1945 Neath by-election

Last updated

The 1945 Neath by-election was a parliamentary by-election held for the British House of Commons constituency of Neath in South Wales.

Contents

Neath was considered a safe seat for the Labour Party and had been held by William Jenkins since the 1922 general election. No other candidate had stood in the seat at the last general election. [1] Jenkins died on 8 December 1944, but as World War II was still underway, the process of calling a by-election was slow, and the date was ultimately set as 15 May 1945. [2]

Candidates

The Labour Party expected to easily hold the seat, and stood local miner D. J. Williams. Williams was a member of Pontardawe Rural District Council, and the Executive Council of the South Wales Miners' Federation. He had been part of a miners' delegation to the Soviet Union and was known for his opposition to Welsh nationalism. [3] Williams was supported by Will Lawther, President of the National Union of Mineworkers, which sponsored his candidature. [4]

There was a truce between the major parties: Labour, the Conservative Party, the Liberal Party and the National Liberal Party. The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB), which had considerable strength in South Wales, was not a signatory to the pact, but had undertaken not to contest seats held by the major parties. As a result, the only opposition in by-elections came from independents, minor parties and occasional unofficial party candidates aligned with major parties.

Plaid Cymru stood Wynne Samuel, its South Wales organiser. The party's main strengths were in North Wales, and he was not expected to be a strong contender, but the party hoped this would launch a new strategy of winning over industrial workers in the south of the nation. [5]

The Trotskyist Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP) stood Jock Haston, its General Secretary. This was the first time any Trotskyist organisation had stood a candidate in a British Parliamentary election. [6] The party had only been established the previous year, and Trotskyism had not previously had a base in South Wales. [2]

The RCP had been leading supporters of strikes by coal miners which had occurred in the area in 1944, for which efforts some of its members had been imprisoned. Several local miners' lodges had supported their defence, and the RCP had sent a prominent member, John Lawrence, as a full-time organiser for the area, recruiting some activists in Merthyr Tydfil, Llanelli and Swansea. [2]

The party stood on a revolutionary internationalist platform, declaring "Our candidate will fight on a platform of uncompromising hostility to the imperialist war, for the breaking of the Coalition, for the overthrow of the Churchill Government and for Labour to take power on a Socialist platform." [6] Their main slogan was "Break the Coalition, Labour to Power". [2]

Campaign

The Communist Party offered its full support to the Labour candidate and campaigned against the RCP, using the slogan "A Vote for Haston is a Vote for Hitler". Williams repudiated the Communist support, opposing its policy of a popular front with the Conservatives and Labour after the war. [2]

After repeated requests from the RCP, the CPGB agreed to hold a debate in Neath, putting up Alun Thomas, leader of the Communist Party in West Wales, against Haston. The meeting attracted about 1,500 voters, who heard Thomas claim that "In Russia they defeated fascism because they shot all the Trotskyists and the Fifth column scum, and if we had our way, these people on this platform would be shot." [6]

The local Independent Labour Party was small, and was split as to how to respond to the election. Two of their local activists campaigned for and subsequently joined the RCP. [7]

In the final week of the campaign, the war in Europe was concluded and VE Day was held, overshadowing the by-election. [1] Although it was apparent that Labour would not agree to continue the coalition and would compel Churchill to call a general election, the Western Mail called on all Conservative and Liberal supporters to vote for Williams. [2]

Results

Williams retained the seat for Labour with a large majority, and held it until his retirement at the 1964 general election. Samuel retained his deposit in a distant second place. Haston took only 1,781 votes, losing his deposit, [4] but the RCP claimed the campaign a success and maintained a full-time organiser in the area. Haston remained on good terms with Williams, and when the RCP disintegrated in 1950, Williams assisted him in finding employment with the National Council of Labour Colleges. [2]

1945 Neath by-election [8]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour D. J. Williams 30,847 79.3 N/A
Plaid Cymru Wynne Samuel 6,29016.2N/A
Revolutionary Communist Jock Haston 1,7814.6N/A
Majority24,55763.1N/A
Turnout 38,91858.0N/A
Registered electors 67,083
Labour hold Swing N/A

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Jones (novelist)</span> Welsh miner, Trade Union official, politician and playwright

Jack Jones was a Welsh miner, Trade Union official, politician, novelist and playwright.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Communist Party of Great Britain (Provisional Central Committee)</span> Political party in the United Kingdom

The Communist Party of Great Britain is a political group which publishes the Weekly Worker newspaper. The CPGB (PCC) claims to have "an internationalist duty to uphold the principle, 'One state, one party'. To the extent that the European Union becomes a state then that necessitates EU-wide trade unions and a Communist Party of the EU". In addition, it is in favour of the unification of the entire working class under a new Communist International. It is not to be confused with the former Communist Party of Great Britain, the Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist–Leninist), or the current Communist Party of Britain.

James "Jock" Ritchie Haston (1913–1986) was a Trotskyist politician and General Secretary of the Revolutionary Communist Party in Great Britain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anil Moonesinghe</span> Sri Lankan politician (1927–2002)

Anil Moonesinghe was a Sri Lankan Trotskyist revolutionary politician and trade unionist. He became a member of parliament, a Cabinet Minister of Transport in 1964, the Deputy Speaker of Parliament from 1994 to 2000 and a diplomat. He has authored several books and edited newspapers and magazines. He was chairman and general manager of a State corporation. He briefly held the honorary rank of colonel.

John Gordon Michael Lawrence was a leading far-left activist in a wide variety of groups in Britain.

The history of the Socialist Workers Party begins with the formation of the Socialist Review Group in 1950, followed by the creation of the International Socialists in 1962 and continues through to the present day with the formation of the Socialist Workers Party in 1977.

The 1933 Rhondda East by-election was a parliamentary by-election held on 28 March 1933 for the British House of Commons constituency of Rhondda East in Wales.

The 1946 Ogmore by-election was a parliamentary by-election held on 4 June 1946 for the British House of Commons constituency of Ogmore in Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1921 Woolwich East by-election</span>

The 1921 Woolwich East by-election was a parliamentary by-election held on 2 March 1921 for the British House of Commons constituency of Woolwich East, in the Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich in London.

The 1943 Midlothian and Peebles Northern by-election was a parliamentary by-election held in Scotland on 11 February 1943 to elect a new Member of Parliament (MP) for the House of Commons constituency of Midlothian and Peebles Northern.

Idris Cox was a Welsh communist activist and newspaper editor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1914 North West Durham by-election</span>

The 1914 North West Durham by-election was a Parliamentary by-election held on 30 January 1914. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post voting system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the socialist movement in the United Kingdom</span>

Socialism in the United Kingdom is thought to stretch back to the 19th century from roots arising in the aftermath of the English Civil War. Notions of socialism in Great Britain have taken many different forms from the utopian philanthropism of Robert Owen through to the reformist electoral project enshrined in the birth of the Labour Party that was founded in 1900.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Communist Party of Great Britain</span> Communist party in the United Kingdom that existed from 1920 to 1991

The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist organisation in Britain and was founded in 1920 through a merger of several smaller Marxist groups. Many miners joined the CPGB in the 1926 general strike. In 1930, the CPGB founded the Daily Worker. In 1936, members of the party were present at the Battle of Cable Street, helping organise resistance against the British Union of Fascists. In the Spanish Civil War, the CPGB worked with the USSR to create the British Battalion of the International Brigades, which party activist Bill Alexander commanded.

The Workers' International League (WIL) was a Trotskyist group that existed in Britain from 1937 to 1944.

The 1921 Caerphilly by-election was held on 24 August 1921. The by-election was held due to the death of the incumbent Labour MP, Alfred Onions. It was held for Labour by Morgan Jones.

The Revolutionary Communist Party was a British Trotskyist group, formed in 1944 and active until 1949, which published the newspaper Socialist Appeal and a theoretical journal, Workers International News. The party was the ancestor of the three main currents of British Trotskyism: Gerry Healy's Workers Revolutionary Party, Ted Grant's Militant and Tony Cliff's Socialist Workers Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ted Grant</span> Founder-leader of Militant then Socialist Appeal

Edward Grant was a South African Trotskyist who spent most of his adult life in Britain. He was a founding member of the group Militant and later Socialist Appeal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Far-left politics in the United Kingdom</span>

Far-left politics in the United Kingdom have existed since at least the 1840s, with the formation of various organisations following ideologies such as Marxism, revolutionary socialism, communism, anarchism and syndicalism.

Arthur Essex Edgeworth Reade was a British labour movement activist, whose affiliations ranged from Trotskyism to the National Labour Organisation.

References

  1. 1 2 "Neath Polling To-Day", Manchester Guardian , 15 May 1945
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Sam Bornstein and Al Richardson, War and the International (1986) pp. 136–140
  3. M. Stenton and S. Lees, Who's Who of British MPs Vol. IV (Harvester Press, 1981)
  4. 1 2 "Labour Holds Neath: Communist Loses Deposit", Manchester Guardian , 17 May 1945
  5. "Elections Test Future of Welsh Party", The Observer , 11 February 1945
  6. 1 2 3 "Trotskyism in May 1945: Down with the Churchill Coalition! Labour to Power on a Socialist Programme!", Socialist Appeal , 15 April 2005
  7. Jim Higgins, Ten Years for the Locust
  8. Craig, F. W. S. (1969). British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (1 ed.). Glasgow: Political Reference Publications. ISBN   0-900178-019. Page 560

Further reading