Background
Arthur MacManus was born in 1889.
Arthur MacManus was born in 1889.
Early years
Political career
However, he was sacked in April 1911 following an unsuccessful strike. Supporting the SLP"s opposition to World War I, MacManus was arrested in 1915 at a meeting in George Square, Glasgow, for speaking against the threatened introduction of conscription. In the 1918 United Kingdom general election, MacManus stood unsuccessfully for the SLP in Halifax.
Following the October Revolution, he became a proponent of a united communist party.
The SLP executive publicly repudiated this proposal, and decided to cease unity negotiations. Together with Tom Bell and William Paul, MacManus did not accept this.
In August, this became the second largest group to participate in the formation of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB), and MacManus became the party"s first Chairman, a post he held until 1922. That year, he attended a special conference of the Executive Committee of the Communist International, at which it was decided to reorganise the party.
MacManus became its Colonial Secretary, and attended the Fourth Congress of the Communist International in September, at which he was elected to its Executive Committee and Praesidium.
In 1924 the Zinoviev Letter was circulated, calling for increased communist agitation in Britain. This forgery, intended to damage the Labour Party"s chances in the general election, was purportedly signed both by Grigory Zinoviev and MacManus. In 1925 MacManus was one of twelve CPGB officials imprisoned for seditious libel and incitement to mutiny.
MacManus was able to attend the founding conference of the League Against Imperialism in 1927, but died later in the year.
His ashes were placed within the Kremlin Wall Necropolis.
MacManus joined the De Leonist Socialist Labour Party (SLP) and began work at Singers in Clydebank, then known as part of the Red Clydeside. In an attempt to resolve differences between the various socialist groups, the Committee proposed to form a communist party, then hold a vote on Labour Party affiliation one year later.
MacManus became a leading member of the Clyde Workers Committee, and for supporting David Kirkwood in the William Beardmore and Company strike of 1916, he was one of five people deported to Edinburgh.
