Dutt
General Secretary of the National Minority Movement
In office
1924–1929
Personal details
Born
Harry Pollitt

(1890-11-22)22 November 1890
Droylsden, Lancashire, England
Died27 June 1960(1960-06-27) (aged 69)
Great Australian Bight, aboard SS Orion
Resting placeGolders Green Crematorium, Golders Green, London
Political partyCommunist Party of Great Britain
Other political
affiliations
Workers' Socialist Federation National Minority Movement
Spouse
(m. 1925)
Children2
Parent(s)Samuel Pollitt
Mary Louisa
Signature

Harry Pollitt (22 November 1890 – 27 June 1960) was a British communist who served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) from July 1929 to September 1939 and again from 1941 until his death in 1960. Pollitt spent most of his life advocating communism. Ideologically a Marxist–Leninist, Pollitt was an adherent particularly of Joseph Stalin even after Stalin's death and disavowal by Nikita Khrushchev. Pollitt's acts included opposition to the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War and Polish–Soviet War, support for the Spanish Republicans during the Spanish Civil War, both support for and opposition to the war against Nazi Germany, defence of the communist coup in Czechoslovakia, and support for the 1956 Soviet invasion of Hungary.

He contested a number of parliamentary elections, but never won, despite coming close in 1945. Throughout his time as leader of CPGB, he was in direct secret radio contact with Moscow as CPGB's "Code Holder", and was monitored by the British security services.
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