John Ross Campbell (14 October 1894 – 18 September 1969) was a British communist activist and

newspaper editor An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held account ...

. Campbell was a co-founder 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 ...

and briefly served as its second leader from July 1928 to July 1929. He is best remembered as the principal in the

Campbell Case The Campbell Case of 1924 involved charges against a British communist newspaper editor, J. R. Campbell, for alleged "incitement to mutiny" caused by his publication of a provocative open letter to members of the military. The decision of the go ...

. In 1924, Campbell was charged under the Incitement to Mutiny Act for an article published in the paper '' Workers' Weekly''. The article called on British soldiers to "let it be known that, neither in the class war nor in a military war, will you turn your guns on your fellow workers, but instead will line up with your fellow workers in an attack upon the exploiters and capitalists." He was sentenced to six months in prison. The decision by the Labour government of Prime Minister

Ramsay MacDonald James Ramsay MacDonald (; 12 October 18669 November 1937) was a British statesman and politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The first two of his governments belonged to the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party, where he led ...

to withdraw prosecution of Campbell lead to the loss of a

confidence vote A motion or vote of no confidence (or the inverse, a motion or vote of confidence) is a motion and corresponding vote thereon in a deliberative assembly (usually a legislative body) as to whether an officer (typically an executive) is deemed fit ...

in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, 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 ...

, forcing the elections which ended the first Labour government in October 1924. Campbell remained a top leader and leading public figure associated with the CPGB from the 1920s to the 1960s.

Early years

Campbell was born on 15 October 1894 in Paisley, Scotland. He joined 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 ...

in 1912. During the

First World War 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 ...

, he served in the

Royal Naval Division The 63rd (Royal Naval) Division was a United Kingdom infantry division of the First World War. It was originally formed as the Royal Naval Division at the outbreak of the war, from Royal Navy and Royal Marine reservists and volunteers, who w ...

and was wounded in active service. He suffered multiple gunshot wounds, as well as contracting gangrene in the front-line trenches of the

battle of the Somme The Battle of the Somme (; ), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and the French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place between 1 July and 18 Nove ...

, requiring amputation of both feet to the instep. He was awarded the

Military Medal The Military Medal (MM) was a military decoration awarded to personnel of the British Army and other arms of the British Armed Forces, armed forces, and to personnel of other Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, below commissioned o ...

for bravery in battle. Following the war, Campbell returned to Scotland and was active in the

Clyde Workers' Committee The Clyde Workers Committee was formed to campaign against the Munitions Act. It was originally called the ''Labour Withholding Committee''. The leader of the CWC was Willie Gallacher (politician), Willie Gallacher, who was jailed under the Def ...

. From 1921 to 1924 he edited its newspaper, ''The Worker''. He followed the

into the newly formed

(CPGB), of which he was a founding member, and served on its Central Committee from its re-organisation in 1923. Campbell and his close associate Willie Gallacher were joint secretaries of the British Bureau of the

Red International of Labour Unions The Red International of Labor Unions (, RILU), commonly known as the Profintern (), was an international body established by the Communist International (Comintern) with the aim of coordinating communist activities within trade unions. Formally ...

, with

Tom Mann Thomas Mann (15 April 1856 – 13 March 1941) was an English trade unionist and activist. Largely self-educated, Mann became a successful organiser and a popular public speaker in the British labour movement. Early years Mann was born on 15 ...

chairman of the organisation.

The Campbell Case of 1924

In 1924, Campbell moved to London to become acting editor of the CPGB's ''Workers' Weekly'' newspaper. On 25 July 1924, Campbell published an article entitled "An Open Letter to Fighting Forces", which called on the armed forces to unite to form "the nucleus of an organisation that will prepare the whole of the soldiers, sailors and airmen, not merely to refuse to go to war, or to refuse to shoot strikers during industrial conflicts, but will make it possible for the workers, peasants and soldiers and airmen to go forward in a common attack upon the capitalists and smash capitalism for ever, and institute the reign of the whole working class." Cited in . The article, written anonymously by

Harry Pollitt Harry Pollitt (22 November 1890 – 27 June 1960) was a British communist who served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) from July 1929 to September 1939 and again from 1941 until his death in 1960. Pollitt ...

, together with a similar article published on 1 August 1924, was the basis for Campbell being charged under the

Incitement to Mutiny Act 1797 The Incitement to Mutiny Act 1797 ( 37 Geo. 3. c. 70) was an act of the Parliament of Great Britain. The act was passed in the aftermath of the Spithead and Nore mutinies and aimed to prevent the seduction of sailors and soldiers to commit mu ...

. This became known as the "Campbell Case", and when the first Labour government dropped the prosecution, the combined

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

and

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

opposition won a

vote of no confidence A motion or vote of no confidence (or the inverse, a motion or vote of confidence) is a motion and corresponding vote thereon in a deliberative assembly (usually a legislative body) as to whether an officer (typically an executive) is deemed fi ...

, which in turn led to the 1924 general election. Campbell defended the Communist Party's decision to publish the aggressive articles in a pamphlet published late in 1924:

... e Communist Party of Great Britain had to call attention to the fact that the Labour Government, while talking of its attachment to the cause of peace, was continuing the policy of previous imperialist governments. We had to expose to the Labour movement the true nature of this policy and to ask the Labour movement, if it was sincerely opposed to war, to fight war by all the means in its power. On the question of armaments, we advocated the policy of no credits for capitalist armaments. On the question of empire, we advocated that the Labour movement should force the government to abandon the brutal and cowardly repression of the struggling colonial peoples. We asserted that the Labour Government could prove its attachment to peace in a practical fashion, by publishing the secret treaties and the secret war plans in the archives of the Foreign and War Offices.

Later political career

In 1925, Campbell was one of twelve members of the Communist Party convicted at the

Old Bailey The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, commonly referred to as the Old Bailey after the street on which it stands, is a criminal court building in central London, one of several that house the Crown Court of England and Wales. The s ...

under the Incitement to Mutiny Act. He was sentenced to six months in prison, but was released before the

UK general strike The 1926 general strike in the United Kingdom was a general strike that lasted nine days, from 4 to 12 May 1926. It was called by the General Council of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in an unsuccessful attempt to force the British government ...

of May 1926. Campbell was elected to the Executive Committee of the

Communist International The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internationa ...

in 1928, and used the opportunity to argue against its hostility to joint work with the Labour Party. During the 1930s, Campbell was one of the public figures most closely identified with the CPGB in the public eye, along with

and Willie Gallacher. In 1931, he unsuccessfully fought a by-election in the safe Labour seat of Ogmore in Wales, and would fight the same seat in the 1931 general election, this time finishing in third place to the Conservatives. In 1932, Campbell became the foreign editor of the CPGB's ''

Daily Worker The ''Daily Worker'' was a newspaper published in Chicago founded by communists, socialists, union members, and other activists. Publication began in 1924. It generally reflected the prevailing views of members of the Communist Party USA (CPU ...

'' newspaper, then later in the decade became its assistant editor, and in 1939 served briefly as its editor. In that same year, he published ''Soviet Policy and Its Critics'', largely a defence of the Moscow Trials, having spent a year in Moscow observing the events. On 3 September 1939, Prime Minister

Neville Chamberlain Arthur Neville Chamberlain (; 18 March 18699 November 1940) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from ...

spoke to the nation on the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, announcing the declaration of war between Britain and

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

. Along with CPGB leader

, Campbell sought to portray the conflict against

Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

as a continuation of the

anti-fascist Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were op ...

fight. However, backed with the knowledge of the details of the

Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, officially the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and also known as the Hitler–Stalin Pact and the Nazi–Soviet Pact, was a non-aggression pact between Nazi Ge ...

and seeking to preserve the Soviet Union by turning Hitler's attention to Western Europe, the Comintern quickly signalled that the conflict was to be portrayed by the world communist movement as an "Imperialist War" between two more or less equally culpable blocs of capitalist nations. Pollitt and Campbell remained opposed to this interpretation of the conflict. On 2 and 3 October the governing Central Committee of the CPGB met and voted 21–3 in favour of the Communist International's "Imperialist War" thesis. Pollitt was removed from his position as general secretary and Campbell as ''Daily Worker'' editor at that time, although the cashiering of the third member of the minority, Willie Gallacher, the CPGB's only Member of Parliament, was considered unthinkable. Neither Pollitt nor Campbell publicly fought the party over its new

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

-determined orientation and neither was expelled for their dissent. When the party line on the war changed once again following Hitler's invasion of the

USSR 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 ...

in June 1941, both Pollitt and Campbell were restored to the party's good graces. From 1949 to 1959, Campbell again served as editor of the ''Daily Worker''. In 1956, he supported the

Soviet invasion of Hungary The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 4 November 1956; ), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was an attempted countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the policies caused by ...

, although in 1968 he condemned the

Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia On 20–21 August 1968, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was jointly invaded by four fellow Warsaw Pact countries: the Soviet Union, the Polish People's Republic, the People's Republic of Bulgaria, and the Hungarian People's Republic. The in ...

. In the 1951 general election he stood against

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...

in the Woodford constituency, gaining 871 votes (1.34 per cent). Campbell died on 18 September 1969.

Published works

* ''Direct Action: An Outline of Workshop and Social Organisation.'' With William Gallacher. Glasgow: Scottish Workers' Committees, 1919. * ''My Case.'' London: Communist Party of Great Britain, n.d.

924 __NOTOC__ Year 924 (Roman numerals, CMXXIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. Events January—March * January 5 – The monastery of San Martín de Albelda is founded in the Kingdom of Navarre in what is now ...

* ''What Is the Use of Parliament? The Limitations of Parliamentary Democracy as Disclosed in the General Election, 1924.'' London: Communist Party of Great Britain, n.d. . 1925 * ''The Communist Party on Trial: J.R. Campbell's Defence: The Speech for the Defence.'' London: Communist Party of Great Britain, n.d.

925 Year 925 ( CMXXV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. Events By date January – June * January 5 – Gabellus becomes the first abbot of the monsastery of San Martín de Albelda in the Spanish kingdom ...

* ''Communism and Industrial Peace.'' London: Communist Party of Great Britain, 1928. * ''Red Politics in the Trade Unions: Who Are the Disrupters?'' London: Communist Party of Great Britain, 1928. * ''Is Labour Lost? The New Labour Party's Programme Examined.'' London: Communist Party of Great Britain, 1928. * ''Rationalisation and British Industry.'' London: Trinity Trust, 1928. * ''Preparing for Revolt.'' With N. Lenin. London: Modern Books, 1929. * ''Only Communism Can Conquer Unemployment: A Reply to Lloyd George and Others.'' London: Communist Party of Great Britain, n.d.

929 Year 929 ( CMXXIX) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * January 16 – Emir Abd al-Rahman III of Córdoba, Spain, proclaims himself caliph and creates the Caliphate of Córdoba. H ...

* ''Arguments of the Opponents of the United Front in England.'' London: Modern Books, 1936. * ''Peace — But How? A Workshop Talk.'' London: Communist Party of Great Britain, n.d. . 1936 * ''Spain Organises for Victory: The Policy of the Communist Party of Spain.'' With Jesús Hernández and

Joan Comorera Joan Comorera i Soler (or Juan Comorera y Soler; 5 September 1894 – 7 May 1958) was a Spanish Communist politician, journalist and writer from Catalonia who spent several years in Argentina before returning to Spain in 1931 at the start of the S ...

. London: Communist Party of Great Britain, n.d.

937 Year 937 ( CMXXXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * A Hungarian army invades Burgundy, and burns the city of Tournus. Then they go southwards to Italy, pillaging the environs of ...

* ''Spain's "Left" Critics.'' London: Communist Party of Great Britain, 1937. * ''Questions and Answers on Communism.'' London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1938. * ''Soviet Policy and Its Critics.'' London: Victor Gollancz, 1939. * ''Doing Well Out of the War?'' London: Communist Party of Great Britain, 1941. * ''Russia's Way to Victory.'' London: Modern Books, n.d. 941 * ''Socialism through Victory: A Reply to the Policy of the ILP.'' Glasgow: Scottish District Committee, Communist Party of Great Britain, n.d.

942 Year 942 (Roman numerals, CMXLII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Summer – The Hungarian raid in Spain (942), Hungarians invade Al-Andalus (modern Spain) and besiege the f ...

* ''Disquiet on the Home Front.'' London: Trinity Trust, 1943. * ''The War Worker and the Second Front.'' London: Trinity Trust, 1944. * ''Trotskyist Saboteurs.'' London: Daily Worker League, 1944. * ''The Plan of British Socialism.'' London: Trinity Trust, 1944. * ''Post War "Daily Worker" Conference, 12 May: J.R. Campbell Reports.'' London: Daily Worker League, n.d.

945 Year 945 (Roman numerals, CMXLV) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * January 27 – The co-emperors Stephen Lekapenos, Stephen and Constantine Lekapenos, Constantine a ...

* ''Over to Peace: Communist Policy for the Conversion of Industry.'' London: Communist Party of Great Britain, 1945. * ''The Communist Answer to the Challenge of our Time: A Reprint of the Lectures.'' With John Lewis, J.D. Bernal, Randall Swingler, B. Farrington, and H. Levy. London: Thames, 1947. * ''A Socialist Solution to the Crisis.'' London: Communist Party of Great Britain, n.d. 948 * ''William Rust, A Fighter for the People.'' With William Rust. London: Peoples' Press Printing Society, 1949. * ''The Story of the Daily Worker.'' With William Rust and Allen Hunt.'' London: Peoples' Press Printing Society, 1949. * ''Welfare State or Warfare State? An Appeal to Every Sincere Labour Man and Woman.'' With Harry Pollitt and R. Palme Dutt. London : People's Press Printing Society, n.d.

950 Year 950 ( CML) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Arab–Byzantine War: A Hamdanid army (30,000 men) led by Sayf al-Dawla raids into Byzantine theme Anatolia. He defea ...

* ''Creative Marxism versus Vulgar "Marxism."'' New York: American Marxist Association, 1955. * ''Some Economic Illusions in the Labour Movement.'' London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1959. * ''Robert Burns "the Democrat" (1759–1959).'' Glasgow: Communist Party, Scottish Committee, n.d. 959 * ''40 Fighting Years: The Communist Record, 1920 – 1960: Some Highlights in the Life of the Communist Party of Great Britain.'' London: Communist Party of Great Britain, 1960. * ''The Case for Higher Wages: The Incomes Policy Racket Exposed.'' London: Communist Party of Great Britain, 1963. * ''Hands Off the Trade Unions.'' London: Communist Party of Great Britain, 1965.

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

* * * * * *

External links

John Ross Campbell Archive
at the

Marxist Internet Archive Marxists Internet Archive, also known as MIA or Marxists.org, is a non-profit online encyclopedia that hosts a multilingual library (created in 1990) of the works of communist, anarchist, and socialist writers, such as Karl Marx, Friedrich Eng ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Campbell, John Ross 1894 births 1969 deaths British newspaper editors British Socialist Party members Communist Party of Great Britain members Executive Committee of the Communist International Recipients of the Military Medal Writers from Paisley, Renfrewshire