Marian Ramelson (1908–1967) was a 20th-century communist, political activist and historian. Ramelson was the first British representative to greet the

People’s Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the second-most populous country after India, representing 17.4% of the world population. China spans the e ...

after its establishment in 1949. Ramelson wrote ''The Petticoat Rebellion: a century of struggle for women's rights'' concerning the suffrage movement published in 1967.

Biography

Marian Jessop was born in 1908 in Leeds, to parents Thomas Austin Jessop, an engine fitter, and Ethel Jessop, née Wilson. Her father was a socialist and trade unionist, and served as a Leeds city councillor and was lord mayor in 1956. He supported women's suffrage, and his activism influenced Ramelson in her own political views. She joined 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 ...

in 1932, and was active in the Leeds Communist Party. This followed an already long involvement in trade union activities and membership of the Labour Party, and she joined CPGB after her father's experience of long spells of unemployment; hardening her resolve to end capitalism. She served as vice-president of the local trades council in 1934 to 1935, and at this time was also secretary of Leeds

May Day May Day is a European festival of ancient origins marking the beginning of summer, usually celebrated on 1 May, around halfway between the Northern Hemisphere's March equinox, spring equinox and midsummer June solstice, solstice. Festivities ma ...

committee. In 1935 she attended the

International Lenin School The International Lenin School (ILS) () was an official training school operated in Moscow, Soviet Union, by the Communist International from May 1926 to 1938. It was resumed after the Second World War and run by the Communist Party of the Soviet ...

in Moscow, an official training school for key political workers operated by 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 the final British enrollment. Following the two year course, she became the Party's first woman district organizer, for

West Riding The West Riding of Yorkshire was one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the riding was an administrative county named County of York, West Riding. The lieutenancy at that time included the city of York a ...

. In 1938 she was promoted to the party’s central committee. Ramelson's career in the Party was inhibited because of gender politics; she was displaced as Yorkshire district secretary by a younger, less experienced man, Mick Bennett, and in 1943 lost her place on the central committee, with the role later given to her husband Bert. It was in the Communist Party that she met her husband

Bert Ramelson Baruch Rahmilevich Mendelson (22 March 1910 – 13 April 1994), commonly known as Bert Ramelson, was an industrial organiser and politician for the Communist Party of Great Britain. He held the post of National Industrial Organiser from 1965 to ...

, to whom she gave guidance and support when he was a new member, and the couple married in 1939. Ramelson was the first British representative to greet the new

in Beijing, which has been established in 1949 by the Chinese Communist Party following the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led Nationalist government, government of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the forces of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Armed conflict continued intermitt ...

, and officially recognised by Britain in 1950. She arrived in China in December 1949 for an Asian Women's conference. In 1950 she described China in the Daily Worker; "China is free. That fact lights up the East as a blazing sun". After meeting her at communist historians' gatherings, the historian

Eric Hobsbawm Eric John Ernest Hobsbawm (; 9 June 1917 – 1 October 2012) was a British historian of the rise of industrial capitalism, socialism and nationalism. His best-known works include his tetralogy about what he called the "long 19th century" (''Th ...

described Ramelson as "marvellous and remarkable". Ramelson is the author of ''The Petticoat Rebellion: a century of struggle for women's rights,'' a socialist, feminist history of the

suffrage movement Women's suffrage is the women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, vote in elections. Several instances occurred in recent centuries where women were selectively given, then stripped of, the right to vote. In Sweden, conditional women's suffra ...

published in 1967. She died in 1967 from cancer, following a long illness.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ramelson, Marian Communist Party of Great Britain members British women historians British communists British communist writers Communist women writers Trade unionists from Leeds British socialist feminists 1908 births 1967 deaths 20th-century English historians