The tenants living in Blackwall Buildings were faced with a proposed rent increase of two shillings and sixpence per week. A large amount for most people to find in those days. They formed a Tenants’ Defence League and most of them refused to pay (1).

The ILD was continuing to run meetings and give public lectures at our premises. There were four public meetings and one lecture during the course of one week, just after the outing to Margate (2). There were also committee meetings and Communist Party meetings to be attended, as well as helping with the donkey work of advertising, canvassing and literature sales. There wasn't a lot of time for social past-times, until late evenings. All the time new faces were appearing. About this time, Sam Berks, Leon Grill and ‘Mad Mick’, the taxi driver, from my corner, had become more active in the movement.

The British Workers Sports Federation was a good organisation bringing more people from the sporting youth of Stepney into political life. A while later, two young girls, came from there. Bessie and her friend Julie. They were two well built girls interested in running and netball. I soon got to know them and got on very well with them, particularly with Julie a fine looking dark haired maiden, different from the blondes who I usually found more attractive. Bessie was to become the wife of my good friend Sam Berks.

Then there was Sam Masters, who lived in Newark Street, less than a hundred yards from Nat Cohen’s place. He was a ‘Lucas Tooth’ physical training instructor. The Lucas Tooth Institute was one of the best physical training organisation existing at that time. I was to be associated with Sam Masters for the rest of his short life, and I am proud to have known him.

I had become a ‘full-blown’ public speaker by now and found myself addressing street corner meetings, attending internal meetings and doing one or two other jobs, all during the course of one evening, after a hard days work in the workshop. I don’t know where we got the energy from to finish off the day with a little ‘snogging’ on the doorstep. But we did.

The opposition to Nazi terror in Germany was growing. We organised a conference to further the cause of the Meerut prisoners (3). Harry Pollitt continued to attack the ILP and Fenner Brockway in particular, because they were critical of the Communist International’s line regarding the events in Germany (4). Several names were being connected with the Reichstag fire— Tergler, Dimitrov, Tanev and Popov. The last three were all Bulgarian Communists who happened to be in Germany at the time. The ILD secured the services of a lawyer called Neil Lawson, to volunteer to defend them, if no suitable German lawyer could be found (9).

The NUWM in Stepney were carrying on with the job on behalf of the unemployed and were as busy as possible. We had to Join forces when a woman and her three small children became destitute and were threatened with eviction, from their home. They lived on the top floor of a large tenement block, one of several, which filled the whole of Flower and Dean Street. They were called Rothschilds Mansions. Sarah Wesker and her family lived a couple of entrances away from the place where the eviction was to take place. She didn’t take part in what followed, as far as I knew, because she was usually engaged in ‘trade union work’, in the tailoring industry.

Came the day, we arranged for this poor women and her children to stay with some neighbours and rallied all our available forces to support the local tenants, in resisting the efforts of the authorities to carry out the court order.

I found myself inside the flat with Max Levitas, who later became a Communist borough councillor, and one or two others. We used the furniture, such as it was, to barricade ourselves inside. | noticed that some idiot had brought some home made coshes and left them in the flat. [insisted upon them being removed, but the bailiff, accompanied by the police, were already banging on the door.

So I made two of those present leave through the window onto the balcony, which led to the next flat, and I’m sure they were as relieved to go as I was to see the back of those coshes. This left me and Max to hold the fort.

We could hear the crowd shouting all along the street and from the flats, through the windows, while others took up positions on the open landings and balconies. The door panels were beginning to split and I was frightened.

Suddenly, the banging stopped and there was no one in sight, when I looked through the cracks in the door. I went into the front room to look out of the window and see what had happened in the street. We found that the van which had arrived, had gone, the driver being ‘persuaded’ that it would not be in his best interests to assist in the eviction. Also, the police were hopelessly outnumbered and had given up the attempt to carry out the eviction. Max and I opened the door and joined the crowd in the street, who were marching up and down behind a big banner, shouting slogans and feeling very lively.

A platform appeared on the comer of the street and someone was addressing the crowd. The police were trying to get the crowd to move on. They approached the platform demanding that the meeting be closed, as the crowd were getting out of hand. Nat Cohen said we had a right to hold the meeting and he intended to continue. The police rushed the platform. As one speaker was thrown off, another took over. In a matter of minutes, two mounted policemen arrived and when they intervened, the platform was no longer able to remain standing at all.

I remember being one of the speakers to end up on the ground, surrounded by policemen with drawn truncheons. I got up with my back to the wall, but no one went for me, and I was allowed to walk away. ‘Mad Mick’ told me that he had been watching, and would have come to my rescue, had the police started to hit me.

Several people had been arrested and were being escorted by policemen, who made sure they would not get away. A large crowd followed all the way to Commercial Street police station. They shouted slogans and abuse at the police and now and then, some attempts would be made to rescue someone, On arrival at the station, the crowd continued to shout and gather round the entrance. The policemen only had to stretch out their hands to rope in a few more. Eventually the crowd dispersed and returned to Flower and Dean Street, where the people were congratulating themselves on the victory over the forces of ‘law and order’, who had failed to evict that poor women and her children, that day (6).

The National Unemployed Workers’ Movement were successful in preventing another attempt to evict a family, in Plumbers Row, soon after the Flower and Dean Street affair (7).

The tenants in other parts were forming their own local committees to resist rising rents and against bad conditions. The best known being the Blackwall Tenants’ Defence Committee. Things were beginning to get exciting everywhere but I was becoming more and more involved with the ILD.

* * * * *

In the middle of 1933 in Germany Torgler, Dimitrov, Tanev and Popov were accused of firing the Reichstag. An advert in the Daily Worker, under our Stepney ILD heading said, ‘Members are instructed not to go away this weekend on rambles, etc. Important—concentrate on German relief week campaign’. That’s how we did things. Note the word, instructed (8).

The Relief Committee for Victims of German Fascism had Albert Einstein as their international president (9). We in Britain were attracting more well known people to the cause. Another name was linked to the Reichstag fire—Van der Lubbe.

Pollitt continued to argue with the ILP and Fenner Brockway, in the columns of the Daily Worker, while appearing in joint efforts against German Fascism, etc. (10). Two of those arrested during the eviction attempt in Flower and Dean Street were given three months in gaol. The Reichstag fire trial was postponed (11).

Meanwhile the unemployed were particularly incensed by the operation of the ‘Means Test’, and they continued to fight in any way open to them. Some London tailors working for Alfred Cohen Ltd, went on strike against long hours. Before they were organised, they were working until 10.00 or 11.00pm when it was busy, also working overtime at weekends. The boss said, ‘If you don’t work those hours, there will be someone in your place in the morning’. The fight was led by the UCWU. Injunctions were applied for, by a firm whose shops were being picketed. The usual opposition from the police made picketing difficult, but this did not prevent the strike from continuing (12).

A team of international lawyers offered to defend the accused in the Reichstag fire trial, including Niel Lawson and DN Pritt KC; Sir Stafford Cripps also offered to help (13). Frank Peterson had completed his two year sentence and was welcomed home (14). Those sentenced in the Meerut case were having their appeals heard. The United Jewish Protest Committee, organised a march to Hyde Park on Thursday, 20th July (15). The Communist Party offered to help, but this was refused. We said, ‘Class against class—not race against race’. Shops were closed, market traders took the day off. The LTU workshops all closed for the day. The Jewish ex-servicemen marched. About 30,000 people participated (16).

The ILD moved its national headquarters to Cromer Street, WC1 and called an all London members meeting (17). The Meerut appeal result included the aquittal of nine defendants, one Englishman, Hutchinson, among them. Spratt and Bradley had their sentences reduced from twelve and ten years to two and one years respectively (18). The ILD and the Seaman’s Minority Movement took up the case of 23 seamen who were given 21 days for ‘refusing duty’ and disobeying orders. The seamen were from the SS Ionic. The boatswain on this ship had, it was alleged, caused an ordinary seaman to jump overboard on his previous ship. These seamen could not take his rough treatment, so they, in effect, went on strike. When the ship docked, they were charged and sentenced. The Seaman’s Minority Movement and the ILD took up their defence and tried to help their dependents (19). We organised a demonstration when they were tried and we had another, to welcome them home (20). During the three weeks they were ‘inside’, we got to know quite a few seamen, their wives and families.

In this way, it was possible to make contact with people, assist them in their particular trouble and try to introduce them to more important. issues, which we tried to show, formed one whole struggle between classes. As you can imagine, seamen are not easy to organise. They are at sea for long periods and don’t always retur to the ports they left. They change ships quite often, especially the militant ones. Since they had to ‘sign on’ for each trip, a skipper could refuse to sign anyone he didn’t like. Nevertheless, we had managed to establish a branch of the Seamans MM, with an office in West India Dock Road. The full-time organiser was one Pat Murphy (21). Some of the leading members were also members of the ILD and CP. Paddy Byrne, McNulty and others whose names I cannot remember. They were out of work for long periods so we saw quite a lot of them. Pat Murphy was brought to London to become the full-time organiser of the Seaman’s MM and had been CP functionary previously. He was a very big man. Built like a heavyweight all-in wrestler. He was a good public speaker. He loved to perform feats of strength, for our amusement. I remember being in his office, one afternoon, along with several other people. I weighed fifteen and a half stones at the time and Pat said he could lift me on the end of a broom. He placed the broom on the floor and invited me to stand on the head. He then got hold of the handle and tried to lift. The broom handle snapped in two. Pat was not satisfied, he went out and bought a new handle and fixed it on to the head.

He lifted me all right. As usual in these feats, it was not just brute strength, you need some science too. If you can imagine the position, with someone standing on the broom head, if you get hold of the end of the handle with your right hand, it will be easy to lift it off the ground. Then get hold of the handle with your left hand, as near to the head as possible, you now have maximurn leverage. Try it, you will see what I mean.

At this time some taxi drivers were on strike, led by their MM branch, over a demand for a bigger share of the increased prices which the owners had been permitted to charge (22). In New York, 60,000 clothing workers were on strike for a 30 hour week. A bit different to our lot (23)!

The Reichstag fire trial had been postponed for the eighth time. In fact we were not yet sure exactly who the defendants were to be. They hadn’t been named, as yet. We called a demonstration to protest about the proposed trial and linked it to the anniversary of the judicial murder of Sacco and Vanzetti (24). The Stepney ILD premises were too small, so we had to hold our aggregate meetings at the ‘Circle House’ (25). The trial date was announced as September 21st, although some of those named, had been arrested on 27th February (26).

Meanwhile, Mosley had set up the BUF headquarters in Chelsea. This ‘Brown House’ was established in what was formally the ‘Whitlands College for Women’. A hundred and fifty men were to be quartered there and they were to be self supporting. Mosley’s office would also be on the premises and the whole place was defended like a fortress. There were at least 2,000 German refugees in Amsterdam alone. We in Stepney called a meeting to demand the right of asyium, for Jews arriving from Germany (27).

The Canadian Communist Party was being attacked and an attempt was being made to declare it illegal, which it was, in practice anyway. Van der Lubbe, who we regarded as a Nazi stooge, had ‘confessed’ to buming the Reichstag (28). We welcomed home the two people who had been sentenced as a result of the eviction case we had taken part in earlier (29).

Someone called Jewell, who had thrown a brick at a German Embassy window, was arrested (30). Albert Einstein arrived in England (31). We had an aggregate meeting, this time in the St George’s library. The main speaker was a German ‘representative’ of the ILD (32). I’m sure we never learned his real name. I met him at the National Committee of the ILD, and we were told he was here as a representative of the European Bureau of the International Red Aid. He would be instructing us for a short period. He was a tall, distinguished looking man with a thin face and a full head of grey hair. He spoke English very well and was obviously an intellectual of some kind or other. A great deal of care was taken about his movements while he was here. He went back to Germany and I never heard of him again. The Stepney ILD were congratulated for having undertaken to support the dependents of Sid Elias while he was in gaol. We also undertook to visit him, supply books and anything else the prison authorities would allow (33).

A group of internationally famous lawyers took part in a court of enquiry into the Reichstag fire (34). The second anniversary of Invergorden had arrived and Len Wincott did a piece for the Daily Worker (35). — On Wednesday 20th, the eve of the opening of the Reichstag fire trial, the ILD had a demonstration to Tower Hill, to support the defendants, At the Kingsway Hall, in central London, Ellen Wilkinson, Professor Harold Laski, Ivor Montague, Kingsley Martin, Rev. H Beldon and Harry Pollitt, spoke for the release of the defendants (36). The trial opened on the 21st, but the charge of arson had been dropped and all but Van der Lubbe, were charged with ‘treasonable activities’. Van der Lubbe, with ‘arson and high treason’. On the 24th, there was a demonstration to Hyde Park. There was a speaker, wife of a member of the Reichstag, also, Len Wincott, DF Springhall and others (37).

The ILD received a letter from the Deputy Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, prohibiting any approach to the German Embassy for the presentation of petitions etc. He also said that no assembly there would be allowed, or in the vicinity thereof (38).

Meanwhile, some members of the ILP were still criticising the Communist International, for their attitude to the Social Democrats of Germany and elsewhere. They said, that not only were the Social Democrats responsible for the German situation, but so were the Communist International and the German Communist Party. This was hotly contested by the CP (39).

From the very beginning of the Reichstag trial, it was clear that the outstanding defendant was Dimitrov. Also that he was going to be the accuser, and not be content just to protest his innocence of the charge of being concerned with firing the Reichstag (40).

At home, drastic cuts in the dole were being proposed, including a cut of thirteen weeks instead of twenty-six weeks, in the statutory benefit period. The Stepney ILD were now using ‘Harry the Barber’s’ shop premises (41) at 91 Commercial Road, as our headquarters (42).

On 9th October, a meeting took place at the Essex Hall, to protest at the existence of a colour bar, organised by the Negro Welfare Association. The speakers were, Arnold Ward, A Rianzin and Jomo Kenyatta (43).

Opposite the London Hospital, in Whitechapel Road, were two of our best outdoor meeting places, Derwent Street and Fulboume Street. The Workers’ Theatre Movement were doing one of their open-air shows at this spot, when the police decided they were causing an obstruction. They moved in and proceeded to break up the meeting. Five ‘actors’, also Nat Cohen and Phil Cohen, were arrested. Nat was charged with ‘Wilful obstruction and assault’ and remanded in custody overmight. Phil was charged with ‘Obstruction’ and ‘Failing to notify change of address’. Phil was an alien. So we had some more class-war prisoners to defend (44). At the Shoreditch Town Hali, Ellen Dimitrova, sister of Dimitrov, spoke on behalf of the Reichstag Fire Trial defendants. This meeting was organised by the East London Anti-Fascist Committee (45). Then came the Fairdale strike.

* * * * *

Before I can deal with that, I have to tell you that things were changing in the East London CP. Voices were being raised against some of us, who, it was said, paid too much attention to street meetings and demonstrations etc., and not enough to work in the trade unions. My Party cell met at the Michaelsons’ place. A top floor flat at the comer of Nelson Street and Turner Street. Mr Michaelson was in his late fifties. He was a foreigner and a great one for messing about with wireless equipment. He was also a useful inventor.

I remember seeing a coin slot meter, which he had made, which was similar to those used by the electricity authorities today. His wife was English born and a good deal younger. She was good at selling the Daily Worker. In this cell were, Nat Cohen, Manny Slazberg, Hetty Stern, Harold Cohen and myself, from the ILD Party faction. Included in this, the Jubilee Street cell, there was also Sam Berks, Leon Grill, ‘Mad Mick’ and Alex Sheller, from my ‘corner’, also, Sam Masters, ‘Tubby’ Goldman and Sam Waldman.

There were three younger people who had been my brothers’ mates, up to about their fifteenth birthdays. -Archie Fiddleman, ‘Tubby’ Cohen and Joe Waldman, acousin of Sam Waldman. Later on we recruited Alf Fitterman, Sadie Lazarus and brother Alf along with their father. Also, Jack Ross, brother of Harry Ross, the actor. Jack married Sadie Lazarus and I remained friends with them for many years to come. There were more to come as we continued our work as the Jubilee Street Cell. Nat Cohen was our ‘instructor’. I can’t remember all those who held leading positions, over a long period.

I can remember a case concerning “Tubby’ Goldman, a married man with four children, at the time. He was being criticised for not being active enough and came up with the excuse, that his wife would not allow him to spend so much time away from home. Nat was a dedicated Communist and thought nothing of telling him, he should choose between his wife and children, or the Party. “Tubby” did eventually leave his wife and children, but not for the sake of the Party. He was a trouser machiner, who, according to Sam Berks, was the fastest worker he ever saw. He started his own workshop and went on to become one of the biggest trouser manufacturers, with a very well known brand name. He owned factories all over the place and became a rich man.

Things were changing in my personal life too. Pearl and I never stopped meeting at her home and wherever our paths crossed, in the many places connected with our work as Communists, Harold had begun to find his time being taken up by the ex-servicemen, who were organising along anti-fascist lines. We still spent a lot of time together, in the ILD and Communist Party.

Pearl was almost 18 and I was over 20 years old. We decided it was time to come into the open, to be accepted as a couple, in the way that others were accepted. For the first time, we arranged for me to call at her home and we would leave together, for an evening on our own, away from the East End and its polities. It was a Friday evening. I arrived, all dressed up to kill, at 7.00pm. Pearl was almost ready, dressed in her best outfit. And very lovely she looked. No one in the house knew we had planned to meet in this way, deliberately. If was like making an announcement without saying anything.

We could have met somewhere else, but that would have meant nothing if we had merely arrived home together. Without saying anything, we left the house and Pearl slipped her arm in mine, the way couples usually do. We headed for the West End.

On arrival at the "Holborn Empire" we joined the queue for the second house. While waiting, I went to get a box of chocolates and behaved as though we were like all the other couples in the queue. The usual assortment of buskers entertained us, as we waited to move into the theatre. I can’t remember who was top of the bill, because for some time afterwards, this was a regular Friday night off, and one bill was very like another, with the same artists appearing again after a few weeks absence. This was round about the time when Max Miller and Tommy Trinder were beginning to be friendly rivals. The Crazy Gang were beginning their long stay at the ‘Palladium’, in a series of shows. We started to alternate between the Holborn Empire and The Palladium. On this first occasion, we left at the end of the show and boarded a bus for our return to the East End. Instead of going to one of our usual haunts, we went to a small Jewish restaurant, off Commercial Road, and had a slap-up meal. It must have been almost 11.30pm when we got back to Varden Street. The whole family were still up and gathered in the kitchen, round a big oval table. When we walked in, there was a lot of chaff and banter, all in very good humour.

Mr Cohen was in one of his good moods, after having had a skin-full, at the pub. He wasn’t always like that. I heard many stories of hard times in the home, due to his habit of getting very drunk, very often. He had mellowed somewhat, by the time I got to know him, but was still capable of being an awkward customer when he had been drinking too much. He was a small thin man, who worked long hours, in his little workshop. He employed three or four people and made the rest of the family help in any way they could.

From early childhood, all his children had to go to ‘shop’. Pearl told me how, when she was nine years old, she would have to carry a quantity of finished waist coats, to a shop ‘over the water’, in Borough High Street, over London Bridge, then collect the cut work in a black bag and bring it home. All this was in the dinner hour when she came from school, to get some food. After school, she would repeat this process, only to another shop in some other part of London. Mr Cohen worked for about five or six bespoke tailors shops.

Each shop would have a couple of waistcoat makers, working for them. This is how these establishments operated. It is different now, most of the big gents outfitters are multiple concerns with their own factories. There are still many survivors of the old system. In the old days, what was known as a ‘Saville Row’ suit, was likely to have been made, by sweated labour, in a dingy East End’workshop. Pearl had taken over the job of ‘going to shop’ from her older brothers, when they had left school,just as her younger brother Arthur, took over from her when she left school, and so on right through the family. A master tailor with no young children to ‘exploit’, would have to employ someone to do this job. At one shilling and ninepence to about three shillings to make a waistcoat, you need a big quantity to earn any thing like a living. No wonder the ‘old man’ wanted to drown his sorrows in drink. But that really wasn’t what started him off.

After his arrival in England from Poland, when he was only 17 years old, he became a very good ball-room dancer, In fact, before the first world war, he was the Master of Ceremonies, at a club called “The German Oak’, situated in Welclose Square, off Cable Street. He taught dancing and made a lot of money, besides being a waistcoat machiner. This is when he developed his drinking habits. He also earned a reputation for toughness, despite his small physical stature. He was known as ‘Moisha Hoorn’. A ‘Hoorn’ being a ‘fighting cock’ in this context, and ‘Moisha’ sure could spring around when he felt like it. He was a nice man with all his faults. We got on very well and I joined him in the pub on many occasions.

He once frightened the life out of me. We had been drinking and as usual, he had been going at the rate of three pints to my one, and on the way home he was overcome. He sat down on a step at the entrance to one of the blocks in Fieldgate Mansions, opposite the Rowton House in Fieldgate Street. I thought he was going to pass out. I knocked on a door and asked for some water. I don’t know if Mr Cohen heard me, but he seemed to recover very quickly, and we got home, where he went straight to bed. He was none the worse the following morning, because he was at his machine as usual, by about 6.00am.

When he started to court Mrs Cohen, he was making some money, and being a bit jealous of her, he insisted on her giving up work so that she would not have to mix with the men in the workshop. She was one of seven sisters and two brothers. One of them was killed in the war. Pearl’s parents met soon after the Boer war. Mrs Cohen was very fond of talking about the ‘good old days , Mafeking and all that, Marie Lloyd and the real old music hall. She had actually been one of Marie Lloyd’s young ladies of the chorus, when Marie appeared at ‘The Pavilion’, Whitechapel. She was a ‘good looking girl’, as Mr Cohen was always telling me.

The eldest Cohen daughter Becky, who was already married to Mick Gilbert, when I arrived, had a very promising career cut short by her father, because of his fear of what might happen to her. Like she might marry a “Yok’. She had been trained as a dancer and by the time she was 16, had been successful in getting many engagements as a soubrette and dancer, in concert parties and on the variety stage. She had appeared in London at the "Trocadero", Elephant and Castle, and at ‘The Pavilion’, Whitechapel, in the name of Betty Moore. She had a female cousin who was a violinist in a band, and had run off with a gentile chap, while on tour in Buxton, Derbyshire.

When Mr Cohen heard about this, and for other reasons, no doubt, he decided that no daughter of his was going on tour unaccompanied. So, Becky had to give up her attempts to reach stardom on the stage. She went into her father’s workshop, to become a needle hand and that’s where she met her husband.

You know something about Harold, who was not now working with his father, as there was not enough for two top machiners, all the time. Young Arthur was learning the trade and at just over 16, was already a member of the YCL, where he met Betty Prince, who he eventually married. The Princes were a large family, from the Stepney Green area, the father being a ‘City street trader’, as Betty said, when she got married. This was because someone had called him ‘a hawker’. Most of the Princes, about ten of them, were in the CP or YCL, or sympathetic. The youngest Cohen daughter, Sylvia, was about 13. She was never political in any way, and when she left school, became a general clerk in an office. During the second world war, she met and married a nice Jewish GI. She joined her husband after the war. They lived and raised a family in New York, until they retired to live in Florida. The other member of the family, Myer, was now an old married man and father at the ripe old age of 22.

Mrs Cohen was not all that much of a ‘home loving’ woman. She was a good cook and there was always plenty of good food in the house. She was more interested in going to the pictures, clothes and broaches, ear-rings, necklaces and having her hair done. She was always reading those cheap novelettes. Mostly romances. I felt, she had never really grown up. She had learned to tolerate her husband, but despite their large brood, there was not a lot between them, when I came into the household. Mrs Cohen had known better days during the first world war, when ‘Moisha’ was getting a lot of money from his dancing lessons as well as the waist coat game. Between them it was certain not to amount to anything, as they could each in their own way get through any amount of money. Mr Cohen’s only achievement had been his ability to remain his own boss, even if that meant alot of worry, for not much more reward than an ordinary worker.

From now on, I was accepted as a member of the family. Becky was pregnant and as there was a house to let just opposite, she and Mick moved out of No 9. The arrangements for sleeping etc., were altered, so that Harold and Arthur did not have to open the couch each night, but now had a bedroom, upstairs. The parlour was now open to Pearl and I and where as previously we spent a lot of time saying ‘good night’, in the passage near the front door, we could now spend that time in greater comfort. Especially during the winter months.

This was how things stood with me. My personal affairs were more straight forward, but I had not yet dealt with the matter of introducing Pearl to my mother and family. I don’t remember ever talking to Pearl about my family, beyond mentioning that I lived with my mother, in the course of our normal relationships. She must have known that, as well as where I lived, because she knew Harold was a frequent visitor to my place. She never asked any questions about my family and I never volunteered any information. | knew this position could not last, but I took my time before deciding to open the subject, in anticipation of the day when she would be introduced to my mother. I don’t know if my mum knew I was going steady, at this time, because I never told her and she never asked me, if indeed she knew. I know now she must have known a lot more than I thought. Just as I know now, that Pearl knew a lot more about me, than I imagined at the time. I didn’t know much about love or how it affects you. I hadn’t had a lot of love shown me as a child. This isn’t to say that my mother didn’t love me. She certainly did, but you know how things were.

* * * * *

Came the middle of October and with it the Fairdale strike. John Fairdale’s factory was situated in Bethnal Green, and was a big gents clothing concern, of that period, employing about 200 workers. I’m not sure exactly how the workers were organised. There were a few peopie who were active in the UCWU, which now had its offices at 225 Shoreditch High Street (46). I think most of the workers were in the National Union of Tailors and Garment Workers. Anyway, this was during a slack period when the factory was on ‘short time’. The manager decided to take on a new cutter who was not a union member. When the union protested, the management replied by locking-out all the workers. I should imagine they had planned this so that they could break up the organisation, while the trade was quiet. The workers in this factory had a good record as militant trade unionists. There were several members of the CP working there (47).

Before very long, pickets were being arrested for obstruction. Meetings near the factory were broken up by the police. They broke up a meeting at Cygnet Street, near Fairdales and refused to allow the platform to be placed in Finch Street (48). People were arrested and like the pickets, were fined, usually about five pounds a time. The National Union did not declare the dispute official, for some time. So, the strikers received no strike pay. Inside the CP voices were raised criticising all local party members. especially clothing workers, who did not give all their time to helping to win this dispute. We had to argue, that this dispute, important though it certainly was, could not claim all our attention. Some of us who were being criticised, thought that those who were mainly engaged in trade union work, were neglecting the other important facets of the class struggle. For example, German Fascism, unemployment, rents, Mosley, etc, etc. This kind of argument had been going on for a long time and came to the surface more and more, as time went on.

The East London Sub District Communist Party organised a dance, all proceeds to the Fairdale strike fund (49). The local leadership had some powerful voices favouring the “Trade Union group’, which included, Sarah Wesker, Morrie Segal and ‘Chick’ Segal, clothing workers, and others engaged in other trades. We continued to work in the ILD as much as possible, but had to spend a little more time on other Party work.

Dimitrov’s lawyer, Detchev, arrived here on a tour, after being expelled from Germany. I chaired some of the meetings we arranged for him (50). The trial continued to hit the headlines with Dimitrov becoming more of a hero as each day passed. We ran a dance at the ‘St Georges Town Hall’ with Len Wincott as Master of Ceremonies (51). I was getting to know him better. I liked him and tried to talk to him as often as I could.

Len told me all about the Invergorden Mutiny. Not much was known about that, except the little details which Len told me. He described some of his feelings while the Atlantic Fleet was without effective control by the officers. How they organised communications between ships. How they spent time speculating on the possible consequences of their actions. How different people reacted to this situation. How discipline was maintained at a very high level, on a completely voluntary basis. The elected representatives were respected and committee decisions carried out with efficiency. He described later in his book in 1974 the gulf which separated men from the officers, those who gave the orders and those who were expected to carry them out. It was so great that the mutiny had to take the course it did. The result of the mutiny is a living testament to the ability of the ordinary seamen, rank and file, in organising their own affairs under conditions of extreme stress.

There is no evidence that the rank and file sailors ever had any contact with any outside person or body (such as Trade Union or political party) during the course of the mutiny. All decisions were made by all the men on all the eight ships independently, after an initial mass meeting on shore where it had been decided to ‘strike’.

If you want to know the form and content ofa self managed struggle in which the rank andfile never surrendered decision making to any outside, selfappointed leaders, then you should read Len Wincott’s book. I do not share all the author’s present day views, but what happened to Len afterwards explains that his views are coloured by the fact that he suffered a great deal more from some of those he came to regard as his ‘friends’ in the Communist Party than ever he did from his known enemies.

Bob Lovell had finished his prison sentence (52) and retumed to work, but had been replaced as National Secretary of the ILD, by Alun Thomas. The ILD decided to organise a demonstration to the German Embassy, despite the police ban. The Daily Sketch carried the following headlines regarding this demonstration, on page one: ‘Batton charges in West End. —Riotous scenes outside the German Embassy. —Police charge mob in West End. —Disturbance when a party of Fascists appeared. —Deputation refused permission to present petition. —More than one hour to clear crowd’ (53). The Daily Mirror reported, “Attempts were made to rush the doors. --Many arrests. ~Arrested people to appear at Bow Street’ (54).

What happened was, we held our meeting in Trafalgar Square and formed a column to march to Waterloo Place, a hundred yards or so further, where the German Embassy was located. Before the police realised what was happening, we had raised a banner and everyone just fell in behind it, with Nat Cohen at the head. I knew how determined he was to break the police ban and several of us had been briefed beforehand on the plan to do this job.

It only took a couple of minutes to get to Waterloo Place, which had a strong cordon of police stretched right across the road, and alot of mounted police behind them. The embassy which was on the corner of Duke of York steps, with its rear on to The Mall, was surrounded by more police.

Nat led the demonstration right across the entrance to Waterloo Place, as though we were going to march past. When he saw that the maximum number of people were in contact with the police cordon, he stopped and we all turned left and charged into the cordon. That’s when the baton charge took place for the first time. It was a bloody affair but the police could not clear the area. This was when I and Alun Thomas, who had the petition we had not been allowed to present earlier, approached the police inspector or superintendant, | don’t remember which. We said, ‘Look, if you don’t allow a deputation to approach the Embassy, there will be more trouble’. He agreed to allow two people to go to the Embassy door, if we could get the crowd to retreat from the entrance to Waterloo Place. An announcement was made to this effect. A tremendous cheer went up. We had broken the ban. We were by no means finished. Alun Thomas and I were the two allowed through the cordon. We had already planned for this possibility and I had been charged with the responsibility of trying to crash my way into the embassy, if the door should be opened to receive us.

The police officer and constable at the door, had just said to us, ‘Now, no funny business’ as we mounted the half dozen steps, leading to the door. The inspector knocked as [ held the petition in my hand. The door was opened about six inches and I held my hand far enough away in the hope that the man at the other side, would have to open the door wider. He was reluctant to do so and as | made a move to rush the door, I was a bit too slow, and finished up ar the bottom of the stone steps, on my back. The petition was left on the door steps of the Embassy.

Just before I left the door, a photographer had taken a picture of my back as I stood waiting for the door to open. Had he waited a couple of seconds he could have had a good picture of me falling down the stairs, backwards. The crowd had been pushed back and groups were forming up to march back to Trafalgar Square, but proceeded down Whitehall instead, to join the crowds which were filing past the Cenotaph, to view the wreaths.

While I was at the Embassy door, the crowd had been engaged in another battle when a Mosley Fascist van, flying the Union Jack, had arrived on the scene. They had to move quickly to avoid serious trouble. The police had been reinforced by this time and the demonstration was eventually dispersed.

Another part of the plan was for someone to plant a red flag on the Embassy flag pole. This was never reported anywhere as far as I know, but comrade McNulty, our seaman friend, did get on to the Embassy roof and managed to unfurl the flag, but it wasn’t there for more than a few seconds. A lot of people had to pay fines when those arrested appeared in court. I was not one of them. I'll never know how I escaped being arrested or beaten up.

At this time, seven Meerut prisoners had been released (55). Tom Mann had returned from a tour of North America and Canada. His welcome home meeting at the St. Georges Town Hall, was chaired by Ted Hill of the Boilermakers’ Trade Union (96). The Scottsboro Boys retrial had opened (57). The Fairdale strike continued solid (58). The Communist International felt the need to do some explaining. O Piatnitsky, on behalf of the Communist International, was the author of some articles in the Daily Worker under the following headings, relating to events in Germany. —‘Why no armed revolt? —Did German Communist Party miss the bus? —Why no General strike? Is the German CP finished?— Are the Social Democrats finished? —Can the Nazis maintain power?’ (99).

I must confess I did not go into these questions too deeply, at this time. I tended to take for granted, anything coming from the top leadership. In any case, I never sought to hear what our critics had to say, apart from what our people said they said. Up to this time, and for a long time to come, | was completely under Nat Cohen’s influence in matters concerning strategy and tactics. This related to local affairs as well as more important national and international ones. I don’t want to make excuses. That’s how things were. | just did not know a great deal about politics really. I regarded the CP as the ultimate in the working classes interests. I could not see, neither did I seek, an alternative.

* * * * *

Mosley was coming into the picture more and more. Lord Trenchard announced an important reorganisation of the ‘specials’ by the New Year (60).

The Fairdale dispute was in its seventh week (61). Then came an announcement of a National Hunger March to reach London on 22nd February 1934 (62). We organised an open conference at ‘St Georges Town Hall’, to establish a Free Speech Council for East London, to deal with Lord Trenchard’s ban on meetings, poster parades, picketing, etc. (63) The Stepney NUWM began preparing to receive the hunger marchers.

The Jubilee Street cell, CP, held a solidarity meeting for the Fairdale strikers (64). The Fairdale strike had now won support among other trade unionists and there existed a Solidarity Committee in which the Communists could oppose the efforts of official Trade Union leaders to resolve the matter by means of a compromise, which we called a ‘sell out’.

Then we heard that there was heavy fighting in Spanish towns. A general strike in many towns. Reports of over a hundred killed (65). We continued to demand the release of the Reichstag fire trial victims. Came the announcement that all had been aquitted, except Van der Lubbe, who was sentenced to death. This did not mean the immediate release of the others (66).

The Fairdale Solidarity Committee called for a boycott of the firm’s goods, with special reference to the Co-operative Wholesale Society, which was still handling them (67). Union officials tried to get a settlement of the strike on terms which had been rejected earlier (68).

It was the fourth anniversary of the start of the Daily Worker. 1934 had arrived. Our District Communist Party moved its offices to 93 Tabernacle Street, EC2 (69).

In East London, a united protest conference was organised against the harsher ‘means test’, to be administered by a government sponsored Unemployment Assistance Committee and against the ‘slave camps’. This was held at the Bow and Bromley Town Hall and had the support of some local Labour Party people, including the Mayors and many Trade Union branches (70).

The 13th Plenum of the Executive of the Communist Intemational declared — 'A new round of revolutions and wars was approaching.’ Preparation for the coming Seventh World Congress of the Communist International were announced, A thesis on the German situation and another on the position in Britain regarding the ILP, was adopted (71).

The CP in Britain seemed to come out more openly to present its face to the workers. Two halls were booked for the same evening. The Shoreditch Town Hall and nearby Hoxton Baths. The big halls in central London would not allow the CP to hire their premises, at this time. Harry Pollitt, Ted Bramley, Wal Hannington and all the top brass in London, were to speak. The following slogans appeared and gave a good indication of the tasks confronting us. —

‘Support the Hunger March and National Congress’—‘Support our candidates in the forthcoming London County Council elections’—‘Defend the land of Soviets against imperialist intervention —‘Strengthen the ranks of the British Communist Party’—‘Fight the Fascist policy of the National Government’-—‘ Against the Morrison spurious Socialism’—‘Stop the transport of munitions from London being used against the heroic Chinese Red Army’— ‘Fight against the growth of Fascist bands in London’—‘A call to members of the Independent Labour Party to fight for affiliation to the Communist International’ (72).

You will see from this list that something was going on in the leadership of the CPGB. The party was to make a big effort to put itself on the map in the British labour movement and among the workers.

‘Nazi Dupe’ Van der Lubbe was executed on the 10th of January. Dimitrov and the others were still being held (73). Willie Gallacher did a piece for the Daily Worker (on the growing financial support for Mosley (74).

Once again, the ILP replied to the Communist International. This time a letter was drawn up for their NAC by James Maxton, Fenner Brockway, CA Smith and Jennie Lee. The letter suggested that the CI had pursued a deliberate policy of sacrificing the revolutionary movement of one country, in order to strengthen the world revolutionary movement, by safeguarding the USSR through a network of trading agreements, non-aggression pacts and treaties of friendship. The CP said, there was no evidence for this, that Trotsky had made similar statements. I did not look for any evidence. I was conditioned into accepting such things from our leaders. The ILP suggested, the CI should reform itself (79).

The Fairdale strike ended after 13 weeks. The terms offered were, Trade Union recognition, no victimisation, strikers to be reinstated in batches of 00, before the end of January, the rest before the end of March, as and when the trade would allow. A Complaints Committee was set up, composed of two members of the Masters Federation and two members of the Union. The strike leaders said, they were forced to accept terms falling short of their demands. The CP blamed the Trade Union leaders. The strike committee published a statement in the Daily Worker (76).

Lord Rothermere announced his support for Mosley. He called on people to join the Blackshirts (77). Dimitrov was reported to be ill, so we organised another demonstration to the German Embassy (78). The great Hunger March began on the 22nd January. The Scottish contingent was on the road. There were adverts locally, for food, clothing and cash required, to be left at the ‘Dewdrop Inn’, Vallance Road, E1 (79). The CP called all their clothing workers, including members of the YCL, to a special meeting at the ‘Circle House’. ‘All must attend’ (80). Nat Cohen and I discussed this meeting in light of the events and outcome of the Fairdale strike. We felt a big attack was coming from the ‘Trade Union faction’. This was an ordinary discussion between two Party members. We were careful not to communicate our views to others, as we did not wish to be accused of forming a faction, within the Party, though we believed we were facing an organised faction. Our past experience led us to believe, that there were a lot of people who did not carry out the ‘Party Line’, as we understood it. [ must point out, once again, that Nat was the author of most of the ideas | adopted. Nat was not a good public speaker, so it fell to me to get up at meetings to project our point of view. | wasn’t always equal to this task, at this stage and I took many a verbal beating from my opponents. I did improve.

Those party members, who like myself, including Nat Cohen, Harold Cohen, Bert Teller, Hetty Stern, ‘Yetta’, Finklestein and others, had spent so much time in building the ILD and conducting its particular campaigns, were at the same time members of Party cells in different areas. We had to contend with demands for some of our time for other Party activities. Selling the Daily Worker, ete. Similarly, those people who spent most of their time in Trade Union activity, were also members of party cells. The chief names, I can remember, among clothing workers, were Sarah Wesker, Morrie Segal and brother ‘Chick’, Mick Mindel and Hymie Kanter. There were others working in other industries, where they formed Party factions and also belonged to street or factory cells or both. Added to this were those who were in the unemployed movement, tenants organisations, sports clubs, cultural organisations and so on.

There were Party members who had no connection with any mass organisation, like, ‘Ginger’ Greenblatt, whose father had a drapery store in Commercial Road, and Silkoff, whose father was ‘Shumas’, that is secretary / administrator of New Road synagogue. Silkoff was a salesman training to become an accountant. When all these different people met in their own cells, a certain amount of friction developed between those claiming that their particular activity was more important than others.

The Branch Committee in Stepney, was elected from the whole membership and had some people co-opted for special reasons. If a branch committee did not have a member on the District Committee, it does not follow that the ‘District’ did not know what was going on. After all, the branch secretary would be in close communication with the district officials. Don’t forget that ‘District Representatives’ would appear from time to time, to lead campaigns and also to put the ‘Party Line’, on many different issues. So they were never unaware of any important aspect of branch life. As in all organisations, some people seem able to consult the leaders in an informal way and even personal friendships can influence policy, in no small way.

Over a long period, a better struggle developed in Stepney, between those who advocated what we loosely called, Trade Union activity and those who favoured street work. The real basis for this division is to be seen in the fact that the Trade Union people saw the organised Labour movement, as the most likely place from which to develop the Communist Party and so hasten the revolution. Whereas it was alleged that those who favoured ‘street work’, saw the future in terms of organisation of the unorganised, who were the overwhelming majority of the working class. You may well wonder, why a combination of both should not have been agreed upon. In theory, it was.

I repeat, I had eventually become identified as a spokesman for the ‘street work lot’, although all the ideas I expressed, at that time, were inspired by Nat Cohen. I did not know then, the full implications of this division. Since we were labelled as anti-Trade Union, we regarded the others as guilty of ‘underestimating the role of the unorganised’. The time for longer and more complicated labels had not yet arrived.

I quoted Marx on the role of the wages struggle. My opponents quoted Lenin on ‘Left wing Communism’. I am trying to relate all this, without using hindsight, and find it very difficult. I will refer you to documents later, which may help to redress the balance, if I should err. Where I thought my opposing comrades were wrong was, that they regarded the wages struggle as an end in itself, whereas Marx had pointed out that strike action was a double edged weapon, and that the struggle on the industrial front was a school for revolution.

I said that Trade Union activity was only one form of activity. They said, Lenin had taken Willie Gallagher to task for his previously scornful attitude to parliament and that all organisations, where possible, should be used for furthering the revolution. Well of course. So I thought. We had arrived at the point where ‘We’ had become ‘Left Sectarians’ in their view, and “They’ had become ‘Right Deviationists’.

This division simmered or boiled up from time to time. It arose when the tenants struggle was uppermost, or when Mosley arrived, during elections, during the events in Spain and it affected almost every issue. For a time the Trade Union faction were dominant and formed the branch committee. Then we became stronger, the branch committee was mixed, and then we were on top. But not for long.

I must comment here, I did not think so deeply in those days. These issues were much more important than I could imagine. During the events in France, May 1968, this very issue was crucial in the differences between the Communist dominated CGT and the Communist Party itself and the students, who were in the vanguard of the struggle, and desperately trying to link up with the workers and their organisations.

Even in the old days, I had said that these ‘Right Deviationists’, were Trade Union parliamentarians who thought the Labour Party and Social Democratic trade unions could be captured and used to change society fundamentally. This is an issue today, between those who are loosely called ‘the left’, At the time, I had accepted all that Lenin had said. I tried to defend my views and retain my party membership. I thought, that to alter things, one could not operate outside the party, without being identified with the party’s enemies. This was a monstrous position to find oneself in, having the Moscow trials in mind. Had I not been so indoctrinated, things might have been different for me. I’m not saying I could have affected the outcome historically speaking. I blamed myself for being too weak to deal with my opponents, and being ill equipped intellectually and educationally. I had not yet learned about ‘character assassination’, ‘falsification of history’, ‘selective reporting’ and the ‘big lie’. Still less did I know about Trotsky with all his brilliance as a polemicist, who was fighting someone who had a hatchet in his hand, or rather more to the point, an ice-pick.

Whenever I tried to quote Lenin against those who quoted him against me, I was assured, mostly by older party leaders, that I was young and would learn. ‘You don’t understand’, they said. No one was more aware of being in need of understanding, than me, What worried me was, that those who claimed to understand, didn’t sound very convincing. The more I tried to learn, the more I doubted the correctness of some of the ideas of my would-be educators.

* * * * *

The ‘Circle House’ meeting of the Party clothing faction in London, was as anticipated, called to review the Fairdale strike and to draw some lessons from same. But it included some heavy criticism of those who did not spend all their time in Trade Union work. Naturally I was in opposition to the leaders of this faction. What is more, I accused them of not conducting the strike along correct Party lines, which I said, made them responsible for the miserable ‘sell-out’ which resulted. I said, they had not dealt with the ‘blacklegs’.

Neither had they dealt with police interference, and they had not sought to extend the strike to other organised shops. That, to leave the Fairdale workers all that time, exposed to the crippling personal sacrifices which are always a part of a long strike, was a gross betrayal of those workers and the interests of clothing workers in general. | said a great deal more, like, that those comrades who were attacking us, were only covering up their own lack of real Communist spirit and were only too ready to compromise with Trade Union leaders and the employers, long before the Fairdale strike. [| don’t have to tell you that I, a ‘leftist’, in their eyes, was not likely to enjoy any comradely considerations from some of them. That meeting decided nothing. This conflict continued to fester.

Meanwhile, the East London NUWM had called a conference to organise the reception of the hunger marchers. This was supported by many Trade Unions and Labour Party organisations, as well as church and other bodies interested in helping the unemployed (81). The Stepney Communist Party had adopted John Gollan and Jack Lynch as our candidates in the forthcoming LCC elections (82).

The East London sub district of the CP called a meeting to discuss the 13th Plenum decisions, in preparation for the 7th World Congress of the Communist International (83). We had a report from the Fairdale people who complained bitterly because they had to work with the ‘blacklegs’. They said that conditions were worse than ever (84).

Harry McShane arrived ahead of the Scottish contingent of Hunger Marchers, to address meetings and help organise the reception (85). He went back to his fellow marchers on the road, before their expected arrival in London. Local preparations for accommodation were hampered by police enquiries at those places where the NUWM had received offers of help. The police ‘specials’ were alerted to be ready for duty when the Hunger Marchers would arrive (86).

The ILD were preparing to welcome George Allison, after serving his three year sentence arising from the Invergorden Mutiny. We produced a souvenir programme and had a star platform. The chair was to be taken by Bill Shepherd, who was sentenced with George with Alex Gossip of the National Amalgamated Fumiture Trades Association, John Aplin, ILP, Len Wineott, Ben Bradley from Meerut and Allison himself (87). We also had a meeting of the Free Sneech Council, to assert the right of free speech and assembly (88).

Big news from France. The Daladier government had been forced to resign. Huge street demonstrations. Shooting—many injured. Death roll estimated at 16. Over 1,500 injured, including 500 policemen. This because the French workers were opposing further attacks on their wage standards. The French CP was calling for a general strike (89).

On Sunday, 11th February, ten tailoring workers were arrested in Whitechapel Road. This had followed the arrest of 12 the previous Sunday (90). That's what happened if you caused an obstruction while looking for work, in the customary way. We contrasted this treatment with that of the jewellers in Hatton Garden, who day in and day out, caused similar obstruction of the footway, in pursuit of profit. They were never interfered with by the police.

A similar position existed near the Stock Exchange where business was conducted in the street. We had more work to do on this issue. We held yet another protest meeting at the ‘Grand Palais’, Commercial Road, when four leading German anti-Fascists were reported to have been murdered (91). Just to liven up the scene, fighting had broken out in Austria. Workers’ flats were being bombarded with artillery. The Austrian workers were locked in a life and death struggle. The Communist Party were condemning the Social Democrats for the ‘treachery’. Troops were driven from the Karl Marx Hof, a block of flats in Vienna. We called for support of the Austrian workers against Dolfuss, by announcing a big rally in Hyde Park (92).

In Paris, a hundred thousand people demonstrated in a general strike against Fascism (93). George Allison was released and we held our welcome home meeting and I met George and started a long association (94).

Dimitrov, Tanev and Popov were declared to be Soviet citizens (95). There were meetings everywhere in connection with the hunger march, There was a call for a general strike in Spain (96). The offices of the West London sub-district of the CP, were smashed by a gang of Fascists (97).

Plans were issued about where the different contingents of the hunger marchers could be met. They were converging on London. The police ordered full mobilisation of their forces. In Paris, two hundred thousand people attended the funeral of the murdered workers (98).

The Stepney ILD held a meeting in support of the Austrian workers (99). The Stepney Solidarity Committee met to make final preparations for receiving the hunger marchers (100). They arrived and we prepared for Sunday’s big march to Hyde Park. We met these wonderful people who had tramped through all that winter weather, for hundreds of miles, just to demand food to keep them and their families alive. We swapped yarns. We saw that they were fed and had somewhere to clean up and be sure of a good night’s rest. We enjoyed Welsh miners choirs in the Whitechapel Road, as we did the Scottish pipers. Individuals quickly acquired friends, and took them to their homes. The spirit was electrifying. The activity was furious. Different groups put on shows in all the local halls and meeting places, to entertain us and each other. It was great.

Harry Pollitt was arrested and taken to the Rhondda, where he was charged with making a seditious speech. So was Tom Mann. This was on the eve of the great congress which was to take place at the Bermondsey Town Hall (101). They don’t miss a trick. The congress was a great success. Hundreds of delegates including those from 45 Trade Union organisations, were supporting the unemployed, along with every organisation you could think of in the labour movement (102).

The demonstration in Hyde Park drew a crowd of over a hundred thousand. There were many scuffles with the police on all the routes leading to the Park as well as in the Park itself (103). Pollitt and Mann were released on two hundred pounds bail, for a few days (104). A story appeared in the press, about a member of the BUF, who had been given the ‘castor oil treatment’ in their headquarters, for alleged giving of information (105).

The hunger marchers took their massive petition to the Houses of Parliament. A deputation demanded to see the Prime Minister. All this caused countless clashes with the police and many arrests (106).

Dimitrov, Tanev and Popov were released and had taken a plane to Moscow (107). The Stepney ILD held a meeting in the ‘Mile End Baths’ in connection with Austria, tne Hunger March and the arrest of Harry Pollitt and ‘Tom Mann (108). The CP and ILP were still going on about the ILP affiliation to the Communist International (109). The hunger marchers were to return to their homes on 7th March (110). The LCC elections had been held and the result should have pulled me up sharply, but I hardly noticed this. The result was a big victory for the Labour Party. In Whitechapel, Davis and Oldfield got nearly six thousand votes. The Liberals, two thousand and the Communists nearly four hundred (111).

In Canada, AE Smith, leader of the ILD was on trial in connection with his so-called ‘seditious utterances’. This was over his comments about an alleged attempt to murder the Communist Party General Secretary, Tim Buck, in Kingston prison, where he was serving a long sentence, at the same time as the other arrested leaders of the Canadian CP. Tim Buck gave evidence at the trial and AE Smith was acquitted (112).

Next thing I heard, Pat Murphy had been arrested in Cardiff. Apparently there was a Greek seamen’s strike in Welsh ports and Pat was accused of assaulting two ‘blacklegs’. He got two months hard labour. During the case, Murphy had to be restrained by the magistrate’s clerk, according to the report.

The police had a big file on Murphy. I wasn’t surprised (113). Tom Mann was sent to the assizes and Pollitt’s case was adjourned. The Stepney ILD held a meeting at the ‘Mile End Baths’, (114) to meet George Allison and elect a delegation to visit Austria. Not forgetting that this was also the anniversary of the Paris Commune, Fenner Brockway spoke and Alun Thomas was in the chair (115).

We also held an important aggregate meeting of the Stepney ILD at the ‘Circle House’, but I can only tell you that this was one of many which we were holding, to consider the internal organisation, in which we Communists were talking about the need for a strong Communist Party. Allison was holding a series of classes for the membership at ‘Harry the Barbers’ place (116). I had my first big billing as a public speaker on Friday 13th April 1934. This after hundreds of speeches at street comers and others at indoor meetings where I was either in the chair, or only an ‘also ran’.

* * * * *

Then something happened which will give you an example of the ILD’s special activity, on an international level. We were able to snatch Yugoslav Tom Cacic out of the hands of his would-be murderers. You must remember that we had national sections in many countries. That each section had some branches and many sympathisers. Also, some legal, technical and financial resources.

Tom Cacic had been a leading communist in Yugoslavia and had to leave as a result of the counter-revolutionary activity which threatened his life. He fled to Canada. He continued to be an active Communist and was eventually one of the leaders of the Canadian CP. The whole of the leadership, including Tom, were arrested, tried and imprisoned (117). While in prison, serving his sentence, some ‘bright spark’ thought it would be a good idea to get rid of Tom, once and for all, by returning him to Yugoslavia. Tom had been tried in his absenve, in his own country, and sentenced to death. There was no legal way that this return could be achieved, as far as we knew. We received a message revealing the fact that Tom had been removed from rpison and was being taken to a port on the east coast of Canada. Don’t ask me where this message came from. Tom was an experienced revolutionary, and J assume he had a great deal to do with this. Remember what Nat Cohen was able to do, while a prisoner on a naval vessel. I heard that the first message came from a prison officer.

The next message gave the name of the ship and its sailing date and time. It was not difficult to find out it was due to arrive at Liverpool. We still did not know the full extent of the plans to get Tom to Yugoslavia. That this was the objective was not hard to assume. We did, however, have other possibilities in mind. It was decided to play it by ear. I was present at some of the discussions when this operation was going on, but played no active part. What I’m telling you is certainly what happened. When I use the words ‘us’ or ‘we’, I am referring to our people and not necessarily including myself.

Len Wincott gave an account of his part in this, in Invergorden Mutineer. He mainly tells about his trip to Liverpool, in a borrowed ‘old banger’ which broke down, causing Len and his companion a lot of trouble. My recollections and some important details don’t always tally with Len’s story. Tom Cacic, in a massage to us, tends to substantiate what I say. | wrote my account long before I read Len’s (118). We Knew it was up to us to devise a plan or plans, to rescue Tom from whatever his captors had in mind. We contacted a very well Known legal expert, who had helped us previously, and put what we knew before him. He advised us that there was no legal method of getting Tom from Canada to Yugoslavia, against his will. He would have to be taken from Canada to Europe and pass through several countries. We already knew he was on his way to Liverpool. This lawyer agreed to co-operate, but in the background. We had a leading member, with some legal experience, and he could easily be made to look like an important man. The real lawyer agreed to inform his office that he was going away on important business, without saying what or where, to his staff. So that, if anyone phoned his office no one would be able to say where he was or what he was doing.

He told us, that if we could establish Tom’s presence on British territory, it might be possible to get a writ of ‘habeas corpus’ and there would be time, eventually, to get a visa to enable Tom to proceed to the Soviet Union. We decided to try this one on, without realising what we were up against. ‘Our man’ contacted the Home Office and drew a blank. They said, there was no Knowledge of Tom in any of their departments. Likewise, the Foreign Office had no connection with Tom’s existence. We had contacts almost every where who were active CP members, therefore it would not be difficult to get to the ship when it arrived in Liverpool. We sent a couple of people from London with the following plan. To try to contact the crew of the ship and find someone who would agree to pass a message to Tom, simply saying, ‘The ILD is on the job’. To try to rescue Tom, by force if necessary, from the ship. If any attempt was made to bring him ashore, which was most likely if he was to be taken to the continent, to once again try to rescue him, and if there were any arrests, so much the better.

Our people organised a ‘commando’ from among our seaman and dockworker contacts in Liverpool. Through some of these, it was easy to get our message to Tom, while the ship was anchored in the river, before it docked. It was not possible to get on to the ship to carry out a rescue. [It was learned that the captain of the ship was told that Tom was a dangerous criminal and he was to keep him in close arrest and hand him over to the police, who would call on the ship when it docked. He had some legal looking documents to make things look right. Accordingly, the captain had made sure that Tom would be kept under restraint while on his ship. However, he had to be fed and exercised, so we could make contact through a member of the crew. Our ‘commando’ never left the dockside from the moment the ship docked. Sure enough, later that night, a police van arrived and parked near the ship’s gangway. A squad of policemen boarded the ship. They were unaware of the presence of our people. As they came down the gangway, holding Tom who was handcuffed to two of them, our ‘commando’ emerged. Tom began to struggle and a fierce fight ensued. Some of our people were pretty hefty blokes, but they failed to get Tom away. We realised afterwards, that no arrests would be made short of murder. The police van drove away, with Tom, at high speed. Our representatives phoned us immediately. We were standing by. What to do?

We had planned for this possibility and we knew of several ships due to leave ports in England, for the continent, within the next few hours. We had already alerted our contacts in the most likely ports concerned, and we asked them to go to their action stations, to repeat the attempts already made in Liverpool. A ship which was due to leave Harwich for Holland, was the one.

Our people in Harwich repeated the effort which had failed in Liverpool, with the same result. Tom was on the ship due to leave in a few hours time. We were informed and proceeded to carry out the last part of our plan. Should it fail, this meant that the job would pass to our organisation in Holland and then to Germany or anywhere else en route to Yugoslavia. We could see how difficult it would be if we failed and the forces we were up against managed to get Tom on to the continent. So it was a pretty desperate situation.

We had ‘organised’ a method to get to Holland quickly. ‘Our man’, suitably attired and carrying some legal looking documents had become that real lawyer, who was nowhere to be found. From this moment on he was Tom’s ‘legal representative’. He was able to get to Holland before the ship from Harwich arrived. When it did, he had already contacted several people and it would have been impossible to land Tom in the same way as he was landed and despatched in England. Tom’s lawyer was able to see him with permission of the ship’s captain. The captain agreed to return Tom to Harwich, into the hands of the police, where he was taken to prison. The Home Office could not now say that they did not know of Tom Cacic. They did not explain how Tom had come to Liverpool in the first place, except to say that the matter would be investigated.

We understood, he had been shipped as ‘cargo’ with some ‘fiddling’ of the documents. We had no idea who made the arrangements for the police to collect Tom in Liverpool and hand him over to the ship’s captain at Harwich, again with some documents. We undertook to see to Tom’s welfare while in prison. A visa was obtained to enable him to proceed legally to the Soviet Union. The Home Office agreed to release him, I assume with suitable documents. No time was lost in getting him to safety in the Soviet Union. His first action on arrival was to send us a message of thanks and congratulations, on a job well done. This, not entirely correct version of the Tom Cacic affair, appeared in the Daily Worker, 22.11.1934, page two.

‘Tom Cacic gets to Soviet Union’

‘Tribute to International Labour Defence’

‘Tom Cacic, who was deported from Canada at the beginning of the year, has arrived safely in the Soviet Union. It will be recalled that comrade Cacic was met at Liverpool by members of the International Labour Defence, who procured a visa for him to go to the Soviet Union.

At first the Home Office refused to allow him to receive this, but finally the International Labour Defence managed to force them to do so. The Home Office kept Cacic in prison at Liverpool and Harwich and also sent him to Holland in an attempt to deport him to Yugoslavia, where he would

undoubtedly have been murdered. Cacic pays tribute to the yeoman service rendered by the International Labour Defence in Britain in an article in the Canadian Labor Defender

“The International Labour Defence of England, during my stay there had steady contact with me, and I am certain I would have been deported to Yugoslavia if it were not for the heroic fight of British workers and its defence shield, The International Labour Defence. Our International Labour Defence of England not only had steady contact with me, but they sent food, cigarettes, working-class newspapers. A lawyer visited me and I was given financial aid”’.’

This report does not explain how Tom got from Canada to Liverpool, from Liverpool to Holland and then to Harwich and into prison. There may have been some legal problems in the way this report had to be worded. You may well ask, why there was no subsequent enquiry or publicity regarding this affair. After all, some secret forces, spanning two continents and several countries, had been at work.

The British authorities denied all knowledge of the earlier events, despite the presence of Tom in England and Holland and finally in the Soviet Union. The matter was effectively hushed up, and we were content not to press too much.

When this matter first came to light, the people who handled it, had little experience of such an action. Otherwise, we might have saved a lot of time and effort, by carrying our the plan in Holland, here in Liverpool. But that’s how you learn, in practice. Had we not received the first message, Tom would have been taken to Yugoslavia and probably ‘done in’. No one would have known how he got from Canada to Yugoslavia. I don’t know how the Canadian authorities would have explained Tom’s disappearance. I assume they would have had some explanation ready, but that has to remain a mystery. Questions could still be asked. They could have said, he escaped from prison, or been kidnapped, and that they were not responsible for what might have happened to him. That would have been a simple matter, if he had really ‘disappeared’, as was intended. As I have said, I don’t know all the details of the case. I was only present at some of the discussions, and did not take part in the subsequent handling of the case, once Tom was ‘safe’ in an English prison.

We were also handling lots of people who had arrived on British soil, from Germany, in a variety of ways. It was possible to provide them with suitable Papers so that they could get jobs and try to settle here. There were many ‘phoney’ refugees whose job it was to penetrate our organisation. One case I remember well was a certain ‘Johann Schmidt’ of all things, who said he had managed to hide in a life boat on a cross channel ferry. His papers showed that he was a member of a Trade Union and a German Communist. He came directly to our office, without any contact in this country but explained he had been given our address on the continent. Having arrived and survived all the hazards of his escape from Germany, he suddenly developed a complete phobia for the wide open spaces. When someone was detailed to take him to a place where he could be looked after for the night, he did not want to leave because he was certain that Gestapo agents would catch up with him if he went out of the office. He was allowed to spend the night locked in our office.

When our people arrived the following morning the bird had flown, but not before he had turned the office inside out.

Some of us may have lacked experience or even been a bit foolish, but we certainly did not keep anything that could be useful to the enemy in that office. But these things happen and we did get information from our contacts in other countries including lists describing people who we should avoid.

‘Johann Schmidt’ did appear on one of these lists but we received it after this particular event. I think this was also the time when I met ‘Peter’ who was a representative of our European Bureau, ILD and he was to play a part in my story.

Notes

1. DW, 1.6.1931.
2. DW, 8.6.1933.
3. DW, 17.6.1933.
4. Ibid.
5. DW, 21.6.1933.
6. Report DW, 21.6.1933.
7. DW, 30.6.1933.
8. DW, 24.6.1933.
9. DW, 30.6.1933.
10. Ibid.
11. DW, 22.6.1933
12. DW, 1.7.1933.
13. DW, 15.7.1933.
14. DW, 17.7.1933.
15. DW, 20.7.1933.
16. DW,21.7.1933.
17. DW, 27.7.1933.
18. DW, 4.8.1933.
19. DW, 8.8.1933.
20. DW,15.8.1933.
21. DW, 10.8.1933.
22. DW, 16.8.1933.
23. DW, 17.8.1933.
24. DW announced 18.8.1933 for 27.8.1933.
25. DW, 21.8.1933.
26. DW, 25.8.1933.
27. DW, 31.8.1933.
28. DW, 2.9.1933.
29. DW, 8.9.1933.
30. DW, 9.9.1933.
31. DW, 11.9.1933.
32. Ibid.
33. DW, 12.9.1933.
34. DW, 15.9.1933.
35. Ibid.
36. DW, 21.9.1933.
37. DW, 24.9.1933.
38. DW, 23.9.1933.
39. Ibid.
40. DW, 25.9.1933.
41. DW, 2.10.1933.
42. DW, 6.10.1933.
43. DW, 9.10.1933.
44. DW, 10.10.1933.
45. Ibid.
46. DW, 14.10.1933.
47. - Ibid.
48. DW, 25 and 30.10.1933.
49. DW, 6.11.1933.
50. DW, 30.10.1933.
51. DW, 8.11.1933.
52. DW, 10.11.1933.
53. DW, 13.11.1933.
54. Ibid.
55. DW, 16.8.1933.
56. DW, 18.8.1933.
57. DW, 21.11.1933.
58. DW, 20.11.1933.
59. DW, 22.11.1933.
60. DW, 28.11.1933.
61. DW, 1.12.1933.
62. Ibid.
63. Ibid.
64. DW,2.12.1933.
65. DW, 12.12.1933.
66. DW, 23.12.1933.
67. DW, 1.1.1934.
68. DW, 3.1.1934.
69. DW, 10.1.1934.
70. DW, 5.1.1934.
71. DW, 6.1.1934.
72. DW, 8.1.1934.
73. DW, 11.1.1934.

74. Ibid.
75. DW, 12.1.1934.
76. Ibid.
77. DW, 16.1.1934.
78. Ibid.
79. DW, 19.1.1934.
80. DW, 22.1.1934.
81. DW, 24.1.1934.
82. DW, 29.1.1934.
83. DW, 27.1.1934.
84. DW, 31.1.1934.
85. DW, 1.2.1934.
86. DW, 3.2.1934.
87. Ibid.
88. DW, 7.2.1934.
89. DW, 8.2.1934.
90. DW, 12.2.1934.
91. DW, 13.2.1934.
92. DW, 16.2.1934.
93. Ibid.
94. Ibid.
95. DW, 17.2.1934.
96. DW, 19.2.1934.
97. Ibid.
98. DW, 20.2.1934.
99. Ibid.
100. DW, 23.2.1934.
101. DW, 26.2.1934.
102. Ibid.
103. Ibid.
104. Ibid.
105. Ibid.
106. DW, 27.2.1934.
107. DW, 28.2.1934.
108. DW, 3.3.1934.
109. Ibid.
110. DW, 6.3.1934.
111. DW, 9.3.1934.
112. DW, 10.3.1934.
113. DW, 23.3.1934.
114.
113. DW, 23.3.1934.
114. DW, 22.3.1934.
115. DW, 17.3.1934.
116. DW, 24.3.1934.
117. DW, 22.3.1934.
118. Len Wincott, op cit, pp 165-175.