Abraham Lazarus | |
|---|---|
 Abe Lazarus, 1934 | |
| Born | April 1911[1] |
| Died | 1967 (aged 55–56) |
| Nationality | British |
| Other names | Firestone Bill |
| Citizenship | United Kingdom |
| Occupation | Trade union activist |
| Known for | Anti-fascist and trade union activity in Oxford |
| Political party | Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) |
| Spouse | Mabel Browning |
| Children | 1 daughter |
Abraham Lazarus (1911–1967) was a leading British Communist activist, charity worker, and anti-fascist, most famous for leading numerous high profile factory strikes in London and Oxford, and for organising communists and Jews to resist the British Union of Fascists.[2] He was also the leader of a protest movement to topple Oxford's Cutteslowe Wall which segregated poor working class communities from wealthier ones. While living in Oxford he led tenant strikes in Cowley, and raised money for refugee children from the Spanish Civil War.[3]
Lazarus contracted rheumatic fever during his childhood and this affected his education, because of his condition he was taught at home by his mother. His health recovered in 1928 so he got a job working as a professional driver and a mechanic, later on in 1930 he joined the Hammersmith branch of the Communist Party of Great Britain[4] and became involved in the National Unemployed Workers' Movement. While in London he was often seen selling the Daily Worker outside Belsize Park tube station.[5] In 1933 he led a strike at the Firestone tyre factory and this earned him the nickname 'Bill Firestone'.[6] After the strike he became the South Midlands organiser for the Communist Party.[7]
- ^ 1911 UK census; "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS.
- ^ Renton, David (July 1996). Red shirts and Black: Fascists & Anti-fascists in Oxford in the 1930s. Ruskin College. p. 13. ISBN 0900183195. ISSN 0261-5649.
- ^ Jump, Meirian (2007). "The Basque Refugee Children in Oxfordshire during the Spanish Civil War" (PDF). Oxoniensia. 72: 67. ISSN 0308-5562.
- ^ Walker, Michael (15 January 2008). "West Middlesex District Communist Party". Hayes People's History.
- ^ Fraser, Pauline (21 May 2016). "Interview with Jean Turner". Morning Star. p. 12.
- ^ Wells, Celia (2019). A Woman in Law: Reflections on Gender, Class and Politics. Waterside Press. p. 61. ISBN 978-1-909976-66-5.; Cope, David. "British political pseudonyms" (PDF). Left on the Shelf. p. 2.
- ^ Andrews, Geoff (7 June 2017). "Abe Lazarus and the Lost World of British Communism" (PDF). History Workshop Journal. 83 (1): 276. doi:10.1093/hwj/dbx003. S2CID 158044090.
