Graham Stevenson (28 October 1950 – 1 May 2020) was a British communist, trade union leader, and historian who specialised in the history of British socialist and labour activist biographies. He led a career as one of the most influential trade union leaders in Britain, becoming the national secretary of the
TGWU
The Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU or T&G) was one of the largest general trade unions in the United Kingdom and Ireland – where it was known as the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers' Union (ATGWU) to differentiate its ...
IN 1999, and as a founder and later president in 2009 of the European Transport Union Federation, he helped organise strikes across European docks in 2003, forcing the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
to stall privatisation plans.
Between 2007 and 2008, Stevenson played a key part in the negotiations that formed
Unite the Union
Unite the Union, commonly known as Unite, is a British and Irish trade union which was formed on 1 May 2007 by the merger of Amicus and the Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU). Unite is the second largest trade union in the UK (after ...
, the largest trade union in the United Kingdom.
He also served on the Executive and Political Committee of the
Communist Party of Britain (CPB), and served as the treasurer of the
Marx Memorial Library
The Marx Memorial Library in London, United Kingdom is a library, archive, educational, and community outreach charity focused on Marxist and wider socialist bodies of work. England and Wales charity number: 270309.
Its collection comprises over ...
from 2013 to 2019.
He is also the biographer of
Jessie Eden
Jessie Eden (née Shrimpton; 24 February 1902 – 27 September 1986) was a British trade union leader and communist activist, most famous for leading between 40,000 to 50,000 households during the Birmingham rent-strike of 1939. She was also in ...
, among many other British communist icons.
Early life
Graham Stevenson was born on 28 October 1950 in the mining village of
Keresley
Keresley is a suburban village and civil parish in the City of Coventry, West Midlands, England, about north of Coventry city centre and southwest of Bedworth. According to the 2001 census, the parish had a population of 791 falling to 713 a ...
near
Coventry
Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
.
Born into a
working class
The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colou ...
family, his mother worked as a textile worker and his father was an engineer and a lifelong trade unionist who worked with 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
...
.
Stevenson won a scholarship to the
King Henry VIII School, a strongly conservative institution.
He often argued with the other members of the school over political debates, reading ''Labour Research'' and buying the
''Daily Worker'' with his lunch money to back his arguments.
He became interested in
James Klugmann
Norman John Klugmann (27 February 1912 – 14 September 1977), generally known as James Klugmann, was a leading British Communist writer and WW2 Soviet Spy, who became the official historian of the Communist Party of Great Britain.
Backgroun ...
's writings on Christian Marxism, and by the age of 15 he was getting into trouble with right-wing teachers over political debates.
Stevenson left school at the age of 16.
On request, his family gifted him Christmas books on socialism, including
Nikolai Bukharin
Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin (russian: Никола́й Ива́нович Буха́рин) ( – 15 March 1938) was a Bolshevik revolutionary, Soviet politician, Marxist philosopher and economist and prolific author on revolutionary theory. ...
's book ''
The ABC of Communism
''The ABC of Communism'' (russian: Азбука коммунизма ''Azbuka Kommunizma'') is a book written by Nikolai Bukharin and Yevgeni Preobrazhensky in 1919, during the Russian Civil War. '' and
Joan Robinson
Joan Violet Robinson (''née'' Maurice; 31 October 1903 – 5 August 1983) was a British economist well known for her wide-ranging contributions to economic theory. She was a central figure in what became known as post-Keynesian economics.
B ...
's book ''Economic Philosophy''.
During the late 1960s Stevenson had become a member of the
Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) and their youth wing the
Young Communist League
The Young Communist League (YCL) is the name used by the youth wing of various Communist parties around the world. The name YCL of XXX (name of country) originates from the precedent established by the Communist Youth International.
Examples of YC ...
,
successfully reviving the previously deflated YCL branch in Coventry.
Adult life
By 1970, Stevenson had become the Secretary of the Coventry Trades Council Youth Committee, and by 1971 he was a member of the Coventry Communist Party City Committee.
In 1972 he became a member of the
Midlands
The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the Ind ...
District Committee, while also holding national leadership positions in the YCL.
Rotunda legal case
In 1973 Stevenson joined the
UCATT construction union, and alongside fellow communist
Pete Carter
Peter Edward Carter (8 July 1938 – 11 October 2011) was a British trade unionist.
History
Born in Tipton, Carter left school at fifteen and worked as a bricklayer while still illiterate. Graham Stevenson claims that Carter was briefly invol ...
they worked together to unionise building sites in Coventry.
In one instance, Stevenson clashed with the manager of a building site during an attempted occupation that led to the famous Rotunda legal case.
Many months after the attempted occupation, Stevenson and his colleagues were arrested by the police and charged with 'conspiracy to trespass', with potentially unlimited penalties.
However, the jury at their trial was led by a sympathetic local union convener, and the jury found Stevenson innocent.
Trade union activism in Birmingham and Derby
Stevenson worked very closely with trade union leader and communist Frank Watters, who was famous for his trade union activism with the
National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...
.
Together they redeveloped the
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
CPGB Communist Party premises into a social club, heavily featuring Jamaican
Reggae music
Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use th ...
.
This social club became a home for many members of Birmingham's black communities, including the future general secretary of the
TGWU
The Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU or T&G) was one of the largest general trade unions in the United Kingdom and Ireland – where it was known as the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers' Union (ATGWU) to differentiate its ...
, Bill Morris.
Stevenson met Frank Watters's daughter Lesley, and married her in 1979.
In 1980 Stevenson began his career as a full-time trade union officer, applying for the position of TGWU district organiser in
Derby
Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...
,
where he successfully re-unionised bus services and expanded the union's activities into the wider community.
He was also involved in re-establishing the
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND).
In 1982 he became the organiser of the Midlands March for Jobs in 1982.
In 1983-84 he worked to ensure that transport workers gave their full support to striking mining workers.
TGWU and European leadership
In 1999 Stevenson became the National Secretary for the
Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU), one of the largest trade unions in British history.
In this capacity he also played a leading role in the founding and running of the European Transport Workers Federation, a union with 2 million members.
As the new vice-president of the European Transport Workers Federation,
he helped organise dock worker strikes across Europe in January 2003, forcing the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
to abandon the commission's Directive to seek privatisation.
As a leading member of the TGWU, he worked to ensure the union opposed the
2003 invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including 26 ...
.
Later life
In 2007-2008 Stevenson played a key role in creating
Unite the Union
Unite the Union, commonly known as Unite, is a British and Irish trade union which was formed on 1 May 2007 by the merger of Amicus and the Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU). Unite is the second largest trade union in the UK (after ...
, the largest trade union in the UK.
After retiring from Unite in 2010,
Stevenson dedicated the rest of his life to supporting the British communist movement. He served as the treasurer of the
Marx Memorial Library
The Marx Memorial Library in London, United Kingdom is a library, archive, educational, and community outreach charity focused on Marxist and wider socialist bodies of work. England and Wales charity number: 270309.
Its collection comprises over ...
between 2013 and 2019, an organisation known for housing the records of many anti-colonial fighters.
In 2011 Stevenson was awarded the ITF Gold Badge.
In 2017 Stevenson ran for the Mayor of Birmingham, receiving just under 6,000 votes.
After the disbanding of the original
Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB), Stevenson joined the new
Communist Party of Britain (CPB) and became served the party as a leading member.
He also had a daily column in the
''Morning Star'' and redeveloped the CPB's Communist Party History Group.
Death
Stevenson died of cancer on 1 May 2020 at the age of 69.
After his death, Stevenson was widely praised by trade union leaders and British socialist activists for his work.
ITF President Paddy Crumlin praised Stevenson's legacy:
"He was a trade unionist to his bones and lived a life of campaigning, organising and mass mobilisation in the defence of social and community values, including the fight against privatisation, industrial deregulation and discrimination in any form, but particularly on the basis of gender, age and ethnicity. Comrade Stevenson was a communist in the true sense of the defined word."
Mac Urata, the senior policy officer of the International Transport Workers Federation, also praised Stevenson's legacy as a trade union leader:
" He held a very senior position in the ITF, but the rest of responsibilities that his union had in the ITF, he shared with his elected officials, members and staff — something that not all of us can do, but I firmly believe that it made the ITF strong, and we owe him a huge appreciation."
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stevenson, Graham
1950 births
2020 deaths
British communists
British socialists
Communist Party of Great Britain members
Communist Party of Britain members
British historians
British trade unionists
British writers
People from Coventry
Unite the Union