Konni Zilliacus

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Konni Zilliacus (13 September 1894 – 6 July 1967) was a left-wing Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom.

Zilliacus was born on 13 September 1894 in Japan, where his parents, Finland-Swedish Konrad Viktor (Konni) Zilliacus (1855–1924), a prominent activist for a Finland independent of Russia, and American-born Lilian McLaurin Grafe (1873–1938), were living in exile.

He travelled the world with his parents until settling at Bedales School in Hampshire in 1909, where he became friends with Josiah Wedgwood's sons. He continued his studies at Yale University before enlisting during World War I.

Soon invalided out of the medical corps, Zilliacus joined the Union of Democratic Control and worked for the Liberal Party MPs Noel Buxton and Norman Angell. He travelled with Wedgwood to Russia, where he developed a sympathy for the October Revolution, and leaked details of Britain's counter-revolutionary activities to the press. He then joined the Labour Party and began working for the League of Nations, of which he became a powerful advocate, working on Labour's foreign policy. He also wrote on international affairs under the pseudonym Vigilantes. After the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia, he resigned from the secretariat of the League of Nations in protest.

In World War II, Zilliacus worked for the Ministry of Information and joined the 1941 Committee. He was elected as MP for Gateshead in 1945 and became known as a left wing critic of government policy. In 1949, he voted against joining NATO and was expelled from the party, becoming a founder member of the Labour Independent Group, but he left the group later in the year when it supported Stalin over Tito. He stood as a Labour Independent candidate in the 1950 UK general election, but lost his seat. In 1952, he was readmitted to the Labour Party, and he took Manchester Gorton in the 1955 UK general election. He became a founder member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and in 1961 was suspended from the party for several months for writing an article for a Czech magazine. He held the seat until his death, on 6 July 1967.

[edit] References

• Spartacus on Konni Zilliacus
• This page incorporates information from Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page.

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Thomas Magnay	Member of Parliament for Gateshead 1945–1950	Succeeded by (constituency abolished)
Preceded by William Oldfield	Member of Parliament for Manchester Gorton 1955–1967	Succeeded by Kenneth Marks