George Hardy (26 July 1884, Cottingham – 4 May 1966) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

communist. He was General Secretary of the

Industrial Workers of the World The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), members of which are commonly termed "Wobblies", is an international labor union that was founded in Chicago in 1905. The origin of the nickname "Wobblies" is uncertain. IWW ideology combines genera ...

in 1921 and later secretary of 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 ...

Biography

Hardy was the son of an English

agricultural labourer A farmworker, farmhand or agricultural worker is someone employed for labor in agriculture. In labor law, the term "farmworker" is sometimes used more narrowly, applying only to a hired worker involved in agricultural production, including harv ...

. From the age of 17 he took an active part in the trade union movement. In 1906 Hardy emigrated to Canada, where he organized a union of seafarers' workers, which joined the Industrial Workers of the World (I. W. W.); for a long time he was the chairman of this union. In 1912-13 he traveled to Australia, New Zealand and England as an agitator, where in 1915-16 he led a strike of dockworkers. Arriving then in the United States, he again began to lead the movement of workers in sea transport. He actively campaigned against the war and served a year in prison for that. In 1920 he was elected secretary of the I. W. W. in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

and as its representative was sent to the international conference of

anarcho-syndicalists Anarcho-syndicalism is a political philosophy and anarchist school of thought that views revolutionary industrial unionism or syndicalism as a method for workers in capitalist society to gain control of an economy and thus control influence in ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. From here he went to the

USSR 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 nationa ...

, where he joined the

Profintern The Red International of Labor Unions (russian: Красный интернационал профсоюзов, translit=Krasnyi internatsional profsoyuzov, RILU), commonly known as the Profintern, was an international body established by the Comm ...

. Returning to the US, began campaigning to join the Profintern; on this basis, he broke with I. W. W. In 1921 he became a member of the

American Communist Party The Communist Party USA, officially the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), is a communist party in the United States which was established in 1919 after a split in the Socialist Party of America following the Russian Revo ...

, the next year he moved to England, where he became one of the organizers and leaders of the minority movement. Hardy did most of his work among transport workers; in 1925 he led a strike of British sailors. Hardy was a delegate from the minority movement to the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Congresses of the Profintern. At the 4th Congress he was elected a member of the Executive Bureau of the Profintern.

In China

In 1927 he went to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

as a

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

agent. He arrived in

Hangzhou Hangzhou ( or , ; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), also romanized as Hangchow, is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang, China. It is located in the northwestern part of the province, sitting at the head of Hangzhou Bay, whi ...

when

Chiang Kai-shek Chiang Kai-shek (31 October 1887 – 5 April 1975), also known as Chiang Chung-cheng and Jiang Jieshi, was a Chinese Nationalist politician, revolutionary, and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 ...

was initiating his attacks on the

Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victoriou ...

(CCP), particularly through the

Shanghai Massacre The Shanghai massacre of 12 April 1927, the April 12 Purge or the April 12 Incident as it is commonly known in China, was the violent suppression of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) organizations and leftist elements in Shanghai by forces supportin ...

. He remained in China working underground with the CCP and the

All-China Federation of Trade Unions The All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) is the national trade union center of the People's Republic of China. It is the largest trade union in the world with 302 million members in 1,713,000 primary trade union organizations. The ACFTU ...

. Hardy returned to China in 1951 as part of the British-China Friendship Association. In 1953 Hardy entered into correspondence with

Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Elizabeth Gurley Flynn (August 7, 1890 – September 5, 1964) was a labor leader, activist, and feminist who played a leading role in the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). Flynn was a founding member of the American Civil Liberties Union ...

who he had known in 1923. He renewed their relationship after Flynn had been jailed under the

Smith Act The Alien Registration Act, popularly known as the Smith Act, 76th United States Congress, 3d session, ch. 439, , is a United States federal statute that was enacted on June 28, 1940. It set criminal penalties for advocating the overthrow of th ...

. In 1956, Hardy returned from his third trip from China to

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

. Here he learned about the decision to publish his book ''Those Stormy Years: Memories of the Fight for Freedom on Five Continents'' in Russian. For which he wrote a new foreword and another chapter on fresh impressions after a trip to China.Харди, Джордж. Те бурные годы : Воспоминания о борьбе за свободу на пяти континентах / Пер. ред. проф. Л. И. Зубока. - Москва : Изд-во иностр. лит., 1957. - 318 с., 5 л. ил.; 21 см.
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Texts

* (1920) "Shop Organization the Base of the I. W. W." ''One Big Union Monthly'' June 1920 * (1956) ''Those Stormy Years: Memories of the Fight for Freedom on Five Continents'' London:Lawrence and Wishart

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hardy, George (communist) English communists 1884 births 1966 deaths Industrial Workers of the World members