Wal Hannington

Walter "Wal" Hannington (1896–1966) was a founding member of the Communist Party of Great Britain and National Organiser of the National Unemployed Workers' Movement, from its formation in 1921 to its end in 1939, when he became National Organiser of the Amalgamated Engineering Union.

Biography

Early years

Walter Hannington, best known by his nickname of "Wal," was born 17 June 1896.

Political career

In 1920, Hannington was a founding member of the Communist Party of Great Britain.

From the time of its formation in 1921 until its termination in 1939, Hannington was the head of the National Unemployed Workers' Movement, an offshoot of the CPGB.

Hannington was a delegate to the founding conference of the National Minority Movement (NMM) in August 1924.[1] The National Minority Movement, headed by Harry Pollitt, was a radical pressure-group formed by the CPGB to work within the established trade union movement.[2] With only one or two exceptions, the members of the Executive Committee of the NMM were members of the Communist Party.[3] Wal Hannington was one of the inner circle of the executive which controlled the organization, working as a full-time leader of the section dedicated to the metal workers.[4]

In 1925 he was one of 12 members of the Communist Party convicted at the Old Bailey under the Incitement to Mutiny Act 1797, and one of the five defendants sentenced to 12 months imprisonment.

In 1936, he wrote a book about his experiences as leader of the NUWM, called " Unemployed struggles 1919-1936: my life and struggles amongst the unemployed". In the book he talks about his numerous incarcerations for his political stance and activities, and how the government had him and fellow members of the NUWM under surveillance.

In 1937, his book The Problem of the Distressed Areas was published by Victor Gollancz (publisher of such works as George Orwell's The Road to Wigan Pier) with a preface by Professor Harold J. Laski.

In 1939, Hannington became National Organiser of the Amalgamated Engineering Union.

Death and legacy

Wal Hannington died on 17 November 1966 at the age of 70.

Footnotes

  1. ↑ L.J. Macfarlane, The British Communist Party: Its Origin and Development until 1929. n.c. [London]: MacGibbon and Kee, 1966. Page 151.
  2. ↑ The National Minority Movement seems to have been closely patterned after the Trade Union Educational League, an organization with similar function in the United States which was established by William Z. Foster in 1921.
  3. ↑ Macfarlane, The British Communist Party, pg. 152.
  4. ↑ Macfarlane, The British Communist Party, pg. 152.

Publications by Wal Hannington