David Ramsay (1883–1948) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

socialist activist. Born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

, Ramsay became a patternmaker and 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 M ...

.Graham Stevenson,
Ramsay David
, ''Compendium of Communist Biography'' He joined the Social Democratic Federation and then its successor, the British Socialist Party (BSP). However, by the start of

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 ...

, he had joined the Socialist Labour Party (SLP) and had relocated to Leicester. He was a fervent opponent of the war, and was fined £100 in 1916 for trying to prevent people from joining the Army. The SLP was heavily involved in 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 ...

and, although he did not succeed in starting such a movement in Leicester, Ramsay supported similar initiatives across the country. He became treasurer of the

Shop Stewards' and Workers' Committees The Shop Stewards Movement was a movement which brought together shop stewards from across the United Kingdom during the First World War. It originated with the Clyde Workers Committee, the first shop stewards committee in Britain, which organised a ...

organisation, within which he led efforts to organise the unemployed and was involved in organising ex-servicemen. In 1919, police claimed that he had given a seditious speech, advocating using

machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) ar ...

s to start a revolution. National Archives,
Soviet agents and suspected agents
, March 2005 Ramsay denied the details, claiming that words had been added to his speech, but was jailed for five months. Ramsay 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 mome ...

, and became the treasurer of the

Hands Off Russia The Hands Off Russia campaign was an international political initiative first launched by British Socialists in 1919 to organise opposition to the British intervention on the side of the White armies against the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War ...

movement. He was involved in the negotiations to form the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB), being one of the leading opponents of it attempting to affiliate to the Labour Party. Although he lost the debate, he attended the 2nd Congress of the

Communist 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 ...

as a shop stewards' delegate, along with others such as John S. Clarke,

Helen Crawfurd Helen Crawfurd ( Jack, later Anderson; 9 November 1877 – 18 April 1954) was a Scottish suffragette, rent strike organiser, Communist activist and politician. Born in Glasgow, she was brought up there and in London. Biography Born Helen Jack ...

, Williie Gallacher, Wlliam McLaine, JT Murphy,

Sylvia Pankhurst Estelle Sylvia Pankhurst (5 May 1882 – 27 September 1960) was a campaigning English feminist and socialist. Committed to organising working-class women in London's East End, and unwilling in 1914 to enter into a wartime political truce with t ...

Tom Quelch Thomas Quelch (1886–1954) was a British journalist and the son of veteran Marxist Harry Quelch. a member of the British Socialist Party in the early part of the 20th century, becoming a communist activist in Great Britain in the 1920s. Quelch ...

Marjory Newbold Marjory Newbold (25 May 1883 – 15 November 1926) was a leading Scottish socialist and communist, prominent in the Independent Labour Party and in the 'Red Clydeside' movement demanding reforms for the working class. Newbold organised pacifist ...

and Jack Tanner. In order to do so, he had to obtain a passport, under the cover story that he wished to emigrate to

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

and, before doing so, visit relatives in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

(actually a

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

based there). His request was taken to the

Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all national s ...

, who consulted colleagues but surprisingly decided to grant it. Following the Congress, he stayed in Russia for a while, working for the Comintern, and frequently travelled between there and the UK. Once Ramsay returned to the UK, he served on the CPGB's Central Committee, and worked as an instructor for the party. He was also involved in devising propaganda for the party. In 1926, he was appointed as its Scottish Organiser, and he also served as the

election agent An election agent in elections in the United Kingdom, as well as some other similar political systems such as elections in India, is the person legally responsible for the conduct of a candidate's political campaign and to whom election material is ...

for

Harry Pollitt Harry Pollitt (22 November 1890 – 27 June 1960) was a British communist who served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) from 1929 to September 1939 and again from 1941 until his death in 1960. Pollitt spent ...

Seaham Seaham is a seaside town in County Durham, England. Located on the Durham Coast, Seaham is situated south of Sunderland and east of Durham. The town grew from the late 19th century onwards as a result of investments in its harbour and ...

at the 1929 general election.

MI5 The Security Service, also known as MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), G ...

kept Ramsay under constant surveillance, believing that he may have been spying for the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

. Their internal files stated that he left the CPGB in 1932, and found work as a courier for the Soviet embassy. However,

eulogised him in his account of the thirtieth anniversary of the party, suggesting that his departure from the party was merely to try to deflect the attention of the secret services.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ramsay, David 1883 births 1948 deaths British Socialist Party members Communist Party of Great Britain members Politicians from Edinburgh Social Democratic Federation members Socialist Labour Party (UK, 1903) members People convicted of sedition British Comintern people