Harry Pollitt

4.5

Harry Pollitt was the first General Secretary of the Communist Party of Britain. He was born in 1890 in the family of a poor worker in Lancashire. Very early the boy became a boilermaker’s apprentice. After work he attended the evening classes four times a week where he learned the theory of his trade. Harry educated himself by reading every book he could get. The young man was interested in poetry and socialism. He saw the poverty of the workers and learned to understand and love his class. In later years the workers of Britain listened to him with respect when he spoke of socialism.

Harry welcomed the Great October Socialist Revolution of 1917 and persuaded the British workers to support it. When Britain’s armed intervention against the Soviet Union was organized Harry Pollitt together with the port-workers stopped the ships from leaving the ports of Britain. In 1920 Harry Pollitt took part in the foundation of the Communist Party of Great Britain.

Later he became its General Secretary. When the Spanish people began to fight against fascism in their country Harry Pollitt organized the British Battalion of the International Brigade.

The British Communist Party’s program— “Britain’s Road to Socialism” was written with his help. All his life Harry Pollitt remained a modest, honest Lancashire man that he was from the very beginning. He was a good speaker and clever organizer. He wrote many articles on the theory of Marxism-Leninism. Harry Pollitt died in 1960.