George Yates (socialist)

George S. Yates was a British

Biography

An

trade unionist in Leith, Scotland, and joined the Social Democratic Federation (SDF). By 1898, he was identified as a member of the left wing of the party, and began lecturing alongside James Connolly.^[1]

In 1900, he was a delegate to the Congress of the Second International, where he was the only British delegate to vote against a motion supporting Alexandre Millerand's decision to join the French government.^[2]

Becoming a convinced supporter of

Labour Representation Committee in 1901.^[3]

In 1903, he wrote an article in Connolly's paper, The Socialist entitled "The Official SDF", which was critical of the organisation's Executive. He was promptly expelled. This was the trigger which provoked the a group of impossibilist SDF members, mostly in Scotland, to form the Socialist Labour Party, within which Yates became a leading figure and editor of The Socialist.^[4] In September 1904, Yates resigned his position, claiming that he was unable to edit the paper while holding down a full-time job.^[5]

Footnotes

^ Eden and Cedar Paul, Proletcult (proletarian Culture)
^ What is the SPGB?, Part 1
^ "The Birth of Labourism". Archived from the original on 2007-09-26. Retrieved 2007-01-24.
^ Neil Redfern, Class or Nation: Communists, Imperialism and Two World Wars
^ Raymond Challinor, The Origins of British Bolshevism

[1] Eden and Cedar Paul, Proletcult (proletarian Culture)

[2] What is the SPGB?, Part 1

[3] "The Birth of Labourism". Archived from the original on 2007-09-26. Retrieved 2007-01-24.

[4] Neil Redfern, Class or Nation: Communists, Imperialism and Two World Wars

[5] Raymond Challinor, The Origins of British Bolshevism

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