Mann, Tom

Mann, Tom, 1856–1941, British labor leader and socialist. He was an organizer of the 1889 London dock strike, which was an important step in the unionization of unskilled English laborers. Secretary (1894–97) of the Independent Labour party, he helped to organize (1902) the Labour party in Australia. Mann returned from Australia a proponent of syndicalism, and he was one of the founders (1920) of the British Communist party. He was jailed several times for his radical activities.

Bibliography

See his memoirs (1923, repr. 1967).

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Mann, Tom 

(Thomas Mann). Born Apr. 15, 1856, in Foles-hill, Yorkshire; died Mar. 13, 1941, in Grassington, Yorkshire. British labor leader.

From 1866 to 1870, Mann worked in the mines. From 1870 he was a metalworker. Mann was a leader of the Social Democratic Federation, which was founded in 1884. He was one of the organizers of the London dockers’ strike in 1889. From 1890 to 1893 he served as chairman of the Dockers’ Union. In 1893, Mann helped create the Independent Labor Party, and from 1894 to 1897 he was secretary of the party. From 1901 to 1910, Mann lived in Australia and New Zealand. He worked to create trade unions and spread socialist ideas there. During World War I, he was an internationalist. In 1916 he joined the British Socialist Party. In 1920 he was one of the founders of the Communist Party of Great Britain. From 1924 to 1932, Mann was honorary chairman of the Minority Movement.

WORKS

In Russian translation:
Vospominaniia. Moscow-Leningrad, 1924.