Mike Hicks (trade unionist)
Mike Hicks | |
|---|---|
 Mike Hicks in 1986 | |
| 1st General Secretary of the Communist Party of Britain[broken anchor] | |
| In office 1 January 1988 – 1 January 1998 | |
| Succeeded by | Robert Griffiths |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Michael Joseph Hicks 1 August 1937 |
| Died | 7 September 2017 (aged 80) Bournemouth, Dorset, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Labour |
| Other political affiliations | Communist Party of Britain (1988–1998) Communist Party of Great Britain (1953–1988) |
| Spouse(s) | Rosemary Hicks (divorced), Mary Rosser-Hicks (1989–2010, deceased)[1] |
| Relations | Pat Hicks (brother) (1934-2011)[2][3] |
| Children | 2 |
Michael Joseph Hicks (1 August 1937 – 7 September 2017) was a British politician, executive member of printers’ union SOGAT, and general secretary of the Communist Party of Britain.
Career
[edit]Hicks joined the Young Communist League in 1953 and later the Communist Party of Great Britain. He worked as a printer and was a member of the Society of Graphical and Allied Trades (SOGAT). A full-time branch official for the union in 1986,[4] Hicks was arrested and convicted of actual bodily harm during the Wapping dispute. His conviction and sentencing to 12 months in prison[5] were controversial, with the national executive committee of the Labour Party voting unanimously to call for his release.[6] He was expelled from the CPGB in 1984[7] "for allowing Rule 3(d) to be applied" as the chair of the London District Congress, i.e. continuing with the congress proceedings in defiance of a demand from CPGB General Secretary Gordon McLennan to close it down.[8]
He subsequently joined the Communist Campaign Group, mainly composed of those expelled from the CPGB for their opposition to revisionism and, in 1988, was a founding member of the Communist Party of Britain. Hicks served as its general secretary until his replacement by Robert Griffiths in 1998,[9] which led to an industrial dispute at the Morning Star,[10] and subsequently left the party and helped to form the Marxist Forum group. He served as the trade union officer of the London-based Marx Memorial Library from 2005 to 2010. He joined the Labour Party, and unsuccessfully stood, as a council election candidate in the Boscombe East ward of Bournemouth on 5 May 2011, gaining 514 votes.[11]
Family
[edit]Hicks's second wife, Mary Rosser-Hicks (8 May 1937 – 3 November 2010) was Chief Executive of the Morning Star between 1975 and 1998, and Chair of the Marx Memorial Library for most of 1977 to 2010. A former catholic, she challenged the monopolisation of newspaper distribution, and helped to establish a diversity and pluralism campaign alongside supporters such as Ken Livingstone and Peter Bottomley.[12]
His elder brother, Patrick John Hicks (1 November 1934 - 29 September 2011), was the former Chairman of the Poole Labour Party. A former taxi driver and unionist, he stood in both the 2007 and 2011 borough council elections, gaining 223 and 349 votes respectively.[13][14][15]
Death
[edit]Hicks died at age 80 on the evening of 7 September 2017 after collapsing while accepting the position of Honorary President of Bournemouth Labour Party at its annual general meeting.[16]
References
[edit]- ^ Obituary: Mary Rosser-Hicks, Daily Telegraph, 10 January 2011.
- ^ "In Memoriam Mike Hicks: 1937—2017". The New Worker. 15 September 2017. Retrieved 7 July 2024.
- ^ "PATRICK JOHN HICKS". The Bournemouth Echo. 8 October 2011. Retrieved 7 July 2024.
- ^ "Printers and police clash in Wapping". BBC. 15 February 2005.
- ^ Searle, Chris (July 1987). "Your daily dose: racism and the Sun". Race & Class. 29 (1): 55–56. doi:10.1177/030639688702900104.
- ^ "Hansard". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). House of Commons. 18 December 1986. col. 1339–1340.
- ^ Leybourn, Keith (29 March 2006). Marxism in Britain: Dissent, Decline and Re-emergence 1945 – c. 2000. Routledge. p. 158. ISBN 9781134351657.
- ^ Stevenson, Graham. "The British Communist Party in the 1980s: revisionism, resistance and re-establishment".
- ^ "The Political Situation in Britain". The New Worker. New Communist Party of Britain.
- ^ Sullivan, John. "The Crisis at the Morning Star". What Next?. Archived from the original on 10 January 2005.
- ^ "Boscombe East – Candidates from Bournemouth Echo". bournemouthecho.co.uk. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
- ^ Mary Rosser-Hicks Obituary, The Guardian, 23 December 2010.
- ^ "PATRICK JOHN HICKS". The Bournemouth Echo. 8 October 2011. Retrieved 7 July 2024.
- ^ "POOLE BOROUGH COUNCIL CANDIDATES FOR MAY 3". The Bournemouth Echo. 2 May 2007. Retrieved 7 July 2024.
- ^ "Hamworthy West Ward — Poole". Local Elections Archive Project. Retrieved 7 July 2024.
- ^ Society, People's Printing Press. "Wapping veteran Mike Hicks dies aged 80". morningstaronline.co.uk. Retrieved 6 December 2023.