Cecil Malone

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Cecil L'Estrange Malone
Ernest Edward Alexander
Personal details
Born
Cecil John L'Estrange Malone

7 September 1890
Died25 February 1965(1965-02-25) (aged 74)
NationalityBritish
Spouse
Leah Kay
Military service
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Branch/serviceRoyal Navy
Royal Air Force
Years of service1905–1919
RankLieutenant (RN)
Lieutenant Colonel (RAF)
CommandsHMS Engadine
HMS Ben-my-Chree
East Indies and Egypt Seaplane Squadron
AwardsOrder of the Nile
Officer of the Order of the British Empire (revoked in 1921)

Cecil John L'Estrange Malone (7 September 1890 – 25 February 1965) was a British politician and pioneer naval aviator who served as the United Kingdom's first Communist member of parliament.

Early years and military service

Malone was born in Dalton Holme, a parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, on 7 September 1890. He was the son of the Reverend Savile L'Estrange Malone and Frances Mary Faljomb.[1] He was related to the sisters Constance Markievicz and Eva Gore-Booth.[1]

Malone was educated at

Admiralty to attend Naval Flying School, Eastchurch. He was promoted to lieutenant from sub-lieutenant on 15 December 1911.[3]

Malone earned his Royal Aero Club certificate (No. 195) on 12 March 1912.[4] In the Army Manoeuvres of 1912, Malone flew a twin-engined triple-screwed Short biplane. He is also noted for flying off the forecastle of HMS London steaming 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph).[5]

During the

Cuxhaven Raid on 25 December 1914. From August 1914 to March 1915, he captained HMS Engadine, a cross-channel steamer converted to a seaplane carrier.[6] From March 1915 to April 1916, he captained HMS Ben-my-Chree, another steamer converted to a seaplane carrier.[7] Under Malone's command, seaplanes from Ben-my-Chree were the first on record to carry torpedoes and they torpedoed three enemy vessels in 1916. Malone then took over command of the East Indies and Egypt Seaplane Squadron, for which he was awarded the Fourth Class of the Order of the Nile.[5][8]

Malone was appointed to the Plans Division of the Admiralty in 1918 before becoming the First British Air Attache at the

Versailles in 1918. He was awarded Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his war efforts.[5]

Early political career

Malone was elected as the

Reconstruction Society and wrote a number of articles strongly criticising left-wing activists. As Adams and Wilson wrote, "his early career contained no hint of his subsequent espousal of the communist cause."[1]

On 13 September 1919, with a

Petrograd.[9] After travelling by sea and land to the border, the pair managed to cross the frontier through deserted forests and marshland by foot, arriving at the Soviet border on Sunday, 28 September.[10] The two arrived in Petrograd by train at 6 pm the following day. Malone met and spoke with key leaders of the trade union movement in Petrograd before proceeding by train to Moscow.[11]

In Moscow, Malone met with

Supreme Council of National Economy (VSNKh), Alexei Rykov; chief of food supply for the Russian Republic, Alexander Tsiurupa; and People's Commissar of Education Anatoly Lunacharsky.[15]

The British Socialist Party published the paperback edition of Malone's experiences in Soviet Russia early in 1920.

During his visit, detailed in his memoir, Malone toured factories and theatres, power stations and government offices. He found the mission of the

Bolshevik government in attempting economic reconstruction
to be compelling and emerged from his trip a committed communist. "The history of Allied negotiations and transactions with Russia appears to have been a chain of catastrophes and mistakes" he wrote:

"...[I]t seems there was a culpable lack of foresight in visualizing the forces behind the Revolution. Every effort was made by

Trotsky to bring about peace with the Allies. They were prepared to refuse to sign the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany, and instead to continue the fight on the side of the Allies, but the Allies refused to recognize them ... Various interventional operations, mostly carried out on the plea of protecting Russia against the invasion from Germany, were inaugurated, but really, as we now see, they were carried out in the interests of the capitalist class in Russia. It seems incredible that such slender excuses for intervention should have been allowed to hold good for so long.... [N]ow we find ourselves supporting partisan leaders in Russia by the supply of arms and munitions at the expense of the British taxpayer, and in addition we find our Government carrying on an inhuman and illegal blockade against the Russian people, the result of which during the coming winter months will indeed be terrible."[16]

Upon his return to England, Malone became active in the

workers' movement, and he refused to speak alongside Malone.[18]

Official CPGB historian James Klugmann saw Malone as a leading figure in the party's first year of existence:

"In the first months of the Party's existence Col. Malone was very active not only in Parliament, but addressing mass meetings and rallies all over the country. Whatever his theoretical weaknesses, he was a man of passion, moved by the revolutionary tremors that were shaking the world, full of wrath and indignation against the powers that be, and after a fiery speech in the Albert Hall on November 7, 1920, he was charged with sedition under Regulation 42 of the Defense of the Realm Act ... [h]e was sentenced to six months in the Second Division."[19]

The line which landed Malone in jail related to his argument that during a revolutionary crisis, excesses might occur resulting in the killing of some prominent members of the bourgeoisie. "What are a few Churchills or a few Curzons on lampposts compared to the massacre of thousands of human beings?", Malone asked his audience. Despite Malone's prosecution, the Communist Party did not disavow Malone's rhetorical flourish, going so far as to publish an official party pamphlet, entitled What are a Few Churchills? in January 1921.[20] He was stripped of his OBE on 24 June 1921.[21][22]

Malone came to the attention of

Lenin. Malone was particularly keen and stated "There are still a few differences between the Communist Party and the Labour Party. I am glad to realise, however, that this will soon be settled by affiliation".[23]

Later political and military career

Malone dissociated himself from the Communist Party of Great Britain and joined the

Frederick Roberts, in 1931. He was not re-elected in the 1931 general election.[5]

Malone returned to military service in the

Second World War. In 1942 he was the staff officer to the chief warden of the City of Westminster Civil Defence. From 1943 to 1945 he served in the Admiralty Small Vessels Pool. Following the end of the war in 1945, he became the Vice President of the Royal Television Society, the founder and chairman of the Radio Association, and a fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society. By the time of his death his publications included The Russian Republic, New China, and Manchukuo: Jewel of Asia.[5]

Later life

Malone married

Leah Kay in 1921. After her death, he remarried in 1956. He died on 25 February 1965, aged 74.[24]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Adams, Ian; Wilson, Ray (2015). "Chapter 11: The Communist Threat". Special Branch, A History: 1883–2006. London: Biteback Publishing.
  2. ^ "No. 28451". The London Gazette. 30 December 1910. p. 9707.
  3. ^ "No. 28564". The London Gazette. 22 December 1911. p. 9681.
  4. ^ Flight, flightglobal.com, 16 March 1912.
  5. ^ a b c d e Who's Who 1951. London: Adam and Charles Black. 1951. p. 1870.
  6. ^ "H.M.S. Engadine (1911)". Dreadnought Project. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
  7. ^ "H.M.S. Ben-my-Chree (1908)". Dreadnought Project. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
  8. ^ "No. 13021". The London Gazette. 8 December 1916. p. 2262.
  9. ^ Colonel Malone, The Russian Republic. London: British Socialist Party, 1920, p. 17.
  10. ^ Malone, The Russian Republic, p. 18.
  11. ^ Malone, The Russian Republic, pp. 29, 32
  12. ^ Malone, The Russian Republic, p. 34.
  13. ^ Malone, The Russian Republic, p. 46.
  14. ^ Malone, The Russian Republic, pp. 47–48.
  15. ^ Malone, The Russian Republic, p. 49.
  16. ^ Malone, The Russian Republic, pp. 108–09
  17. ^ Klugmann, History of the Communist Party of Great Britain. In Two Volumes. London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1968; vol. 1, pg. 180
  18. ^ Brian John Ripley and J. McHugh, John Maclean, p. 127
  19. ^ Klugmann, History of the Communist Party of Great Britain, vol. 1, pg. 182
  20. ^ Klugmann, History of the Communist Party of Great Britain, vol. 1, p. 182, fn. 2
  21. ^ Malone political biography, including the stripping of his OBE[usurped], leighrayment.com; accessed 11 December 2016.
  22. ^ "No. 13720". The Edinburgh Gazette. 28 June 1921. p. 1075.
  23. ^ Raymond Challinor, The Origins of British Bolshevism
  24. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U52734. (Subscription or UK public library membership
    required.)

External links
Military offices
New title
Ship chartered by the Royal Navy
 Officer Commanding HMS Ben-my-Chree
1915–1916 		Succeeded by
Parliament of the United Kingdom
New constituency Member of Parliament for Leyton East
1918 – 1922 		Succeeded by
Ernest Edward Alexander
Preceded by
Arthur Holland
 Member of Parliament for Northampton
1928 – 1931 		Succeeded by
Sir
Mervyn Manningham-Buller
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