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{{About|the British socialist activist|the American communist and Cominterm representative to Australia|H. M. Wicks}}
{{Inline|date=December 2022}}
'''Harry Wicks''' (16 August 1905 – 26 March 1989) was a British socialist activist.
Born in [[Battersea]], London, he went to work on the railways and joined the [[National Union of Railwaymen]] in 1919. He joined the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]], but after [[Black Friday (1921)|Black Friday]] moved to the [[Communist Party of Great Britain]] (CPGB). After studying with A
Elected to the executive of the [[Young Communist League (UK)|Young Communist League]] in 1926, Wicks attended the [[International Lenin School]] in [[Moscow]] and the Sixth World Congress of the [[Comintern]]. He began working with the [[Balham Group]] of [[Trotskyist]]s, and was expelled from the CPGB in 1932. He became a founding member of the [[Communist League (UK, 1932)|Communist League]] and met Trotsky in [[Copenhagen]] but disagreed with Trotsky's advice to join the [[Independent Labour Party]].
The Communist League split with the tendency opposed to joining the ILP continuing as the [[Marxist League (UK, 1936)|Marxist League]] which later worked within the Labour Party. He also chaired the British Committee for the Defence of [[Leon Trotsky]].
Wicks began working with [[C. L. R. James]] of the [[Marxist Group (UK)|Marxist Group]], helping James write [[World Revolution (book)|World Revolution]] his 1937 history of the [[Communist International]], and in 1938 their tendencies merged to form the [[Revolutionary Socialist League (UK, 1938)|Revolutionary Socialist League]]. However, Wicks and the remnants of the former Marxist League soon left and formed the Socialist Anti-War Federation. In 1940, this group dissolved and he joined the Independent Labour Party.▼
In 1936, Wicks and several others signed a letter to the ''[[Manchester Guardian]]'' defending Trotsky's right to asylum and calling for an international inquiry into the [[Moscow Trials]].<ref>The other signatories were: [[H. N. Brailsford]], [[Conrad Noel]], [[Frank Horrabin]], Fred Shaw, Rowland Hill, [[Eleanor Rathbone]], Reg Groves, Garry Allingham and Stuart Purkis. [[Robert J. Alexander]], ''International Trotskyism, 1929-1985: A Documented Analysis of the Movement''. Duke University Press, 1991; {{ISBN|082231066X}} (p. 451)</ref> Wicks was also an active [[anti-fascist]].<ref>Keith Hodgson, ''Fighting Fascism: the British Left and the Rise of Fascism, 1919-39''. Manchester University Press, 2011; {{ISBN|071908055X}} (p. 163)</ref>
At the end of the Second World War, Wicks joined the Labour Party and became active in [[NALGO]]. In 1971, he became involved with the Trotskyist movement again, joining the forerunner of the [[Socialist Workers Party (UK)|Socialist Workers Party]] (SWP) the International Socialists. He was part of the 1976 split which formed the [[Workers League (UK)|Workers League]]. He would later work with the SWP in various campaigns but never rejoined it.▼
▲Wicks began working with [[C. L. R. James]] of the [[Marxist Group (UK)|Marxist Group]], helping James write [[World Revolution (book)|World Revolution]], his 1937 history of the [[Communist International]], and in 1938 their tendencies merged to form the [[Revolutionary Socialist League (UK, 1938)|Revolutionary Socialist League]]. However, Wicks and the remnants of the former Marxist League soon left and formed the Socialist Anti-War Federation. In 1940, this group dissolved and he joined the Independent Labour Party.
Not long before his death he wrote an autobiography ''Keeping My Head: The Memoirs of a British Bolshevik'' with the help of Logie Barrow.▼
▲At the end of the Second World War, Wicks joined the Labour Party and became active in [[NALGO]]. In 1971, he became involved with the Trotskyist movement again, joining the forerunner of the [[Socialist Workers Party (UK)|Socialist Workers Party]] (SWP), the International Socialists. He was part of the 1976 split which formed the [[Workers League (UK)|Workers League]]. He would later work with the SWP in various campaigns but never rejoined it.
▲Not long before his death he wrote an autobiography, ''Keeping My Head: The Memoirs of a British Bolshevik'', with the help of Logie Barrow.
==References==
{{reflist}}
==Sources==
*[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]
*[[Sam Bornstein]] and [[Al Richardson (historian)|Al Richardson]], ''Against the Stream'', Socialist Platform, 1986
*[[Sam Bornstein]] and [[Al Richardson (historian)|Al Richardson]], ''War and The International'', Socialist Platform, 1986
*Harry Wicks, ''Keeping My Head: The Memoirs of a British Bolshevik'', Socialist Platform, 1992.
==External links==
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[[Category:English anti-fascists]]
[[Category:Communist Party of Great Britain members]]
[[Category:Communist League (UK, 1932) members]]
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