Thomas A. Jackson
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Thomas Alfred Jackson (21 August 1879 – 18 August 1955) was a founding member of the
Socialist Party of Great Britain The Socialist Party of Great Britain (SPGB) is a socialist political party in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1904 as a split from the Social Democratic Federation (SDF), it advocates using the ballot box for revolutionary purposes and oppo ...
and later the Communist Party of Great Britain. He was a leading communist activist and newspaper editor and worked variously as a party
functionary An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority, (either their own or that of their ...
and a freelance lecturer.


Biography


Early years

Jackson was born in Clerkenwell, London on 21 August 1879. His father, Thomas Blackwell Jackson, was a compositor and a firm Gladstonian liberal and trade unionist with
Fenian The word ''Fenian'' () served as an umbrella term for the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) and their affiliate in the United States, the Fenian Brotherhood, secret political organisations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries dedicated ...
sympathies. A keen reader from an early age, Jackson's formal education was limited to his attendance at Duncombe Road School in
Upper Holloway Upper Holloway is a district in the London Borough of Islington, London, centred on the upper part of Holloway Road and Junction Road. It is served by the Overground at Upper Holloway Station and the Northern Line at Archway Station. History ...
, a
board school School boards were public bodies in England and Wales between 1870 and 1902, which established and administered elementary schools. School boards were created in boroughs and parishes under the Elementary Education Act 1870 following campaigni ...
at which he was a pupil between the ages of seven and thirteen-and-a-half. Jackson was apprenticed in the printing trade as a compositor after leaving school, but soon after becoming a journeyman compositor became a full-time speaker and orator, and later a writer.


Political career

Jackson dated his political conversion to socialism to 1900, after he read a copy of
Robert Blatchford Robert Peel Glanville Blatchford (17 March 1851 – 17 December 1943) was an English socialist campaigner, journalist, and author in the United Kingdom. He was also noted as a prominent atheist, nationalist and opponent of eugenics. In the early ...
's book '' Merrie England'' which had been given to him years earlier by an older colleague at the printworks where he had been apprenticed. That year he joined the Social Democratic Federation, where he developed his oratorical skills at open-air meetings, overcoming the shyness he had endured as a child. Whilst a member of the SDF, he attended party classes on
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 ...
's '' Capital'' which were taught by
Jack Fitzgerald Jack Fitzgerald ( 1873 – 16 April 1929) was a founder member of the Socialist Party of Great Britain. Fitzgerald was an Irishman who had settled in London, and had joined the socialist movement after becoming a secularist, embracing socialism ...
, who Jackson described as "very nearly the best-read man I have ever met". He helped found the
Socialist Party of Great Britain The Socialist Party of Great Britain (SPGB) is a socialist political party in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1904 as a split from the Social Democratic Federation (SDF), it advocates using the ballot box for revolutionary purposes and oppo ...
with the London-based part of the SDF's Impossibilist faction in 1904. Briefly General Secretary in 1906, he was a very active speaker but, perhaps oddly given his later career, wrote only two brief items for the ''
Socialist Standard ''Socialist Standard'' is a monthly socialist magazine published without interruption since September 1904 by the Socialist Party of Great Britain (SPGB). The magazine is written in a simple, direct style and focuses mainly on socialist advocacy ...
''. He resigned on 9 March 1909 to become paid speaker for 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 ...
in
Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
and South Wales, initially spending three months in Bristol before moving to Newport, where he stayed until the summer of 1911. He left the ILP in 1911, then becoming a speaker for the
National Secular Society The National Secular Society (NSS) is a British campaigning organisation that promotes secularism and the separation of church and state. It holds that no one should gain advantage or disadvantage because of their religion or lack of it. It was ...
in
Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...
and finally a freelance lecturer, after being the subject of complaints for discussing his atheism whilst speaking for the ILP and for promoting his socialist beliefs when speaking for the NSS. During the
First World War 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 ...
he was arrested and charged under the
Defence of the Realm Act 1914 The Defence of the Realm Act (DORA) was passed in the United Kingdom on 8 August 1914, four days after it entered the First World War and was added to as the war progressed. It gave the government wide-ranging powers during the war, such as the p ...
after telling a local Conservative leader that the workers of Leeds would dispose of the "imitation Kaisers" of the city once they had done the same to the German Kaiser: however the case was eventually dismissed by the magistrate. He subsequently found employment as a storekeeper and in 1917 he joined the Socialist Labour Party, becoming a lecturer for the North East Labour College Committee in 1919, travelling the villages of the Great Northern Coalfield to teach classes on Marxism. In 1920, Jackson was a founding member of the Communist Party of Great Britain, although he was not present at the foundation congress. In the early 1920s, he paid visits to Dublin, where he met
Constance Markievicz Constance Georgine Markievicz ( pl, Markiewicz ; ' Gore-Booth; 4 February 1868 – 15 July 1927), also known as Countess Markievicz and Madame Markievicz, was an Irish politician, revolutionary, nationalist, suffragist, socialist, and the firs ...
,
Charlotte Despard Charlotte Despard (née French; 15 June 1844 – 10 November 1939) was an Anglo-Irish suffragist, socialist, pacifist, Sinn Féin activist, and novelist. She was a founding member of the Women's Freedom League, Women's Peace Crusade, and the ...
and
Maud Gonne Maud Gonne MacBride ( ga, Maud Nic Ghoinn Bean Mhic Giolla Bhríghde; 21 December 1866 – 27 April 1953) was an English-born Irish republican revolutionary, suffragette and actress. Of Anglo-Irish descent, she was won over to Irish nationalism ...
, and Moscow, where he was introduced to
Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...
,
Sen Katayama Sen may refer to: Surname * Sen (surname), a Bengali surname * Şen, a Turkish surname * A variant of the Serer patronym Sène Currency subunit * Etymologically related to the English word ''cent''; a hundredth of the following currencies: * ...
and
Clara Zetkin Clara Zetkin (; ; ''née'' Eißner ; 5 July 1857 – 20 June 1933) was a German Marxist theorist, communist activist, and advocate for women's rights. Until 1917, she was active in the Social Democratic Party of Germany. She then joined the ...
, although a planned meeting with
Vladimir 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 1 ...
was cancelled due to the latter's illness. During the 1920s, he was a major figure in the CPGB, being on the Central Committee from 1924 to 1929 and editor of '' The Communist'' and '' The Sunday Worker''. He was one of those arrested before the
General Strike of 1926 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 was removed from the leadership in 1929, essentially for opposing the ‘Left turn’ of the
Third Period The Third Period is an ideological concept adopted by the Communist International (Comintern) at its Sixth World Congress, held in Moscow in the summer of 1928. It set policy until reversed when the Nazis took over Germany in 1933. The Comint ...
(which characterised the Labour Party as ‘ social-fascist’), but remained a paid journalist for the CPGB, being a frequent contributor to 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 ...
'' and writing several CPGB pamphlets. In the 1940s, he returned to his roots, working as a lecturer on Communist theory for the Party's Education Department, travelling across the country for eight or nine months of the year. Jackson was married to another SPGB founder member,
Kate Hawkins Kate name may refer to: People and fictional characters * Kate (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or nickname * Gyula Káté (born 1982), Hungarian amateur boxer * Lauren Kate (born 1981), American aut ...
, a socialist and suffragette descended from naval commander (and early slave trader)
Sir John Hawkins Sir John Hawkins (also spelled Hawkyns) (1532 – 12 November 1595) was a pioneering English naval commander, naval administrator and privateer. He pioneered, and was an early promoter of, English involvement in the Atlantic slave trade. Hawk ...
and a cousin of
Anthony Hope Sir Anthony Hope Hawkins, better known as Anthony Hope (9 February 1863 – 8 July 1933), was a British novelist and playwright. He was a prolific writer, especially of adventure novels but he is remembered predominantly for only two books: '' T ...
, the author of ''
The Prisoner of Zenda ''The Prisoner of Zenda'' is an 1894 adventure novel by Anthony Hope, in which the King of Ruritania is drugged on the eve of his coronation and thus is unable to attend the ceremony. Political forces within the realm are such that, in orde ...
''. The couple had three daughters: Eleanor (who died in infancy), Stella and Vivien, who was a teacher at Summerhill School and married A.L. Morton. Kate died in January 1927, having been committed to
Claybury Hospital Claybury Hospital was a psychiatric hospital in Woodford Bridge, London. It was built to a design by the English architect George Thomas Hine who was a prolific Victorian architect of hospital buildings. It was opened in 1893 making it the Fifth ...
due to declining mental health. Jackson married a second time later that year, to Lydia Packman: she died unexpectedly in 1943 following a minor operation. Before 1914 he was notable in the North and Wales, and for his ''flowing locks'' according to his obituary. His ''Manchester Guardian'' obituary said he was a "Marxist scholar of weight", and that ''Solo Trumpet'' was a "racy autobiography". Historian
Stuart Macintyre Stuart Forbes Macintyre (21 April 1947 – 22 November 2021) was an Australian historian, and Dean of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Melbourne from 1999 to 2008. He was voted one of Australia's most influential historians. Early lif ...
has described Jackson's book ''Dialectics: The Logic of Marxism and its Critics'' as "perhaps... the most considerable literary achievement of Jackson's generation of working-class intellectuals". In the early 1930s, he was secretary of the
League of Militant Atheists The League of Militant Atheists (), also Society of the Godless () or Union of the Godless (), was an atheistic and antireligious organization of workers and intelligentsia that developed in Soviet Russia under influence of the ideological and ...
. Jackson's 1935 pamphlet ''The Jubilee- and How'' was a critique of the British monarchy, arguing the Silver Jubilee of
George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Qu ...
was inappropriate at a time of widespread unemployment.Antony Taylor, ''"Down with the Crown": British Anti-Monarchism and Debates about Royalty since 1790''. London, Reaktion Books, 1999. (p.223).


Death and legacy

Tommy Jackson died at Clare, Suffolk on 18 August 1955, just three days shy of his 76th birthday.


Bibliography

:as T. A. Jackson, published by
Lawrence and Wishart Lawrence & Wishart is a British publishing company formerly associated with the Communist Party of Great Britain. It was formed in 1936, through the merger of Martin Lawrence, the Communist Party's press, and Wishart Ltd, a family-owned Left-wing ...
. *
Dialectics: The Logic of Marxism and its critics
' (1936) *''Charles Dickens: The Progress of a Radical'' (1938) *''Trials of British Freedom'' (1940) *'' Solo Trumpet'' (his 1953 autobiography) *
Ireland Her Own: An Outline History of the Irish Struggle for National Freedom and Independence
' (1970)


Footnotes


Sources consulted

*Obituary in ''Manchester Guardian'' of 19 August 1955 p3 *
Socialist Party of Great Britain The Socialist Party of Great Britain (SPGB) is a socialist political party in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1904 as a split from the Social Democratic Federation (SDF), it advocates using the ballot box for revolutionary purposes and oppo ...
1904–1913 membership register. *''
Justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...
''. *Thomas A. Jackson. ''Solo Trumpet''. *"Thomas A. Jackson". ''Dictionary of Labour Biography'', Volume IV. *Vivien Morton and Stuart Macintyre.
TA Jackson: A Centenary Appreciation
'. Our History pamphlet 73, 1979. *''
Socialist Standard ''Socialist Standard'' is a monthly socialist magazine published without interruption since September 1904 by the Socialist Party of Great Britain (SPGB). The magazine is written in a simple, direct style and focuses mainly on socialist advocacy ...
'', August 1909.


External links


T.A. Jackson Archive
Marxists Internet Archive {{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Thomas A. Communist Party of Great Britain members Socialist Party of Great Britain members Social Democratic Federation members Independent Labour Party politicians 1879 births 1955 deaths People from Clerkenwell English atheists English socialists British atheism activists 19th-century atheists 20th-century atheists British political party founders