J.T. "Jack" Murphy was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 trade union organiser and Communist

Communism

Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...

.

Early years

J.T. Murphy, best known by his nickname of "Jack," was born in 1888 and grew up near Sheffield

Sheffield

Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...

 and became a metal-worker. He became active in the Amalgamated Society of Engineers

Amalgamated Society of Engineers

Amalgamated Society of Engineers may refer to one of the following trade unions:* Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union in the United Kingdom, known as the Amalgamated Society of Engineers from 1851 until 1920...

 and was active in the Sheffield wing of the Shops' Stewards Movement, which emerged in engineering factories during the First World War.

Political career

Murphy joined the Socialist Labour Party (SLP) in 1916 and stood as a candidate in the 1918 General Election for the Gorton constituency

Manchester Gorton (UK Parliament constituency)

Manchester, Gorton is a parliamentary constituency in the city of Manchester, represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.-1885–1918:...

 in Manchester

Manchester

Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

. He then participated in the communist unity discussions, and as a result split from the SLP, joining the Communist Party of Great Britain

Communist Party of Great Britain

The Communist Party of Great Britain was the largest communist party in Great Britain, although it never became a mass party like those in France and Italy. It existed from 1920 to 1991.-Formation:...

 at its formation in 1920. He was a member of the Central Committee until he was expelled from the party in 1932. He was active in the National Minority Movement

National Minority Movement

The National Minority Movement was a British organisation, established in 1924 by the Communist Party of Great Britain, which attempted to organise a radical presence within the existing trade unions...

, a Communist-led united front within the trade unions, from its formation in 1924. In 1925 Murphy was one of twelve CPGB officials imprisoned for seditious libel

Seditious libel

Seditious libel was a criminal offence under English common law. Sedition is the offence of speaking seditious words with seditious intent: if the statement is in writing or some other permanent form it is seditious libel...

 and incitement to mutiny

Mutiny

Mutiny is a conspiracy among members of a group of similarly situated individuals to openly oppose, change or overthrow an authority to which they are subject...

.

External links

• J. T. Murphy Archive, Marxists Internet Archive. Retrieved 31 August 2009.