Frederick George Willis (1873 – 1947) 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. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

socialist activist. Born in London, Willis began working in the field of woodworking machinery, later working as a collector for the London Society of Tailors and Tailoresses. He 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 ...

(SDF) in the 1890s, and stood unsuccessfully for its executive committee in 1898. He remained in the SDF's successor, the

British Socialist Party The British Socialist Party (BSP) was a Marxist political organisation established in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Great Britain in 1911. Following a protracted period of political faction, factional struggle, in 1916 the party's ...

(BSP), and became prominent when the anti-

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

majority of the party overthrew its pro-war leadership. Willis supported the BSP's affiliation to the Labour Party, and became one of the party's leading figures in

Willesden Willesden () is an area of north-west London, situated 5 miles (8 km) north-west of Charing Cross. It is historically a parish in the county of Middlesex that was incorporated as the Municipal Borough of Willesden in 1933; it has formed ...

. Inspired by the

October Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...

, the BSP decided to form a single, national, communist party, and this led Edwin C. Fairchild to resign from the party. Willis succeeded Fairchild as editor of the BSP's newspaper, '' The Call'', in which he advocated for the formation of

soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

s. 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 ...

was founded in 1920, and Willis became the first editor of its newspaper, ''The Call'', and was also elected to its

executive committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly o ...

. He soon lost both positions, instead working at the party's headquarters, in charge of its publishing. This position was not a success, and he moved to be a cashier for Arcos and ROP, two Soviet companies. Willis remained active in the CPGB, regularly attending its congresses, and serving on its control commission in 1927/1928. He left the cashier role in 1928, and resigned from the CPGB in 1929.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Willis, Fred 1873 births 1947 deaths People from Willesden Social Democratic Federation members British Socialist Party members Communist Party of Great Britain members