Red Clydeside: A history of the labour movement in Glasgow 1910-1932

People

Helen Crawfurd, pictured with the Methill branch of the Womens Communist Party, 1925

The main Scottish Coalfield districts of Fife and Lanarkshire proved to be areas of strong support for the Communist Party in the Inter-War Years. The extent of communist support was such that the constituency of West-Fife returned communist MP, Willie Gallacher, to Westminster from 1935 until 1950.

Helen Crawfurd was influential in attracting many ordinary women to the ranks of the CPGB. In 1921 she was appointed onto the Executive Committee of the communist party and given the task of increasing female membership of the CPGB.

Helen took to this task with great enthusiasm, editing a separate women's page in the official newspaper of the CPGB 'The Communist'. A committed champion of women's rights Helen sought to inform ordinary women of the way in which communism could liberate them from both capitalist and sexual domination.

Source: Gallacher Memorial Library, Glasgow Caledonian University Special Collections and Archives