Thomas Quelch (1886–1954) was a British journalist and the son of veteran

Marxist Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialecti ...

Harry Quelch. a member of the

British Socialist Party The British Socialist Party (BSP) was a Marxist political organisation established in Great Britain in 1911. Following a protracted period of factional struggle, in 1916 the party's anti-war forces gained decisive control of the party and saw ...

in the early part of the 20th century, becoming a

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, ...

activist in

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It ...

in the 1920s. Quelch joined the

Social Democratic Federation The Social Democratic Federation (SDF) was established as Britain's first organised socialist political party by H. M. Hyndman, and had its first meeting on 7 June 1881. Those joining the SDF included William Morris, George Lansbury, James C ...

(SDF), of which both his father, Harry, and his uncle, Lorenzo were members. The SDF formed the British Socialist Party (BSP), and Quelch came to attention in 1912 when he issued an appeal for soldiers to refuse to act as strikebreakers. This caused a Conservative MP, Oliver Locker-Lampson, to complain about him in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

. Quelch was involved in founding '' The Call'' in 1916, resisting attempts to turn the BSP into a Social Patriotic organisation at the outbreak of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. However he was reluctant concerning the presence of African workers in the United Kingdom, raising concerns not merely that they might scab on strikes, but also that they might strike up sexual relationships with English women. He was one of 13 conveners of the

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 popul ...

convention to hail the

Russian Revolution 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 ...

, held on 3 June 1917, and was appointed a member of the Central Committee of the Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Delegates at the event. Quelch was delegated with such as John S. Clarke,

Helen Crawfurd Helen Crawfurd ( Jack, later Anderson; 9 November 1877 – 18 April 1954) was a Scottish suffragette, rent strike organiser, Communist activist and politician. Born in Glasgow, she was brought up there and in London. Biography Born Helen Jack ...

, Williie Gallacher, Wlliam McLaine, JT Murphy, Sylvia Pankhurst,

Marjory Newbold Marjory Newbold (25 May 1883 – 15 November 1926) was a leading Scottish socialist and communist, prominent in the Independent Labour Party and in the 'Red Clydeside' movement demanding reforms for the working class. Newbold organised pacifist ...

Dave Ramsay Dave Ramsay (born March 18, 1970 in Saint John, New Brunswick) is a Yellowknife businessman and politician. Political career Ramsay first ran for a seat in the Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly in the 1999 Northwest Territories general ...

and Jack Tanner to attend the Second Congress of the

Comintern 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 ...

and attended the

Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world an ...

Congress of the Peoples of the East. He was elected to 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 Founding ...

, and also served on the Central Committee 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 CPGB ...

(CPGB) from 1923 until 1925. Quelch worked for the

Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians The Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians (UCATT) was a British and Irish trade union, operating in the construction industry. It was founded in 1971, and merged into Unite on 1 January 2017. It was affiliated to the Trades U ...

from 1924 until his retirement in 1953. He was living in

Wimbledon, London Wimbledon () is a district and town of Southwest London, England, southwest of the centre of London at Charing Cross; it is the main commercial centre of the London Borough of Merton. Wimbledon had a population of 68,187 in 2011 which includes ...

in 1940, when he wrote to the ''

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 G ...

'' with reminiscences of his meetings 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 ...

.Tom Quelch, letter to editor, ''

'', 14 February 1940 A few years before his death, he resigned from the CPGB.

Writings

"Mendelism: A review"
(review of R.C. Punnett ''Mendelism'' first published in ''Justice'' weekly newspaper of the Social Democratic Federation, SDF, in the United Kingdom), reprinted in ''Wilshire’s Magazine'' (USA), vol. 11, August 1909.

''

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 ...

'', 1 October 1910, p. 3 * 'The New Paganism', ''The New Review'', June 1913, pp. 593–95.
The War and Its Outcome
''Justice'', 17 September 1914, p. 4 * 'Parliamentarianism, Lenin and the BSP', ''The Call'', 22 January 1920

''The Call'', No. 200, 5 February 1920 * (with

William McLaine William McLaine (1891–1960) was an engineer, Marxist and trade union activist. McLaine worked as a mechanic and joined the Amalgamated Engineering Union (AEU) in 1912. He became secretary of the Manchester No.2 branch in 1916. Opposed to Wor ...

Report as to the Communist Movement in Britain
''The Communist International'', June–July 1920, no.11-12, pp. 2241–46
Print in Russia
''The London Typographical Journal'', Vol. XVI, No. 191 (November 1921), p. 10

''The Communist International'', 1921, No. 16-17, pp. 99–100

''

The Labour Monthly ''Labour Monthly'' was a magazine associated with the Communist Party of Great Britain. It was not technically published by the Party, and, particularly in its later period, it carried articles by left-wing trade unionists from outside the Party. I ...

'', Vol. 2, No. 3 (March 1922), pp. 238–50
The Importance of Trades Councils
''The Labour Monthly'', Vol. 8, No. 5 (May 1926), pp. 313–7 * 'Foreword'

1926 .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Quelch, Tom 1886 births 1954 deaths British Socialist Party members Communist Party of Great Britain members Executive Committee of the Communist International Social Democratic Federation members