Leonard Charles White (12 November 1897''1939 England and Wales Register'' – 11 May 1955) 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. White served as deputy general secretary of the Civil Service Clerical Association (CSCA) for some years, and was in this role in 1939 when he additionally became the first general secretary of the Civil Service Alliance. In 1942, he became general secretary of the CSCA after his predecessor, William Brown, was elected to Parliament."Mr L. C. White", ''

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 ...

'', 12 May 1955 White was known as a communist sympathiser, and although he never joined 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 ...

, he served on the editorial board of the ''

Daily Worker The ''Daily Worker'' was a newspaper published in New York City by the Communist Party USA, a formerly Comintern-affiliated organization. Publication began in 1924. While it generally reflected the prevailing views of the party, attempts were m ...

'' from 1946.

Jonathan Schneer Jonathan Schneer (born August 9, 1948) is an American historian of modern Britain whose work ranges over labor, political, social, cultural, and diplomatic subjects. He is an emeritus professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology. In addition ...

, ''Labour's Conscience: The Labour Left, 1945-51'', pp.136-138 Brown was highly critical of this, and campaigned for the CSCA to ban communists from holding office. This was not successful, and White became known as a skillful and impartial leader. In 1954, he was offered general secretaryship of the Civil Service

Whitley Council Whitley may refer to: Places ;United Kingdom *Whitley, Berkshire, a suburb of Reading *Whitley, Cheshire, a village near Warrington *Whitley, Coventry, a suburb of Coventry, West Midlands *Whitley, Essex, near Birdbrook * Whitley, Wigan, Greater M ...

, the leading post in civil service trade unionism. However, he died suddenly in May 1955, before he could take up the role.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:White, Len 1897 births 1955 deaths General Secretaries of the Civil and Public Services Association People from Cromer