Tom Stephenson (27 April 1895 – 3 December 1962) 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 unionist 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 Employee ben ...

. Born in Moresby, near

Whitehaven Whitehaven is a town and port on the English north west coast and near to the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. Historically in Cumberland, it lies by road south-west of Carlisle and to the north of Barrow-in-Furness. It is th ...

, Stephenson left school at the age of fourteen and followed his father in working at the Walkmill Colliery. Inspired by Tom Cape and various socialist speakers, Stephenson joined the

Independent Labour Party The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse working-class candidates ...

(ILP) and became active in the

Cumberland Miners' Association The Cumberland Miners' Association was a trade union in the United Kingdom. The union was founded in 1872 as the West Cumberland Miners' Association, with its aims being the establishment of an eight-hour day, and improved safety. In 1906, it rem ...

(CMA).Keith Gildart and Gidon Cohen, ''Dictionary of Labour Biography'', vol.XI, pp.266-274 Stephenson rose to prominence during a

lock-out A lockout is a work stoppage or denial of employment initiated by the management of a company during a labour dispute. In contrast to a strike, in which employees refuse to work, a lockout is initiated by employers or industry owners. Lockouts a ...

of miners in 1921, and was also a leading figure in a fifteen-week strike in 1923. During the

UK general strike The 1926 general strike in the United Kingdom was a general strike that lasted nine days, from 4 to 12 May 1926. It was called by the General Council of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in an unsuccessful attempt to force the British governmen ...

, he called for the nationalisation of the mines. In August 1926, he was convicted of intimidating strikebreakers and was sentences to one month of hard labour. He was elected as a Labour Party member of Whitehaven Town Council in 1923. He supported the ILP disaffiliating from the Labour Party in 1932, although he stated that he would have supported them remaining if the ILP had been allowed to organise in Parliament. Following the disaffiliating, Stephenson was chosen as the North East representative on the ILP's

National Administrative Council The National Administrative Council (NAC) was the executive council of the Independent Labour Party (ILP), a British socialist party which was active from 1893 until 1975. Creation The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was founded at a conference in ...

. He was consistently re-elected to Ennerdale Rural District Council, and he was selected as the ILP candidate for

at the 1935 general election. However, he took only 3.3% of the votes cast and, although he remained loyal to the ILP, he began to focus his work in the labour movement. Stephenson was elected as financial secretary of the CMA in 1935, then when Cape retired, he became general secretary, moving to

Workington Workington is a coastal town and civil parish at the mouth of the River Derwent on the west coast in the Allerdale borough of Cumbria, England. The town was historically in Cumberland. At the 2011 census it had a population of 25,207. Loca ...

. He was elected to the national executive of the

Miners' Federation of Great Britain The Miners' Federation of Great Britain (MFGB) was established after a meeting of local mining trade unions in Newport, Wales in 1888. The federation was formed to represent and co-ordinate the affairs of local and regional miners' unions in Engla ...

in 1939, where he was the leading proponent of strikes during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Within the ILP, he was criticised for supporting armed support for 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 ...

. He stood down from its national council in 1942, and left the party in about 1946, his wife paying his membership to the Labour Party. He remained known as a militant trade unionist until he retired in 1960. Shortly after, he suffered the first of several strokes, and died in 1962.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stephenson, Tom 1895 births 1962 deaths Councillors in Cumbria Trade unionists from Cumbria Independent Labour Party National Administrative Committee members Labour Party (UK) politicians People from Whitehaven