Ralph Winston Fox (30 March 1900 – 28 December 1936) was a British revolutionary, journalist, novelist, and historian, best remembered as a biographer of

Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 19 ...

and

Genghis Khan ''Chinggis Khaan'' ͡ʃʰiŋɡɪs xaːŋbr />Mongol script: ''Chinggis Qa(gh)an/ Chinggis Khagan'' , birth_name = Temüjin , successor = Tolui (as regent)Ögedei Khan , spouse = , issue = , house = Borjigin , ...

. Fox was one of the best-known members 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) to be killed in Spain fighting against the

Nationalists Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...

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 ...

Biography

Early years

Fox was born 30 March 1900 in Halifax, Yorkshire, England to a middle-class family.Samuel Sillen, "The Man Who Was Ralph Fox," ''The New Masses,'' vol. 54, no. 2 (9 January 1945), pp. 22–24. He knew

James Crowther James Gerald Crowther (26 September 1899, Halifax, West Yorkshire, Halifax – 30 March 1983) was one of the founders of science journalism. He was appointed the scientific correspondent of ''The Manchester Guardian'' in 1928. James was the second ...

in his youth and helped stimulate Crowther's interest in

marxism Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

. Fox studied modern languages at

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

Magdalen College Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the s ...

, where he was drafted into Oxford University Officers’ Training Corps.Graham Stevenson, "Communist Biographies: Ralph Fox," Grahamstevenson.me.uk Although commissioned as a lieutenant, the war ended before Fox was sent to the front lines of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. During his time in Oxford, Fox joined the Oxford University Labour Club, where he met activist fellow activist Tom Wintringham. In 1919 Fox became active in the effort to halt British blockade and military intervention to overthrow the

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

government which had assumed power in the

Russian Revolution of 1917 The Russian Revolution was a period of political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and adopt a socialist form of government ...

. He was active in the Oxford

Hands Off Russia The Hands Off Russia campaign was an international political initiative first launched by British Socialists in 1919 to organise opposition to the British intervention on the side of the White armies against the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War ...

Committee and was instrumental in helping to organise the local CPGB unit.

1920s and Soviet experiences

In 1920 as the dust was settling from the

Russian Civil War , date = October Revolution, 7 November 1917 – Yakut revolt, 16 June 1923{{Efn, The main phase ended on 25 October 1922. Revolt against the Bolsheviks continued Basmachi movement, in Central Asia and Tungus Republic, the Far East th ...

, Fox travelled to

Soviet Russia The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...

, an experience which further moved him towards lifelong identification with the communist political movement. Fox returned to Oxford, where in 1922 he graduated with a first class honours in modern languages. In the summer following graduation, Fox returned to Soviet Russia, this time as a worker with the

Friends ''Friends'' is an American television sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting ten seasons. With an ensemble cast starring Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa ...

Relief Mission in

Samara Samara ( rus, Сама́ра, p=sɐˈmarə), known from 1935 to 1991 as Kuybyshev (; ), is the largest city and administrative centre of Samara Oblast. The city is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Samara (Volga), Samara rivers, with ...

. Back in Great Britain, he went to work as a functionary for the CPGB in its propaganda department. He also studied in at the School of Foreign Languages and wrote his first major book, ''People of the Steppes,'' which was published in 1925. In 1925 Fox returned once again to Moscow, this time to work in the apparatus of the

Communist International The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to "struggle by a ...

. He met his wife in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

and married in the spring of 1926. In 1928 Fox went to work for the ''Sunday Worker,'' the high-profile weekly predecessor 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 ...

,'' launched in 1930. Fox and his wife returned once again to the Soviet Union in 1929, where he took a position as a librarian at the Marx-Engels Institute in Moscow.

1930s and Spanish Civil War

During his time with the Marx-Engels Institute, Fox began a detailed study of the

Asiatic Mode of Production The theory of the Asiatic mode of production (AMP) was devised by Karl Marx around the early 1850s. The essence of the theory has been described as " hesuggestion ... that Asiatic societies were held in thrall by a despotic ruling clique, residin ...

as reflected in the writings of

Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...

. He published an article on the topic, "The Views of Marx and Engels on the Asiatic Mode of Production and Their Sources," in the journal ''Letopisi marksizma'' in 1930. Fox returned once again to England in 1932, going to work for the ''Daily Worker'' as a columnist and writing several pamphlets and books for the Communist press. In 1935 Fox shared a hotel room with the famous Jewish-American communist writer

Mike Gold Michael Gold (April 12, 1894 – May 14, 1967) was the pen-name of Jewish American writer Itzok Isaac Granich. A lifelong communist, Gold was a novelist and literary critic. His semi-autobiographical novel '' Jews Without Money'' (1930) was a bes ...

. In 1936, to fight fascism in the

, Fox joined the

International Brigades The International Brigades ( es, Brigadas Internacionales) were military units set up by the Communist International to assist the Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War. The organization existed f ...

through the

French Communist Party The French Communist Party (french: Parti communiste français, ''PCF'' ; ) is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its MEPs sit in the European Unit ...

in Paris. When he arrived in Spain at the end of the year, he was sent to be trained in

Albacete Albacete (, also , ; ar, ﭐَلبَسِيط, Al-Basīṭ) is a city and municipality in the Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castilla–La Mancha, and capital of the province of Albacete. Lying in the south-ea ...

and was assigned to the XIV Brigade. After some weeks as a political commissar at the base, Fox was sent to the front in one of the first operations in which the Brigades were involved. Fox died at the

Battle of Lopera The Battle of Lopera took place between 27 and 29 December 1936 during the Spanish Civil War. This battle took place during the Nationalist's Aceituna offensive. On 27 December, the XIV International Brigade launched an attack in order to occupy ...

in the province of Jaén in late December 1936. During the same fascist attack which killed Fox, his friend the Cambridge poet

John Cornford Rupert John Cornford (27 December 1915 – 28 December 1936) was an English poet and communist. During the first year of the Spanish Civil War, he was a member of the POUM militia and later the International Brigades. He died while fighting a ...

was also killed. Some biographies state 3 January 1937 as his date of death, which was the day that his death was made public. However, modern historians place his death within late 1936.

Legacy

After Fox's death, the leader of the CPGB,

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 spent ...

, published a tribute to Fox's death, praising him for his convictions and contributions to the fight against fascism. In 1937 a selection of tributes to the memory of Fox was published and titled '''Ralph Fox: A Writer in Arms'.'' The bulletin of the Marx Memorial Library contains recent articles on Fox, and the Library holds many of Fox's papers and publications. To date there are only two extended accounts of Fox: Mike Freeman's 2009 study of Fox's life and cultural politics, 'Ralph Fox: Telling the Times' and a biographical essay by Don Hallett in the 2009 proceedings of the Halifax Antiquarian Society. Primary sources on Fox are available at the Working Class Movement Library at Salford, and Halifax Central Library. A bench in his memorial sits at the Manor Heath Walled Garden, Halifax. Fox's memorial bench was erected by the Marxist historian

EP Thompson Edward Palmer Thompson (3 February 1924 – 28 August 1993) was an English historian, writer, socialist and peace campaigner. He is best known today for his historical work on the radical movements in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, in ...

. Fox's name is included on the

Oxford Spanish Civil War memorial The Oxford Spanish Civil War memorial is a monument in Oxford dedicated to the 31 known local residents who fought in the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) against Nationalist forces. Erected and unveiled in 2017, the memorial is located close to ...

Works

* ''People of the Steppes.'' London: Constable, 1925. * ''A Defence of Communism: In Reply to H.J. Laski.'' London: Communist Party of Great Britain, 1927. * ''Storming Heaven.'' London: Constable, 1928. —Novel * ''The Colonial Policy of British Imperialism.'' London: Martin Lawrence, 1933. * ''Lenin.'' London: Victor Gollancz, 1933. * ''The Class Struggle in Britain.'' In Two Parts. New York: International Publishers, 1933. * ''The Colonial Policy of British Imperialism.'' New York: International Publishers, 1934. * ''Communism.'' London: John Lane, 1935. * ''Genghis Khan.'' New York: Harcourt Brace and Company, 1936. * ''France Faces the Future.'' New York: International Publishers, 1936. * ''The Novel and the People.'' London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1937. (posthumous) * ''This Was Their Youth.'' London: Secker & Warburg, 1937. (posthumous) * ''Marx, Engels and Lenin on Ireland.'' New York: International Publishers, 1940. (posthumous)

References

External links

*
Ralph Fox Internet Archive
Marxists Internet Archive, www.marxists.org/ *

''Ralph Fox: A Tribute,''
Marxists Internet Archive, www.marxists.org/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Fox, Ralph Winston 1900 births 1930s deaths People from Halifax, West Yorkshire Communist Party of Great Britain members English male journalists English communists International Brigades personnel British people of the Spanish Civil War Military personnel killed in the Spanish Civil War English anti-fascists 20th-century English historians British Communist writers