Jack Stanley (1885 – 2 April 1957) 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, ...

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

leader. Born in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, Stanley grew up in

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

. Labour Party, "Obituary: Jack Stanley", ''Report of the 56th Annual Conference'', p.43 He worked in a

foundry A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...

and joined the

United Society of Boilermakers and Iron and Steel Shipbuilders The Amalgamated Society of Boilermakers, Shipwrights, Blacksmiths and Structural Workers (ASB) was a trade union in the United Kingdom. Many of its members worked in shipbuilding, in which industry it was the leading trade union, while over tim ...

. In 1922, he transferred to the

British Iron, Steel and Kindred Trades Association The Iron and Steel Trades Confederation (ISTC) was a British trade union for metal-workers and allied groups, being the largest union in these fields. It was formed on 1 January 1917 as a merger of existing steel-workers' unions and it is now pa ...

(BISAKTA), and was elected as secretary of its

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

branch the following year.

Trades Union Congress The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is a national trade union centre A national trade union center (or national center or central) is a federation or confederation of trade unions in a country. Nearly every country in the world has a national tra ...

, "Obituary: Jack Stanley", ''Report of the 1957 Annual Trades Union Congress'' Within BISAKTA,

steel erector An ironworker is a tradesman who works in the iron-working industry. Ironworkers assemble the structural framework in accordance with engineered drawings and install the metal support pieces for new buildings. They also repair and renovate o ...

s felt that they should have a distinct section. Stanley worked with George House to form this, the

Constructional Engineering Union The Constructional Engineering Union (CEU) was a trade union representing steel erectors and other workers involved in steel construction in the United Kingdom. History The union was founded in 1924 as a section of the Iron and Steel Trades Co ...

, and became its full-time Northern organiser. The union grew rapidly, and became independent in 1930. Stanley succeeded House as its general secretary in 1939. Stanley was known as a left-wing activist. He was a member of the board of the Labour Publishing Society, which launched the Socialist Fellowship in 1949, and published ''

Socialist Outlook ''Socialist Outlook'' was the name of two publications edited by supporters of the Fourth International in Britain. ''Socialist Outlook (1948–1954)'' The first ''Socialist Outlook'' was the name of the newspaper published by the Socialist Fello ...

'', a newspaper associated with

Gerry Healy Thomas Gerard Healy (3 December 1913 – 14 December 1989) was a political activist, a co-founder of the International Committee of the Fourth International and the leader of the Socialist Labour League and later the Workers Revolutionary Part ...

. Under his leadership, the union affiliated to the

Movement for Colonial Freedom Liberation (founded as the Movement for Colonial Freedom) is a political civil rights advocacy group founded in the United Kingdom in 1954. It had the support of many MPs, including Harold Wilson, Barbara Castle and Tony Benn, and celebrities such ...

, Stanley announced that he would retire in May 1957, but he died before he was able to do so."Obituary: Mr Jack Stanley", ''

Manchester Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 4 April 1957

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stanley, Jack 1885 births 1957 deaths British trade union leaders Trade unionists from Liverpool