22 Facts About Albert Inkpin

Albert Inkpin served several terms in prison for political offences.

Albert Inkpin was born on 16 June 1884 in Haggerston, an area of London.

Albert Inkpin was employed as a clerk and joined the National Union of Clerks, becoming its assistant secretary in 1907.

Albert Inkpin followed the SDF into the new British Socialist Party in 1911, continuing in an Assistant Secretary capacity in that new organization.

In 1913 Inkpin was elected General Secretary of the BSP.

Albert Inkpin was a committed internationalist and anti-militarist, an opponent of World War I, and a delegate to the Zimmerwald Conference.

Albert Inkpin assumed editorship of the BSP's weekly newspaper, The Call, at this time.

Albert Inkpin's application in 1917 as a conscientious objector for exemption from military service was rejected by the Hornsey military service tribunal and the Middlesex Appeal Tribunal, but he was temporarily exempted as he was a leading figure in a political party and did not ultimately serve.

Albert Inkpin represented the organisation at the foundation of the Hands Off Russia movement, in 1919.

Albert Inkpin supported the unity discussions which led to the formation of the Communist Party of Great Britain, in 1920.

Albert Inkpin was Secretary of the Joint Provisional Committee of the Communist Party, the group of representatives of member organisations who set the agenda for the upcoming founding congress.

Albert Inkpin delivered the keynote address to the gathering and was elected to the governing Central Committee of the new political organisation, becoming General Secretary.

Albert Inkpin was named a member of the honorary presidium of the 3rd World Congress of the Communist International, held in Moscow during the summer of 1921.

Albert Inkpin returned from Soviet Russia to face more legal difficulties with British authorities.

Albert Inkpin was charged and convicted for printing and circulating Communist literature, serving a six-month term from January to June 1922.

Albert Inkpin emerged from jail to become the CPGB's National Organiser, but reverted to being General Secretary the following year.

In 1925 Albert Inkpin was again imprisoned, this time as one of 12 prominent Communists charged under the Incitement to Mutiny Act 1797.

Albert Inkpin was sentenced to six months in prison and remained inside until just prior to the eruption of the British General Strike of May 1926.

Albert Inkpin stood down as General Secretary in 1929, to be replaced by Harry Pollitt, following his opposition to the "class against class" policy, and criticism of his leadership from internal opponents and the Comintern.

Albert Inkpin was dropped from the party's secretariat, and sent to Birmingham as an organiser.

Albert Inkpin remained loyal to the Soviet Union, and during the early stages of World War II became a popular speaker on the possibility of British-Soviet collaboration.

In September 1942, Albert Inkpin became ill with cancer, and although he continued working and remained secretary of the British offshoot of the Friends of the Soviet Union, the Russia Today Society, he did not recover, and died in March 1944.