William Henry Andrews (20 April 1870 – 26 December 1950) was the first chairman of the

South African Labour Party The South African Labour Party ( af, Suid-Afrikaanse Arbeidersparty), was a South African political party formed in March 1910 in the newly created Union of South Africa following discussions between trade unions, the Transvaal Independent La ...

(SALP) and the first General Secretary of the

Communist Party of South Africa The South African Communist Party (SACP) is a communist party in South Africa. It was founded in 1921 as the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA), tactically dissolved itself in 1950 in the face of being declared illegal by the governing Na ...

. He was also active in the formation of the

Industrial and Commercial Workers' Union The Industrial and Commercial Union (ICU) was a trade union and mass-based popular political movement in southern Africa. It was influenced by the syndicalist politics of the Industrial Workers of the World (adopting the IWW Preamble in 1925) ...

Biography

Born in Leiston Suffolk, to Francis Andrews, a fitter, and Sarah Hannah Belmoor. Andrews left school in 1883 and was apprenticed as a fitter and turner. He joined the

Amalgamated Society of Engineers The Amalgamated Society of Engineers (ASE) was a major British trade union, representing factory workers and mechanics. History The history of the union can be traced back to the formation of the Journeymen Steam Engine, Machine Makers' and Mi ...

in 1890. In 1891 he became a journeyman fitter and turner. He travelled to

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

in 1893, holding jobs on gold mines in the

West Rand The West Rand is the name of the urban western part of the Witwatersrand that is functionally merged with the Johannesburg conurbation. This area became settled by Europeans after a gold-bearing reef discovered in 1886 and sparked the gold ...

until the 1899. With the beginning of Second Boer War in 1899, Andrews and his family returned to Britain but returned to the Cape in 1900. He joined the British forces for six months before joining the Imperial Military Railways. Increasingly prominent as a trade union organiser, he became the official organiser of the South African ASE in 1904 and its president in 1905. Andrews was the President of the Witwatersrand Trades and Labour Council and the Political Labour League in 1905, the Labour Representation Committee in 1906 and the South African Labour Party in 1909.Wessel Visser
'Exporting Trade Unionism and Labour Politics: the British Influence on the early South African Labour Movement'
''New Contree'' 49 (2005), 145-62 In 1907, when the

Transvaal Colony The Transvaal Colony () was the name used to refer to the Transvaal region during the period of direct British rule and military occupation between the end of the Second Boer War in 1902 when the South African Republic was dissolved, and the ...

obtained self-government, Andrews, as Labour party leader, was elected to one of three seat his party won in the election. Andrews was first elected as a Labour MP at the 1912 Georgetown by-election. Andrews served as a Member of Parliament until the 1915 general election after he had resigned from the Labour Party in August 1914, opposed to the country's participation in

World War One 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 ...

. On 22 September 1915, he was elected chairman of the International Socialist League. In 1915, he was elected as the first President of the International Socialist League, which formed when anti-war socialists split from the SALP. He visited the United Kingdom in 1918, where he was impressed by the British shop stewards' movement at the time. On 31 July 1921, he became the first General Secretary of the Communist Party of South Africa, and in 1922 the editor of the party's newspaper ''The International''. In 1925, he was elected as the first Secretary of the

South African Trades Union Council The South African Trades Union Congress (TUC) was a national trade union federation in South Africa. The council was established in 1924, as the South African Association of Employees' Organisations. It was founded at a special congress, held afte ...

. In 1922, as part of the Committee of Action, he and others coerced the South African Industrial Federation into calling a general strike the resulted in the

Rand Revolt The Rand Rebellion ( af, Rand-rebellie; also known as the 1922 strike) was an armed uprising of white miners in the Witwatersrand region of South Africa, in March 1922. Jimmy Green, a prominent politician in the Labour Party, was one of ...

. He was arrested on 10 March 1922 when martial law was declared. In 1923, while in Moscow, he was elected a committee member of the

Third International The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to "struggle by a ...

. He was expelled from the

South African Communist Party The South African Communist Party (SACP) is a communist party in South Africa. It was founded in 1921 as the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA), tactically dissolved itself in 1950 in the face of being declared illegal by the governing Na ...

in 1931 during a series of purges over the "Black Republic" policy. After a visit to Moscow in 1937, he was permitted to re-join on 1 May 1938 at the age of 68 after

Solly Sachs Emil Solomon “Solly” Sachs (11 November 1900 – 30 July 1976) was a South African trade unionist and an anti-apartheid activist. Early life Solly Sachs was born in 1900 in Kamai, Lithuania to Abraham Saks and Hannah Rivkin. His early childh ...

Moses Kotane Moses Mauane Kotane (9 August 190519 May 1978) was a South African politician and activist. Kotane was secretary general of the South African Communist Party from 1939 until his death in 1978.

, and

Brian Bunting Brian Bunting (9 April 1920 – 18 June 2008) was a South African activist and journalist known as a stalwart of the South African Communist Party (SACP). He represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the National Assembly from 1994 to ...

were re-admitted. He would not support the South African effort at the beginning of the Second World War, toeing the Soviet line but after Soviet Union was attacked by the Germans in 1941, his attitude changed.

Marriage

He married Mary O'Brien in 1897, a daughter of an Anglican reverend and had two sons and a daughter.

Death

Andrews died in Rondebosch, Cape Town on 26 December 1950.

References

External links

CPSA Timeline
{{DEFAULTSORT:Andrews, William H. 1870 births 1950 deaths South African trade unionists South African Communist Party politicians Labour Party (South Africa) politicians Members of the House of Assembly (South Africa) British emigrants to the South African Republic

Biography

Marriage

Death

References

Further reading

External links