Jack Munro
William James Munro (1873 – 12 January 1948) was a
trade unionist
.
Early life
Born to British parents in India, Munro's father served in the
Midland Railway Company. Three years later, he undertook an apprenticeship as a sheet metal worker, joining the Manchester Society of Braziers and Sheet Metal Workers.[1]
Involvement in Politics and Unions
Munro became interested in socialism, and was an early member of the
Plebs League. He and Jim Crossley were the Socialist Society's two delegates to the 1911 Socialist Unity Conference, which founded the British Socialist Party, and he later followed the party into forming the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB).[1]
Munro worked at
National Union of Sheet Metal Workers and Braziers, and serving on that union's first executive committee. He frequently stood to become president of the union, finally winning it in 1930/31.[1]
Munro was also active in the
UK general strike. In 1936, he was elected as secretary of the trades council, aligning himself with the Labour Party and becoming increasingly opposed to the CPGB. He retired in 1944, after suffering increasingly poor health.[1]
References
- ^ a b c d Edmund and Ruth Frow, "Munro, William John (Jack)", Dictionary of Labour Biography, vol.VII, pp.189–191
- ^ a b c McHugh, Declan (2001). A 'Mass' Party Frustrated? The Development of the Labour Party in Manchester, 1918-31 (PDF). Salford: European Studies Research Institute, University of Salford.