John Thomas Byrne MBE (24 January 1903 – 5 December 1969) was a Scottish

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 and

anti-communist Anti-communism is Political movement, political and Ideology, ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, w ...

activist. Byrne was born in

Uphall Uphall ( sco, Uphauch, gd, Ubhalaidh) is a village in West Lothian, Scotland. It is a swiftly growing village in a conurbation with Broxburn to the east, Dechmont to the west and the major town of Livingston to the south west. Uphall is 30 mile ...

, West Lothian, to Irish parents John Byrne, a shale miner, and Catherine Doonan, who were married in

Broxburn Broxburn ( gd, Srath Bhroc, IPA: �s̪ɾaˈvɾɔʰk is a town in West Lothian, Scotland, on the A89 road, from the West End of Edinburgh, from Edinburgh Airport and to the north of Livingston. Etymology The name Broxburn is a corruption of " ...

in 1900. Byrne worked as an

electrician An electrician is a tradesperson specializing in electrical wiring of buildings, transmission lines, stationary machines, and related equipment. Electricians may be employed in the installation of new electrical components or the maintenance ...

and joined the Electrical Trades Union (ETU). He became the union's Glasgow area secretary, a post he held for eighteen years. In 1948, he stood to become assistant general secretary of the union, losing to Frank Haxell, a member 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)."Mr John T. Byrne", ''

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'', 5 December 1969 In 1955, the general secretaryship of the union became available, and he again stood against Haxell and was defeated."Mr Frank Haxell", ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'', 31 May 1988 He claimed that CPGB members in the union were fixing elections. In this, he gained substantial support, particularly from Les Cannon, a CPGB member who resigned after the

Soviet invasion of Hungary The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 10 November 1956; hu, 1956-os forradalom), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was a countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the Hunga ...

, Labour Party Members of Parliament John Freeman and

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and the

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movement."Frank Haxell: key figure in union corruption trial", ''

'', 2 June 1988Rob Sewell, ''In the Cause of Labour'' In 1956 Byrne was awarded an MBE in the New Year Honours for his services as an Area Secretary to the Electrical Trades Union in West Scotland. Byrne stood against Haxell again in 1959, and was widely expected to win. However, it was declared that he had narrowly lost the election. He and

Frank Chapple Frank Chapple, Baron Chapple (8 August 1921 – 19 October 2004) was general secretary of the Electrical, Electronic, Telecommunications and Plumbing Union (EETPU), a leading British trade union. Frank Chapple was born in the slum area of ...

took Haxell and fourteen other CPGB members to court, alleging that the election had been fixed. In 1961, they won the case and the court declared Byrne elected as general secretary. Byrne expelled Haxell from the union but did not agree to a

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 ...

(TUC) demand to bar all existing officers from office for five years. As a result, the ETU were expelled from the TUC and, later, also from the Labour Party. Byrne organised new elections and was re-elected as general secretary, with his supporters winning almost all the elected posts. They banned communists from holding elected office in the union, and the ETU was subsequently readmitted to the TUC and Labour Party. Byrne suffered a stroke in 1961 and was thereafter concerned about his health. He decided to retire in 1966, when his full term of office ended, and he died three years later.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Haxell, Frank 1903 births 1969 deaths Scottish people of Irish descent Scottish anti-communists General Secretaries of the Electrical Trades Union (United Kingdom) Trade unionists from Glasgow