Alexander Gossip (11 September 1862 – 14 May 1952) was a Scottish

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

leader and political activist. Born at

Crawford Priory Crawford Priory is an estate house about 2 miles south west of Cupar, Fife, based on private land with no single owner. It is a former residence of the Earls of Crawford, Earls of Glasgow and Barons Cochrane of Cults. It lies just outside the ...

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...

, where his father was head gardener, Gossip was educated at Madras Academy, leaving at the age of fourteen to complete an apprenticeship as a cabinet-maker. On completing this, he joined the United Operative Cabinet and Chairmakers' Society of Scotland, soon becoming its assistant general secretary. Through his trade union activity, he befriended

Keir Hardie James Keir Hardie (15 August 185626 September 1915) was a Scottish trade unionist and politician. He was a founder of the Labour Party, and served as its first parliamentary leader from 1906 to 1908. Hardie was born in Newhouse, Lanarkshire. ...

, who converted him to

socialism Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

. Gossip was a founding member of the

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) in 1893. Three years later, he moved to

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, where he became involved in the

Socialist Sunday School Socialist Sunday Schools (SSS) were set up to replace or augment Christian Sunday Schools in the United Kingdom, and later the United States. They arose in response to the perceived inadequacy of orthodox Sunday schools as a training ground fo ...

movement. In 1901, he was elected as his union's general secretary, and immediately negotiated a merger between it and its English equivalent, the Alliance Cabinet Makers' Association, to form the

National Amalgamated Furnishing Trades Association The National Amalgamated Furnishing Trades Association (NAFTA) was a trade union representing workers involved in making furniture in the United Kingdom. History The union was founded in 1902 from the merger of the Alliance Cabinet Makers' Assoc ...

(NAFTA). Gossip served as its assistant general secretary, moving to London, then in 1906 succeeded as general secretary. Gossip was influential in persuading NAFTA to affiliate to the Labour Representation Committee as early as 1903. During the early years of the century, he became increasingly involved in international campaigns, attending the

Second International The Second International (1889–1916) was an organisation of socialist and labour parties, formed on 14 July 1889 at two simultaneous Paris meetings in which delegations from twenty countries participated. The Second International continued th ...

's conferences in 1904 and 1907, and was on the executive of the International Woodworkers' Federation from 1910 until 1922. He was also the first president of the National Council of Socialist Sunday Schools. Gossip opposed

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 ...

, working closely with NAFTA's national organiser,

Fred Bramley Fred Bramley (27 September 1874 – 10 October 1925) was the second General Secretary of the British Trade Union Congress (TUC). Born in Pool near Otley in the West Riding of Yorkshire, Bramley completed an apprenticeship as a cabinet-maker, the ...

, to commit the union to his position. He strongly supported the

October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key moment ...

, but was not a Marxist and so decided not to join the

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). Despite this, he consistently championed CPGB positions within the ILP, the

Trades Union Congress The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is a national trade union centre A national trade union center (or national center or central) is a federation or confederation of trade unions in a country. Nearly every country in the world has a national tra ...

and the Labour Party, and was one of only a few non-CPGB members to join the

National Minority Movement The National Minority Movement was a British organisation, established in 1924 by the Communist Party of Great Britain, which attempted to organise a radical presence within the existing trade unions. The organization was headed by longtime unio ...

and the National Left Wing Movement. He also served on the first executive of the

League Against Imperialism The League against Imperialism and Colonial Oppression (french: Ligue contre l'impérialisme et l'oppression coloniale; german: Liga gegen Kolonialgreuel und Unterdrückung) was a transnational anti-imperialist organization in the interwar period. ...

, and repeatedly called for the CPGB to be permitted to affiliate to the Labour Party. When the CPGB adopted

Third Period The Third Period is an ideological concept adopted by the Communist International (Comintern) at its Sixth World Congress, held in Moscow in the summer of 1928. It set policy until reversed when the Nazis took over Germany in 1933. The Comint ...

policies of breaking with existing trade unions, he was unhappy, and spoke out against their claims that unorganised workers had a more revolutionary character.Matthew Worley, ''Class Against Class: The Communist Party in Britain Between the Wars'', p.174 Facing poor health, Gossip retired as NAFTA general secretary in 1940, moving to

Cupar Cupar ( ; gd, Cùbar) is a town, former royal burgh and parish in Fife, Scotland. It lies between Dundee and Glenrothes. According to a 2011 population estimate, Cupar had a population around 9,000, making it the ninth-largest settlement in Fif ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gossip, Alex 1862 births 1952 deaths People educated at Madras College People from Fife Scottish trade unionists