John Mahon (1901 – 1975) 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, ...

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

political activist. The son of socialist leader

John Lincoln Mahon John Lincoln Mahon (8 June 1865 – 19 November 1933) was a Scottish trade unionist and politician, best known as a prominent socialist activist. Mahon was born in Edinburgh, to Irish parents, with the surname "McMahon". He followed in his fath ...

, John Mahon was born in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, but grew up in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. He was educated at St Olave's and St Saviour's Grammar School before finding employment at an engineering works.Graham Stevenson,
Mahon, John
, ''Compendium of Communist Biography'' Mahon was a founder 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), and soon became a full-time worker for the party, achieving prominence in the party's

National Minority Movement The National Minority Movement was a British organisation, established in 1924 by the Communist Party of Great Britain, which attempted to organise a radical presence within the existing trade unions. The organization was headed by longtime unio ...

. Within this, he was known for his antipathy towards the existing trade union movement, taking one of the most hardline views of the party's "class against class" policy. By the start of the 1930s, the movement was winding down, but Mahon was appointed as editor of its newspaper, ''The Worker''. He served as the

election agent An election agent in elections in the United Kingdom, as well as some other similar political systems such as elections in India, is the person legally responsible for the conduct of a candidate's political campaign and to whom election material is ...

for party leader

Harry Pollitt Harry Pollitt (22 November 1890 – 27 June 1960) was a British communist who served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) from 1929 to September 1939 and again from 1941 until his death in 1960. Pollitt spen ...

's unsuccessful campaign in the

1930 Whitechapel and St Georges by-election The Whitechapel and St George's by-election, 1930 was a parliamentary by-election held on 3 December 1930 for the British House of Commons constituency of Whitechapel and St George's in the Metropolitan Borough of Stepney. Vacancy The seat ...

, then in 1931 was appointed as the CPGB's representative to the

Profintern The Red International of Labor Unions (russian: Красный интернационал профсоюзов, translit=Krasnyi internatsional profsoyuzov, RILU), commonly known as the Profintern, was an international body established by the Comm ...

. In this role, he visited

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

,''The Times House of Commons 1951'', p.33 attending a meeting of the

Executive Committee of the Communist International The Executive Committee of the Communist International, commonly known by its acronym, ECCI (Russian acronym ИККИ), was the governing authority of the Comintern between the World Congresses of that body. The ECCI was established by the Foundin ...

. Meanwhile, matters came to a head over his political views after party theoretician

Rajani Palme Dutt Rajani may refer to: *Rajani (name), people named Rajani *Rajani (actress) (born 1965), Indian film actress * ''Rajani'' (TV series), a 1980s Indian TV series * ''Rajani'' (film), a 2009 Indian Kannada romantic comedy * ''Rajani'', an 1877 novel b ...

wrote in support of Mahon, but Pollitt was able to manoeuvre the party into dissolving the Minority Movement and refocusing on work in the existing trade unions. With the Minority Movement no longer in existence, Mahon found a role as Industrial Organiser for the London District of the CPGB. In 1937, he served as Political Commissar for the

British Battalion The British Battalion (1936–1938; officially the Saklatvala Battalion) was the 16th battalion of the XV International Brigade, one of the mixed brigades of the International Brigades, during the Spanish Civil War. It comprised British and Do ...

in the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

, but soon returned to London. In 1947, he replaced Ted Bramley as District Secretary, and was also elected to the party's Executive Committee for the first time.Brian Pearce,
For the Twentieth Anniversary of Comrade Harry Pollitt as General Secretary of the Communist Party
He stood unsuccessfully for election on three occasions: in the 1949 St Pancras North by-election, in Battersea North at the 1950 general election, and in Lewisham South in

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the United ...

. Mahon retired from his party posts in 1966, and was replaced as District Secretary by Frank Stanley.David Aaronovitch, ''Party Animals: My Family and Other Communists'', pp.148-149 He spent his retirement writing a biography of Pollitt, which was published in 1974, dying shortly afterwards.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mahon, John 1901 births 1975 deaths British people of the Spanish Civil War Communist Party of Great Britain members Politicians from Dublin (city)