Alexander Geddes (born 1878) was a Scottish

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

activist. Geddes was born in

Wick Wick most often refers to: * Capillary action ("wicking") ** Candle wick, the cord used in a candle or oil lamp ** Solder wick, a copper-braided wire used to desolder electronic contacts Wick or WICK may also refer to: Places and placenames ...

,"Greenock: Labour to support Mr Geddes", ''

Glasgow Herald ''The Herald'' is a Scottish broadsheet newspaper founded in 1783. ''The Herald'' is the longest running national newspaper in the world and is the eighth oldest daily paper in the world. The title was simplified from ''The Glasgow Herald'' in ...

'', 11 November 1922 and worked there as a fish smoker. He then moved to

Greenock Greenock (; sco, Greenock; gd, Grianaig, ) is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council areas of Scotland, council area in Scotland, United Kingdom and a former burgh of barony, burgh within the Counties of Scotland, historic ...

, where he worked in a

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, su ...

factory during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Geddes joined the

Amalgamated Engineering Union The Amalgamated Engineering Union (AEU) was a major United Kingdom, British trade union. It merged with the Electrical, Electronic, Telecommunications and Plumbing Union to form the Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union in 1992. History ...

and, inspired by the

Clyde Workers' Committee The Clyde Workers Committee was formed to campaign against the Munitions Act. It was originally called the ''Labour Withholding Committee''. The leader of the CWC was Willie Gallacher, who was jailed under the Defence of the Realm Act 1914 to ...

, Geddes became a prominent figure in the Greenock Workers' Committee.Graham Stevenson,
Geddes Alec
, ''Compendium of Communist Biography'' His first political speech was in the run-up to the 1918 general election, in support of Fred Shaw, the unsuccessful

British Socialist Party The British Socialist Party (BSP) was a Marxist political organisation established in Great Britain in 1911. Following a protracted period of factional struggle, in 1916 the party's anti-war forces gained decisive control of the party and saw t ...

candidate for

. He attended the Communist Unity Convention of 1920 on behalf of the committee, where he argued that there should be an independent Scottish communist party, a view he shared with John Maclean. As a result, he became a founder member of the Scottish Communist Party, and was appointed as its treasurer. However, the views of the party's committee were defeated at its founding meeting, which instead voted to seek amalgamation with the new

Communist Party of Great Britain 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 CPG ...

(CPGB), and Geddes acceded to this, becoming a member of the CPGB himself. Geddes became the chair of the Greenock Unemployed Workers' Committee and was nominated by them to stand at the 1922 general election. He also had the support of both the CPGB and the local

trades and labour council A labour council, trades council or industrial council is an association of labour unions or union branches in a given area. Most commonly, they represent unions in a given geographical area, whether at the district, city, region, or provincial or ...

and

Independent Labour Party The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse working-class candidates ...

(ILP). However, he did not try to win the support of the national Labour Party to stand as an official candidate for them. He took 9,776 votes, coming second with 34.1% of the votes cast. He was again nominated by the local trades and labour council for the 1923 election; in protest, the ILP withdrew from the council, and it was derecognised by the national Labour Party. Despite this, he increased his vote in the election to 10,335 votes, 38% of the total. Around this time, he also won election to Greenock parish council, serving a single term. At the 1924 general election, Geddes was again adopted by the local trades council, but this time ran against an official Labour Party candidate, a member of the ILP. He managed to beat the official candidate, taking second place, with 29.0%. His final contest came in

1929 This year marked the end of a period known in American history as the Roaring Twenties after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 ushered in a worldwide Great Depression. In the Americas, an agreement was brokered to end the Cristero War, a Catholic ...

, again against Labour opposition, when he took 20%. Geddes visited the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

in 1925, where he viewed the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...

on the Polish border, and received a banner from the Samara Cavalry Division as a gift, which he presented to the CPGB. His daughter, Effie, became a leading figure in the CPGB's "British Pioneers" children's movement. She led a group of Pioneers on a tour of Russia in 1933, but unexpectedly became ill and died.Thomas Linehan, ''Communism in Britain, 1920 - 39: From the Cradle to the Grave'', p.80 Following this, Geddes appears to have withdrawn from activism.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Geddes, Alec 1878 births 20th-century deaths Year of death missing Communist Party of Great Britain councillors Councillors in Scotland People from Wick, Caithness Scottish communists