Jack Firestein (1917–2004) was British socialist and Labour activist.

Life

He was born in

Whitechapel Whitechapel is a district in East London and the future administrative centre of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is a part of the East End of London, east of Charing Cross. Part of the historic county of Middlesex, the area formed ...

, London, to an eastern European Jewish family, he left school when he was 14 to follow his father as a

tailor A tailor is a person who makes or alters clothing, particularly in men's clothing. The Oxford English Dictionary dates the term to the thirteenth century. History Although clothing construction goes back to prehistory, there is evidence of ...

, he later became a

bookseller Bookselling is the commercial trading of books which is the retail and distribution end of the publishing process. People who engage in bookselling are called booksellers, bookdealers, bookpeople, bookmen, or bookwomen. The founding of librari ...

, a profession he continued most of his life. In the early 1930s Firestein joined the Communist Party. In 1936, he was involved in the

Battle of Cable Street The Battle of Cable Street was a series of clashes that took place at several locations in the inner East End, most notably Cable Street, on Sunday 4 October 1936. It was a clash between the Metropolitan Police, sent to protect a march by mem ...

, when

Oswald Mosley Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet (16 November 1896 – 3 December 1980) was a British politician during the 1920s and 1930s who rose to fame when, having become disillusioned with mainstream politics, he turned to fascism. He was a member ...

Blackshirts The Voluntary Militia for National Security ( it, Milizia Volontaria per la Sicurezza Nazionale, MVSN), commonly called the Blackshirts ( it, Camicie Nere, CCNN, singular: ) or (singular: ), was originally the paramilitary wing of the Natio ...

were routed by a mobilisation of

East End The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have uni ...

workers. In the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he joined the

Royal Fusiliers The Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in continuous existence for 283 years. It was known as the 7th Regiment of Foot until the Childers Reforms of 1881. The regiment served in many wars ...

who were involved in the Italian campaigns. He was seriously injured when a bullet passed through his body in the

battle of Anzio The Battle of Anzio was a battle of the Italian Campaign of World War II that took place from January 22, 1944 (beginning with the Allied amphibious landing known as Operation Shingle) to June 5, 1944 (ending with the capture of Rome). The op ...

, where he was taken

prisoner A prisoner (also known as an inmate or detainee) is a person who is deprived of liberty against their will. This can be by confinement, captivity, or forcible restraint. The term applies particularly to serving a prison sentence in a prison. ...

by the Germans. Jack was subsequently awarded the

Military Medal The Military Medal (MM) was a military decoration awarded to personnel of the British Army and other arms of the armed forces, and to personnel of other Commonwealth countries, below commissioned rank, for bravery in battle on land. The award ...

. After the war he went back to the book trade and in the 1950s he ran the Union Theatre Folk Club in London for more than 16 years, until the theatre was burnt down in 1975. He was a founding member of the London Socialist Film Co-op and also worked as a chauffeur for

Clive Jenkins David Clive Jenkins (2 May 1926 – 22 September 1999) was a British trade union leader. "Organising the middle classes", his stated recreation in ''Who's Who'', sums up both his sense of humour and his achievements in the British trade union mov ...

, a British trade union leader, for many years. He left the Communist Party in 1956 after the

Soviet Union 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 national ...

suppression of the Hungarian Uprising that year. He joined the Labour Party and remained a member until his death. He ran an open-air book stall outside of the headquarters of

Camden Camden may refer to: People * Camden (surname), a surname of English origin * Camden Joy (born 1964), American writer * Camden Toy (born 1957), American actor Places Australia * Camden, New South Wales * Camden, Rosehill, a heritage res ...

Labour Party – although his disillusionment with the party led him to join the then recently-formed

Respect Party The Respect Party was a left-wing to far-left, socialist political party active in the United Kingdom between 2004 and 2016. At the height of its success in 2007, the party had one Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons and nineteen ...

without renouncing his Labour Party membership. He was deeply involved with his local Neighbourhood Advice Centre as a trustee on the management board, and he also dedicated many hours to helping others with welfare problems. In 2009, Chris Reeves, a London filmmaker of Platform films, made a film remembrance of his life entitled ''Only a Bookseller''. It was accepted into the 2010 Canadian Labour International Film Festival (CLiFF).

References

Unity Theatre, London Unity Theatre was a theatre club formed in 1936, and initially based in St Judes Hall, Britannia Street, Somers Town, London NW1. In 1937, it moved to a former chapel in Goldington Street, also in Somers Town, an area which is part of the prese ...

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Firestein, Jack 1917 births 2004 deaths 20th-century English Jews 21st-century English Jews Communist Party of Great Britain members English Ashkenazi Jews Jewish English activists Labour Party (UK) people People from the London Borough of Camden People from Whitechapel Recipients of the Military Medal Respect Party people