Albert Inkpin

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Comrade
Albert Inkpin
1st General Secretary of the Communist Party of Great Britain
In office
31 July 1920 – July 1928
ChairArthur MacManus
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byJ. R. Campbell
Personal details
Born
Albert Samuel Inkpin

16 June 1884
Haggerston, London, United Kingdom
Died29 March 1944(1944-03-29) (aged 59)
Cause of deathCancer
Spouse
Julia Raven
​
(m. 1910)​
Children3
EducationSt Paul’s School, Hackney

Albert Samuel Inkpin, (also written Inkpen)

General Secretary of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB). He served several terms in prison for political offences. In 1929 he was replaced as head of the CPGB and made head of the party's Friends of Soviet Russia
organisation, a position he retained until his death.

Biography

Early years

Albert Inkpin was born on 16 June 1884 in

National Union of Clerks, becoming its assistant secretary in 1907. In 1904, he joined the Marxist Social Democratic Federation (SDF), and became one of its Assistant Secretaries in 1907. He followed the SDF into the new British Socialist Party (BSP) in 1911, continuing in an Assistant Secretary capacity in that new organization.[2][3]

In 1913 Inkpin was elected General Secretary of the BSP. He was a committed internationalist and

military service tribunal and the Middlesex Appeal Tribunal, but he was temporarily exempted as he was a leading figure in a political party and did not ultimately serve.[2]

Inkpin and the more radical elements were thus in a position of firm control of the BSP organisation after 1916. He represented the organisation at the foundation of the Hands Off Russia movement, in 1919. He supported the unity discussions which led to the formation of the Communist Party of Great Britain, in 1920.[2]

Communist leader

Albert Inkpin was Secretary of the Joint Provisional Committee of the Communist Party, the group of representatives of member organisations who set the agenda for the upcoming founding congress. This convention was held in London over the weekend 31 July to 1 August 1920 and was attended by 160 delegates, presenting 211 mandates.[5] These delegates included his wife, Julia, and brother, Harry.[2] Inkpin delivered the keynote address to the gathering and was elected to the governing Central Committee of the new political organisation, becoming General Secretary.[6]

Inkpin was named a member of the honorary presidium of the

3rd World Congress of the Communist International, held in Moscow during the summer of 1921. He returned from Soviet Russia to face more legal difficulties with British authorities. He was charged and convicted for printing and circulating Communist literature, serving a six-month term from January to June 1922. While in prison Inkpin stood as a candidate for London County Council.[4]

Inkpin emerged from jail to become the CPGB's National Organiser, but reverted to being General Secretary the following year. As was the case with top leaders of the early

American Communist movement, such as C. E. Ruthenberg and Charles Dirba
, Inkpin's background in clerical work no doubt served him well in many of the administrative tasks necessary to run a political organization on a day-to-day basis.

In 1925 Inkpin was again imprisoned, this time as one of 12 prominent Communists charged under the

British General Strike
of May 1926.

Inkpin stood down as General Secretary in 1929, to be replaced by

Friends of the Soviet Union, based in Berlin, then from 1933 in Amsterdam. He remained loyal to the Soviet Union, and during the early stages of World War II became a popular speaker on the possibility of British-Soviet collaboration.[2]

Plaque dedicated to Inkpin and his wife at Golders Green Crematorium

In September 1942, Inkpin became ill with cancer, and although he continued working and remained secretary of the British offshoot of the Friends of the Soviet Union, the Russia Today Society, he did not recover, and died in March 1944.[2] He was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium.

Footnotes

  1. ^ "Conviction, Albert Inkpen". Hansard. 150. 13 February 1922. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Richard Temple, "Inkpin, Albert Samuel", Dictionary of Labour Biography, vol.XIV, pp.180–188
  3. ^ Solon DeLeon (ed.), The American Labor Who's Who, pg. 292.
  4. ^ a b DeLeon (ed.), The American Labor Who's Who, pg. 292.
  5. ^ James Klugmann, History of the Communist Party of Great Britain: Volume 1: Formation and Early Years, 1919-1924. London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1968. Page 38. Klugmann notes that the official report of the proceedings stated 152 delegates were in attendance, but listed 157.
  6. ^ Graham Stevenson '"Albert Inkpin" Archived 2010-03-28 at the Wayback Machine, Compendium of Communist Biography. Retrieved 30 August 2009.

Publications by Albert Inkpin

  • "Re-Establishing" the Second International: The Communist Party of Great Britain Replies to a Letter of Appeal Signed by Arthur Henderson (for the British Labour Party), J.H. Thomas and Harry Gosling (for the Trades Union Congress), and J. Ramsay MacDonald (for the Second International). London: Communist Party of Great Britain, n.d. [c. 1921].
  • The Glory of Stalingrad. London: Russia Today Society, 1942.
  • Friends of the USSR: The Story of the Russia Today Society. London: Russia Today Society, n.d. [1942].

External links

Party political offices
Preceded by General Secretary of the British Socialist Party
1913–1920 		Succeeded by
Position abolished
Preceded by
Position established
 General Secretary of the Communist Party of Great Britain
1920–1928 		Succeeded by
Preceded by National Organiser of the Communist Party of Great Britain
1922–1923 		Succeeded by
N/A
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