Mike Hicks (trade unionist)

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.[2]

Mike Hicks
Mike Hicks in 1986
General Secretary of the Communist Party of Britain
In office 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 (1989–2010, deceased)[1]
Children	2

Career

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,[3] Hicks was arrested and convicted of actual bodily harm during the Wapping dispute. His conviction and sentencing – to 12 months in prison[4] – were controversial, with the national executive committee of the Labour Party voting unanimously to call for his release.[5] He was expelled from the CPGB in 1984[6] "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.[7]

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,[8] which led to an industrial dispute at the Morning Star[9] 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.[10]

Death

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.[11]

References

1. Obituary: Mary Rosser-Hicks, Daily Telegraph, 10 January 2011.
2. MacLeod, Alexander (5 September 1991). "British Far Left Grapples With Soviet Collapse". Christian Science Monitor.
3. "Printers and police clash in Wapping". BBC. 15 February 2005.
4. Searle, Chris (July 1987). "Your daily dose: racism and the Sun". Race & Class. 29 (1): 55-56. doi:10.1177/030639688702900104.
5. "Hansard". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). House of Commons. 18 December 1986. col. 1339–1340.
6. Leybourn, Keith (29 March 2006). Marxism in Britain: Dissent, Decline and Re-emergence 1945 – c. 2000. Routledge. p. 158. ISBN 9781134351657.
7. Stevenson, Graham. "The British Communist Party in the 1980s: revisionism, resistance and re-establishment".
8. "The Political Situation in Britain". The New Worker. New Communist Party of Britain.
9. Sullivan, John. "The Crisis at the Morning Star". What Next?. Archived from the original on 10 January 2005.
10. "Boscombe East – Candidates from Bournemouth Echo". bournemouthecho.co.uk. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
11. Society, People's Printing Press. "Wapping veteran Mike Hicks dies aged 80". morningstaronline.co.uk. Archived from the original on 12 September 2017. Retrieved 18 September 2017.