Tom Quelch

Tom Quelch (1920)

Thomas Quelch (1886–1954) was a British journalist and the son of veteran Marxist Harry Quelch. a member of the British Socialist Party in the early part of the 20th century, becoming a communist activist in Great Britain in the 1920s.[1]

Quelch joined the Social Democratic Federation (SDF),[2] of which both his father, Harry, and his uncle, Lorenzo were members. The SDF formed the British Socialist Party (BSP), and Quelch came to attention in 1912 when he issued an appeal for soldiers to refuse to act as strikebreakers. This caused a Conservative MP, Oliver Locker-Lampson, to complain about him in the House of Commons.[3] Quelch was involved in founding The Call in 1916, resisting attempts to turn the BSP into a Social Patriotic organisation at the outbreak of the First World War. However he was reluctant concerning the presence of African workers in the United Kingdom, raising concerns not merely that they might scab on strikes, but also that they might strike up sexual relationships with English women.[4]

He was one of 13 conveners of the Leeds convention to hail the Russian Revolution, held on 3 June 1917, and was appointed a member of the Central Committee of the Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Delegates at the event.[5]

Quelch was delegated with such as John S. Clarke, Helen Crawfurd, Williie Gallacher, William McLaine, JT Murphy, Sylvia Pankhurst,[6] Marjory Newbold Dave Ramsay and Jack Tanner to attend the Second Congress of the Comintern and attended the Baku Congress of the Peoples of the East.[7] He was elected to the Executive Committee of the Communist International, and also served on the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) from 1923 until 1925.[2]

Quelch worked for the Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians from 1924 until his retirement in 1953.[2] He was living in Wimbledon, London in 1940, when he wrote to the Manchester Guardian with reminiscences of his meetings with Vladimir Lenin.[8] A few years before his death, he resigned from the CPGB.[2]

  1. ^ Stevenson, Graham. "Tom Quelch". Retrieved August 14, 2012.
  2. ^ a b c d Lazitch, Branko (1973). Biographical Dictionary of the Comintern. Stamford: Hoover Institution Press. p. 323.
  3. ^ 'Socialist Appeal to Soldiers: Advice to decline strike-duty', The Times, 8 March 1912, p.10; 'House of Commons', The Times, 12 March 1912.
  4. ^ Macintyre, Stuart (1975). Imperialism and the British Labour Movement in the 1920s (PDF). London: History Group of the Communist Party. p. 12. Retrieved 2 March 2017.
  5. ^ What Happened at Leeds, report published by the Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Delegates, June 1917
  6. ^ Holmes, Rachel (17 September 2020). Sylvia Pankhurst natural born rebel. London. ISBN 978-1-4088-8043-2. OCLC 1196193442.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  7. ^ "Communist Party of Great Britain Writers' Section". Retrieved August 14, 2012.
  8. ^ Tom Quelch, letter to editor, Manchester Guardian, 14 February 1940