Arthur MacManus | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 1889 (1889) Belfast, Ireland |
| Died | 27 February 1927(1927-02-27) (aged 37–38) Hampstead, London |
| Resting place | Kremlin Wall Necropolis, Moscow |
| Known for | Victim of theZinoviev letter hoax. Founding member and first chairman of theCommunist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) |
| Criminal charges | Seditious libel,mutiny |
Arthur MacManus (1889 – 27 February 1927) was aScottishtrade unionist andcommunistpolitician.
Arthur MacManus was born inBelfast, Ireland, in 1889, later moving toGlasgow, Scotland, with his parents.
MacManus joined theDe LeonistSocialist Labour Party (SLP)[1] and began work atSingers inClydebank, then known as part of theRed Clydeside. However, he was sacked in April 1911 following an unsuccessfulstrike.[2]
Supporting the SLP's opposition toWorld War I, MacManus was arrested in 1915 at a meeting inGeorge Square, Glasgow, for speaking against the threatened introduction ofconscription.[3]
MacManus became a leading member of theClyde Workers Committee, and for supportingDavid Kirkwood in theWilliam Beardmore and Company strike of 1916, he was one of five people deported toEdinburgh.[4]
In the1918 general election, MacManus stood unsuccessfully for the SLP inHalifax. Following theOctober Revolution, he became a proponent of a unitedcommunist party. In January 1919, he was appointed to serve on a Unity Committee, to engage in discussions on uniting with theBritish Socialist Party,Workers Socialist Federation and various smaller groups.[5]
In an attempt to resolve differences between the various socialist groups, the committee proposed to form a communist party, then hold a vote onLabour Party affiliation one year later. The SLP executive publicly repudiated this proposal and decided to cease unity negotiations. Together withTom Bell andWilliam Paul, MacManus did not accept this. They continued to attend the negotiations, and in April 1920, formed theCommunist Unity Group. In August, this became the second largest group to participate in the formation of theCommunist Party of Great Britain (CPGB), and MacManus became the party's first chairman, a post he held until 1922.[5] That year, he attended a special conference of the Executive Committee of theComintern, at which it was decided to reorganise the party.[6] MacManus became its colonial secretary,[7] and attended the Fourth Congress of the Comintern in September,[8] at which he was elected to its Executive Committee and Praesidium.[9]
In 1924, theZinoviev letter was circulated, calling for increased communist agitation in Britain. This forgery, intended to damage the Labour Party's chances in the1924 general election, was purportedly signed both byGrigory Zinoviev and MacManus.
In 1925, MacManus was one of twelve CPGB officials imprisoned forseditious libel and incitement tomutiny.[10]
MacManus was able to attend the founding conference of theLeague Against Imperialism in 1927,[11] but died later in the year. His ashes were placed within theKremlin Wall Necropolis.[1]
In 1920, MacManus marriedHarriete "Hettie" Wheeldon (1891-1920), daughter of William Augustus andAlice Wheeldon ofDerby, a schoolteacher who was a socialist and had been an anti-war campaigner during World War I. Within the year the couple had a child who wasstillborn, but later Hettie died ofperitonitis followingappendicitis.[12]
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