Len Wincott
Encyclopedia
Len Wincott was an English
sailor, mutineer and communist activist who later defected to the Soviet Union
.
in 1907. Having few other options, he joined the Royal Navy
as a boy seaman
in 1923 after time at the training centre
for boys at Shotley
in Suffolk
. Despite the low pay and low peacetime prospects, the navy provided him with a degree of security. His service record at The National Archives (piece ADM 188/861) up to the end of 1929 and shows a model seaman.
, the new National Government launched cuts to public spending. Navy spending cuts were translated into a 10% pay cut (matching 10% cuts across the board for public sector workers). However, the cuts were not applied equally to all ranks. Sailors of the Atlantic Fleet, arriving at Invergordon
(on the Cromarty Firth
in Scotland) in the afternoon of Friday 11 September, learned about the cuts from newspaper reports. Wincott - then a 24-year-old able seaman serving on the Norfolk
, organized meetings which prevented the cruiser from moving for two days.
The mutiny lasted two days (15–16 September 1931). Wincott, with another able seaman - Fred Copeman
- became a member of the Norfolks strike committee. Although the mutiny was entirely peaceful, the Royal Navy imprisoned dozens of the ringleaders and dismissed hundreds more, Wincott among them.
speaking at meetings up and down Britain. During this time according to The National Archives, he was being followed, and his mail was intercepted by MI5
. Wincott himself was aware of this and mentions in his memoirs that that he was aware of being followed and of his letters being read and he even named one of the informers as being a disaffected shipmate named Terry Gentry. Partly as a result of being under surveillance by MI5
, he decided to defect to the Soviet Union in 1934. In his memoirs he claims to have done so on the advice of Harry Pollitt
the General Secretary of the Communist Party
, who reportedly assured him that it was only a matter of time till the whole world became Communist, and that he was lucky to jump the queue.
treatment. Soviet Propaganda elevated him to a symbol of the British working class, struggling for their rights. He settled in Leningrad
where he joined the Anglo-American section of the International Seamen's Club. His job here was to indoctrinate Western crew members on shore leave into the virtues of Communism. During the Second World War he survived through the nearly 900 days Siege of Leningrad
, but shortly after the war his luck ran out.
In 1946, he was accused of being of being a British spy and duly arrested by the NKVD
. After a show trial
he was sentenced to a long term in the GULAG
. At one time he was in the same labour camp as Victor Louis
. After spending nearly 11 years in labour camps he was only rehabilitated
during the onset of Nikita Khrushchev
's De-Stalinization
campaign in 1956. After his release, he became of a friend of Donald Maclean and contributed articles for the Anglo-Soviet Friendship Society magazine.
Apart from a visit to England in 1974 Wincott spent the rest of his life in the Soviet Union. He met and married his fourth wife in the GULAG
and he finally died in Moscow
in 1983. According to his last wishes, his ashes were scattered over Devonport Harbour.
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...
sailor, mutineer and communist activist who later defected to the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
.
Childhood and early Naval career
Len Wincott was born in poverty in LeicesterLeicester
Leicester is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...
in 1907. Having few other options, he joined the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
as a boy seaman
Boy Seaman
A boy seaman is a boy who serves as seaman and/or is trained for such service.-Royal Navy:In the British naval forces, where there was a need to recruit enough hands to man the vast fleet of the British Empire, extensive regulations existed concerning the selection and status of boys enlisted to...
in 1923 after time at the training centre
RNTE Shotley
RNTE Shotley, known in the Royal Navy as HMS Ganges, was a naval training establishment at Shotley, near Ipswich in Suffolk. Starting in 1905, it trained boys for naval service until it closed in 1976, following the raising of the school leaving age from 15 to 16...
for boys at Shotley
Shotley, Suffolk
Shotley is the parish giving its name to the peninsula between the River Orwell and the River Stour in Suffolk. The village of the same name is located about a mile northwest from the tip of the peninsula where the larger Shotley Gate village is...
in Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
. Despite the low pay and low peacetime prospects, the navy provided him with a degree of security. His service record at The National Archives (piece ADM 188/861) up to the end of 1929 and shows a model seaman.
Invergordon Mutiny, September 1931
In September 1931, as part of its attempts to deal with the Great DepressionGreat Depression in the United Kingdom
The Great Depression in the United Kingdom, also known as the Great Slump, was a period of national economic downturn in the 1930s, which had its origins in the global Great Depression...
, the new National Government launched cuts to public spending. Navy spending cuts were translated into a 10% pay cut (matching 10% cuts across the board for public sector workers). However, the cuts were not applied equally to all ranks. Sailors of the Atlantic Fleet, arriving at Invergordon
Invergordon
Invergordon is a town and port in Easter Ross, in Ross and Cromarty, Highland, Scotland.-History:The town is well known for the Invergordon Mutiny of 1931. More recently it was also known for the repair of oil rigs which used to be lined up in the Cromarty Firth on which the town is situated...
(on the Cromarty Firth
Cromarty Firth
The Cromarty Firth of Cromarty') is an arm of the North Sea in Scotland. It is the middle of the three sea lochs at the head of the Moray Firth: to the north lies the Dornoch Firth, and to the south the Beauly Firth....
in Scotland) in the afternoon of Friday 11 September, learned about the cuts from newspaper reports. Wincott - then a 24-year-old able seaman serving on the Norfolk
HMS Norfolk (78)
HMS Norfolk was a County-class heavy cruiser of the Royal Navy; along with her sister ship , she was part of a planned four-ship subclass.She served throughout the Second World War....
, organized meetings which prevented the cruiser from moving for two days.
The mutiny lasted two days (15–16 September 1931). Wincott, with another able seaman - Fred Copeman
Fred Copeman
Fred Copeman OBE was an English volunteer in the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War, commanding the British Battalion...
- became a member of the Norfolks strike committee. Although the mutiny was entirely peaceful, the Royal Navy imprisoned dozens of the ringleaders and dismissed hundreds more, Wincott among them.
Communist Party activist
Shortly after being discharged from the Royal Navy, he became involved with the Communist PartyCommunist 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:...
speaking at meetings up and down Britain. During this time according to The National Archives, he was being followed, and his mail was intercepted by MI5
MI5
The Security Service, commonly known as MI5 , is the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its core intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service focused on foreign threats, Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence...
. Wincott himself was aware of this and mentions in his memoirs that that he was aware of being followed and of his letters being read and he even named one of the informers as being a disaffected shipmate named Terry Gentry. Partly as a result of being under surveillance by MI5
MI5
The Security Service, commonly known as MI5 , is the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its core intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service focused on foreign threats, Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence...
, he decided to defect to the Soviet Union in 1934. In his memoirs he claims to have done so on the advice of Harry Pollitt
Harry Pollitt
Harry Pollitt was the head of the trade union department of the Communist Party of Great Britain and the General Secretary of the party for more than 20 years.- Early life :...
the General Secretary of the Communist Party
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:...
, who reportedly assured him that it was only a matter of time till the whole world became Communist, and that he was lucky to jump the queue.
In the Soviet Union
In the Soviet Union, Wincott was given the status of a hero and received VIPVIP
VIP and V.I.P. is a three-letter acronym that may refer to:-In general:* Vacuum insulated panel* Values, Influence, and Peers, an anti-crime campaign in Ontario elementary schools* Variable Information Printing, a form of on-demand printing...
treatment. Soviet Propaganda elevated him to a symbol of the British working class, struggling for their rights. He settled in Leningrad
Leningrad
Leningrad is the former name of Saint Petersburg, Russia.Leningrad may also refer to:- Places :* Leningrad Oblast, a federal subject of Russia, around Saint Petersburg* Leningrad, Tajikistan, capital of Muminobod district in Khatlon Province...
where he joined the Anglo-American section of the International Seamen's Club. His job here was to indoctrinate Western crew members on shore leave into the virtues of Communism. During the Second World War he survived through the nearly 900 days Siege of Leningrad
Siege of Leningrad
The Siege of Leningrad, also known as the Leningrad Blockade was a prolonged military operation resulting from the failure of the German Army Group North to capture Leningrad, now known as Saint Petersburg, in the Eastern Front theatre of World War II. It started on 8 September 1941, when the last...
, but shortly after the war his luck ran out.
In 1946, he was accused of being of being a British spy and duly arrested by the NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
. After a show trial
Show trial
The term show trial is a pejorative description of a type of highly public trial in which there is a strong connotation that the judicial authorities have already determined the guilt of the defendant. The actual trial has as its only goal to present the accusation and the verdict to the public as...
he was sentenced to a long term in the GULAG
Gulag
The Gulag was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems. While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of...
. At one time he was in the same labour camp as Victor Louis
Victor Louis (journalist)
Victor Louis was a Soviet journalist who worked for Western media outlets in Moscow and had close work connections with the senior levels of the USSR KGB. He was used by the Soviet government as an informal channel of communication and for subtle disinformation operations in the Cold War...
. After spending nearly 11 years in labour camps he was only rehabilitated
Rehabilitation (Soviet)
Rehabilitation in the context of the former Soviet Union, and the Post-Soviet states, was the restoration of a person who was criminally prosecuted without due basis, to the state of acquittal...
during the onset of Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War. He served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, or Premier, from 1958 to 1964...
's De-Stalinization
De-Stalinization
De-Stalinization refers to the process of eliminating the cult of personality, Stalinist political system and the Gulag labour-camp system created by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. Stalin was succeeded by a collective leadership after his death in March 1953...
campaign in 1956. After his release, he became of a friend of Donald Maclean and contributed articles for the Anglo-Soviet Friendship Society magazine.
Apart from a visit to England in 1974 Wincott spent the rest of his life in the Soviet Union. He met and married his fourth wife in the GULAG
Gulag
The Gulag was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems. While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of...
and he finally died in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
in 1983. According to his last wishes, his ashes were scattered over Devonport Harbour.
Sources and references
- Len Wincott, Invergordon Mutineer, Weidenfeld, London 1974 - memoirs.
- http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/displaycataloguedetails.asp?CATID=8095707&CATLN=6&accessmethod=5&j=1 National Archives
- Alan EreiraAlan Ereira-Biography:Ereira worked at the BBC on television and radio since 1965 contributing documentaries to the Timewatch strand amongst others.He has been awarded the Japan Prize for his 1978 documentary on the Battle of the Somme, and the Royal Television Society Best Documentary Series award for his...
, The Invergordon Mutiny, Routledge, London 1981 - popular account of the mutiny by a BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
producer. - John MillerJohn Miller (journalist and author)John Miller is a British journalist and author who was based primarily in the Soviet Union.-Early years:He was born in London and went to the Enfield Grammar School before two years of National Service in the Army when he learned Russian. He began working life on the Eastern Daily Press in Norwich...
, All Them Cornfields and Ballet in the Evenings, Hodgson Press, London, 2010 - autobiography