Jane Hamilton Patrick, born Jenny Hamilton Patrick (1884–1971), was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not neces ...

of some standing, and played a crucial role in a number of radical organisations. Patrick was a printer and typesetter by trade. She became active in politics, when she joined the Glasgow Anarchist Group by 1914. She was also a partner of Guy Aldred's for some thirty years until his death. Patrick with other anarchists had an ambivalent attitude towards the formation of the

Communist Party of Great Britain The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist organisation in Britain and was founded in 1920 through a merger of several smaller Marxist groups. Many miners joined the CPGB in the 1926 general strike. In 1930, the CPG ...

(CPGB), and along with Aldred, she helped form the Anti-Parliamentary Communist Federation (APCF) a breakaway group. The key points of contention were the proposed use, by the new group, of parliament and its relationship to the Labour Party. This is seen as a left-wing break from the communist movement and Comintern's view is best encapsulated in Lenin's '' "Left-Wing" Communism: An Infantile Disorder'' with its comments chiefly directed at Sylvia Pankhurst. Patrick and others were simply carrying on a popular tradition which had been developed through the politics of the Socialist League and the struggles of syndicalism in Britain prior to the inception of the CPGB. With the setting up of the APCF, the authorities began to investigate the group, and Aldred, Patrick, Douglas McLeish and Andrew Fleming were eventually arrested and

charged with sedition Sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that tends toward rebellion against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent toward, or insurrection against, estab ...

within the first year of its inception. Patrick along with others was eventually found guilty and given a sentence of three months. The charges relate to anti-parliamentary activity, the promotion of the Sinn Féin electoral tactic and undermining of parliament. In 1924 Aldred and Patrick helped set up a journal called ''The Commune''. In 1934, along with Aldred, Patrick set up the United Socialist Movement (USM), an anarcho-communist organisation which helped publish a journal called ''The Word''. Both Ethel MacDonald and Patrick went to Spain at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War as respective representatives of their groups. MacDonald appears to have been representing the USM and Patrick the APCF, since she was also a member of that. In Spain, Patrick ended up in Madrid editing the English-language version of ''Frente Libertario''. By 1937 she had moved to Barcelona, helping with the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo's (CNT) radio bulletin. Her and Ethel's firsthand encounter with the

Barcelona May Days The May Days, sometimes also called May Events, refer to a series of clashes between 3 and 8 May 1937 during which factions on the Republican faction of the Spanish Civil War engaged one another in street battles in various parts of Catalonia, ...

was reported by Aldred, but she returned to Glasgow by 1937. After returning before the course of the war, Patrick along with others would establish

The Strickland Press The Strickland Press was an anarchist publishing house in George Street, Glasgow which was established in 1939 by prominent member of the Anti-Parliamentary Communist Federation (APCF) Guy Aldred. Bequest and foundation In 1938 Guy Aldred's fri ...

References

Sources

* * * *

External links

The Spartacus Educational
– Biographical entry
Strugglepedia
Biographical entry
The birth of Glasgow's anarchism
Background information
Anarchist communism in Britain, 1870-1991
Overview of anarchist-communism in Britain {{DEFAULTSORT:Patrick, Jane Hamilton 1884 births 1971 deaths 20th-century British essayists Anarcho-communists British people of the Spanish Civil War People convicted of sedition Politicians from Glasgow Scottish anarchists Scottish essayists Scottish women essayists Scottish women activists