Jack Fitzgerald ( 1873 – 16 April 1929) was a founding member of the

Socialist Party of Great Britain The Socialist Party of Great Britain (SPGB) is a small socialist political party in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1904 as a split from the Social Democratic Federation (SDF), it advocates using the ballot box for revolutionary purposes and ...

. Fitzgerald was an Irishman who had settled in London, and had joined the socialist movement after becoming a

secularist Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on naturalistic considerations, uninvolved with religion. It is most commonly thought of as the separation of religion from civil affairs and the state and may be broadened ...

, embracing socialism after attending a debate between secularist

Charles Bradlaugh Charles Bradlaugh (; 26 September 1833 – 30 January 1891) was an English political activist and atheist. He founded the National Secular Society in 1866, 15 years after George Holyoake had coined the term "secularism" in 1851. In 1880, Br ...

and socialist

Henry Hyndman Henry Mayers Hyndman (; 7 March 1842 – 22 November 1921) was an English writer, politician and socialist. Originally a conservative, he was converted to socialism by Karl Marx's ''Communist Manifesto'' and launched Britain's first socialist p ...

. "Fitz", as he was known, was a very well known indoor and outdoor speaker for the SPGB – two of his debates were issued as pamphlets: ''The Socialist Party and the Liberal Party'' (1911) and ''Socialism and Tariff Reform'' (1912)—and was a prolific writer for the ''

Socialist Standard ''Socialist Standard'' is a monthly socialist magazine published without interruption since September 1904 by the Socialist Party of Great Britain (SPGB). The magazine is written in a simple, direct style and focuses mainly on socialist advocacy a ...

''. He was an SPGB Executive Committee member continuously from 1905 until his death in 1929 and was also on the Editorial Committee for most of that time. He was also secretary of

Clerkenwell Clerkenwell ( ) is an area of central London, England. Clerkenwell was an Civil Parish#Ancient parishes, ancient parish from the medieval period onwards, and now forms the south-western part of the London Borough of Islington. The St James's C ...

branch from 1905 to 1906. By trade he was a

bricklayer A bricklayer, which is related to but different from a mason, is a craftsperson and tradesperson who lays bricks to construct brickwork. The terms also refer to personnel who use blocks to construct blockwork walls and other forms of maso ...

(as were George Hicks and F. K. Cadman) and after 1913 was on the teaching staff at the LCC School of Building at

Brixton Brixton is an area of South London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th century ...

. He was an active trade unionist (

Operative Bricklayers' Society The Operative Bricklayers' Society (OBS) was a UK, British New Model Trade Union based in London. History The society was founded in 1818 as the London Bricklayers' Society, but by 1829 had developed into a national operative union. By the 18 ...

) and a cyclist, designing and building his own bicycles. Fitzgerald had been active in 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 ...

from around the turn of the century, being a public speaker and a delegate to SDF Conferences in 1901 (Central branch) and 1902 (

Burnbank Burnbank is an area in the town of Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It was formerly a separate Mining town, mining village before being absorbed into the town. Location and governance Burnbank, previously an i ...

). Whilst a member of the SDF he had taught classes for the party on

Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...

's ''

Capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

'', where one of his students was Thomas A. Jackson, who described him as "very nearly the best-read man I have ever met". Along with Horace Hawkins he was expelled by the SDF at its 1904 Conference at

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

, an action which led to the formation of the

. This was chiefly as a result of his unauthorised economics classes, which were continued under SPGB auspices. He was a member of the Provisional Committee of May 1904. Harry Wicks described Fitzgerald in his book '' Keeping My Head'':

…fearless in debate, he was so confident in his own party case that he would take on anyone, be they small fry or big cheese. His style as debater was to treat his opponent, from whatever party—
Tory A Tory () is an individual who supports a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalist conservatism which upholds the established social order as it has evolved through the history of Great Britain. The To ...
, Liberal, Labour, ILP or
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 ...
—as the exponent of the policy of their party. He invariably knew more about the programme and published material of his opponents' party than did his actual adversary. To get to grips, not with a brilliant speech but with the written word, was his method, the apt quotation to clinch an argument. If challenged, he would dive into his trunk of books to produce the evidence. His audience loved it.

Fitzgerald died of kidney disease on 16 April 1929 in St Peter's Hospital, aged 57.

References

*Obituary in May 1929 ''

'' *

1904–1913 membership register *

1926–1931 membership register *''

Justice In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the most plausible candidate for a core definition comes from the ''Institutes (Justinian), Inst ...

'' * Harry Wicks. ''Keeping My Head''.

External links

Jack Fitzgerald
at the Marxist Internet Archive {{DEFAULTSORT:Fitzgerald, Jack Socialist Party of Great Britain members Social Democratic Federation members British bricklayers 1870s births 1929 deaths British Marxists Irish Marxists British political party founders