William Sinclair Lauchlan (or Laughlan, 10 May 1916 – 2009) was a Scottish

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

activist. Lauchlan was born in Irvine in May 1916 to James Lauchlan, a plasterer, and Catherine Sinclair. He was educated to secondary school level.''The Times House of Commons'' (1964), p.214 A Plasterer to trade, Lauchlan joined 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 Liberal Party (UK), Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse work ...

in Irvine, Ayrshire 1933, then in 1935 switched to 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). He quickly rose to prominence, serving as

Lanarkshire Lanarkshire, also called the County of Lanark (; ), is a Counties of Scotland, historic county, Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area and registration county in the Central Lowlands and Southern Uplands of Scotland. The county is no l ...

Organiser in the 1940s, then becoming Scottish District Secretary in about 1951,''The Times House of Commons'' (1951), p.199 then in the 1960s served as National Organiser. He was also active on Glasgow Trades Council, and in 1946 represented it at the

Scottish Trades Union Congress The Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) is the national trade union centre in Scotland. With 40 affiliated unions as of 2020, the STUC represents over 540,000 trade unionists. The STUC is a separate organisation from the English and Welsh ...

. Lauchlan stood for the CPGB in Glasgow Govan at the 1950 general election, then in West Fife in

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the Uni ...

, 1955,

1959 Events January * January 1 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 – Soviet lunar probe Luna 1 is the first human-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reaches the ...

and

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...

, although he was never elected. Following his retirement from being a full-time officer within the CPGB, Lauchlan returned to Glasgow in 1968 and worked for Scottish Homes in Glasgow and Edinburgh until his retirement in 1981. In retirement, he worked as a Volunteer with the Citizens Advice Bureau in Livingston, having moved to the New Town in West Lothian/Midlothian in 1972. He was interviewed in May 2000 in

Moffat Moffat is a burgh and parish in Dumfriesshire. Part of the Dumfries and Galloway local authority area in Scotland, it lies on the River Annan, with a population of around 2,500. It was a centre of the wool trade and a spa town. Moffat is arou ...

Dumfriesshire Dumfriesshire or the County of Dumfries or Shire of Dumfries () is a Counties of Scotland, historic county and registration county in southern Scotland. The Dumfries lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area covers a similar area to the hi ...

. Lauchlan died in Kelso in 2009 at the age of 93.Scotland's People: William Sinclair Laughlan death record
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lauchlan, Bill 1916 births 2009 deaths Communist Party of Great Britain members Scottish communists