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{{Short description|Scottish suffragette 1877–1954}}
{{Short description|Scottish suffragette, 1877–1954}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2018}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2018}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2018}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2018}}
{{Infobox person
{{Infobox person
|name = Helen Crawfurd
|name = Helen Crawfurd
|image = Helen Crawfurd (cropped).jpg
|image = Women for Westminster meeting- Helen Crawfurd on right.jpg
|birth_name = Helen Jack
|birth_name = Helen Jack
|birth_date = {{birth date|1877|11|9|df=y}}
|birth_date = {{birth date|1877|11|9|df=y}}
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|years_active =
|years_active =
|known_for =
|known_for =
|notable_works =
|notable_works = Suffragette, activist, politician
|spouse = Alexander Montgomerie Crawfurd<br>George Anderson
|spouse = {{plainlist|
* Alexander Montgomerie Crawfurd
* George Anderson
}}
}}
}}

'''Helen Crawfurd Anderson''' (9 November 1877 – 18 April 1954) was a Scottish [[suffragette]], [[rent strike]] organiser, Communist activist, and politician. Born in [[Glasgow]], she was brought up there and in the London area.
'''Helen Crawfurd''' ({{nee}} '''Jack''', later '''Anderson'''; 9 November 1877 – 18 April 1954) was a Scottish [[suffragette]], [[rent strike]] organiser, Communist activist and politician. Born in [[Glasgow]], she was brought up there and in London.


==Biography==
==Biography==
Born '''Helen Jack''' at 175 Cumberland Street in the [[Gorbals]] area of Glasgow, her parents were Helen L Kyle and William Jack.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |url=http://scotlandspeople.gov.uk |title=SR Birth Search for Helen Jack (Statutory Births 644/12 1466) |website=Scotland's People}}</ref> Her mother worked a steam-loom before she wed.<ref name=":2"/> Helen's family moved to [[Ipswich]] while she was young. Crawfurd later went to school in London and Ipswich before moving back to Glasgow as a teenager. Crawfurd's father, a master baker,<ref name=":0"/> was a [[Catholic]], but converted to the [[Church of Scotland]] and became a conservative [[trade union]]ist.
Born '''Helen Jack''' at 175 Cumberland Street in the [[Gorbals]] area of Glasgow, her parents were Helen L. ({{nee}} Kyle) and William Jack.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |url=http://scotlandspeople.gov.uk |title=SR Birth Search for Helen Jack (Statutory Births 644/12 1466) |website=Scotland's People}}</ref> Her mother worked a steam-loom before she wed.<ref name=":2"/> Helen's family moved to [[Ipswich]] while she was young. Crawfurd later went to school in London and Ipswich before moving back to Glasgow as a teenager. Crawfurd's father, a master baker,<ref name=":0"/> was a [[Catholic]], but converted to the [[Church of Scotland]] and became a conservative [[trade union]]ist.
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[[File:Helen Crawfurd, Janet Barrowman, Margaret McPhun, Mrs A.A. Wilson, Frances McPhun, Nancy A. John and Annie Swan.jpg|thumb|left|(L - R) Helen Crawfurd, [[Janet Barrowman]], [[Margaret McPhun]], Mrs A. A. Wilson, [[Frances McPhun]], [[Nancy A. John]] and [[Annie S. Swan]]]]
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Initially religious herself and a Sunday School teacher, Crawfurd felt a call to be married at 21 to the 67-year-old widower Alexander Montgomerie Crawfurd (29 August 1828 – 31 May 1914), a Church of Scotland minister and family friend.<ref name=":2"/><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk |title=OR Birth and Baptism Search CRAWFORD, ALEXANDER (O.P.R. Births 612/01 0020 0089 ST QUIVOX) |website=Scotland's People}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk |title=SR Death Search for Alexander Montgomerie Crawfurd (Statutory Deaths 644/22 0321) |website=Scotland's People}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://scotlandspeople.gov.uk |title=SR Marriage Search for CRAWFORD, ALEXANDER M - JACK, HELEN (Statutory Marriages 490/00 0075) |website= Scotland's People}}</ref> but he became increasingly radical.<ref name="lane">A. T. Lane, ed., ''Biographical Dictionary of European Labor Leaders, Vol. 1'', pp. 224–226.</ref> Alexander died aged 85 at 17 Sutherland Street in Partick, Glasgow.


⚫
[[File:Helen Crawfurd, Janet Barrowman, Margaret McPhun, Mrs A.A. Wilson, Frances McPhun, Nancy A. John and Annie Swan.jpg|thumb|left|(L - R) Helen Crawfurd, [[Janet Barrowman]], [[Margaret McPhun]], Mrs A. A. Wilson, [[Frances McPhun]], Nancy A. John and [[Annie S. Swan]]]]
⚫
In 1944, Crawfurd remarried, to widower George Anderson of Anderson Brothers Engineers, Coatbridge. Her second husband was a member of the [[Communist Party of Great Britain]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk |title=SR Marriage Search Anderson George Crawford Helen COATBRIDGE OR OLD MONKLAND Lanark 652/02 0071 |website=Scotland's People}}</ref> George Anderson died on 2 February 1952 and Crawfurd died two years later at Mahson Cottage, Kilbride Avenue, Dunoon, Argyll, aged 76.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk |title=SR Death Search ANDERSON, GEORGE (Statutory Deaths 510/02 0002) |website=Scotland's People}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |url=http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk |title=SR Death Search ANDERSON, HELEN (Statutory Deaths 510/01 0067) |website=Scotland's People}}</ref>
⚫
Initially religious herself and a Sunday School teacher, Crawfurd felt a call to be married at 21 to the 67-year-old widower Alexander Montgomerie Crawfurd (29 August 1828 – 31 May 1914), a Church of Scotland minister and family friend.<ref name=":2"/><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk |title=OR Birth and Baptism Search CRAWFORD, ALEXANDER (O.P.R. Births 612/01 0020 0089 ST QUIVOX) |website=Scotland's People}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk |title=SR Death Search for Alexander Montgomerie Crawfurd (Statutory Deaths 644/22 0321) |website=Scotland's People}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://scotlandspeople.gov.uk |title=SR Marriage Search for CRAWFORD, ALEXANDER M - JACK, HELEN (Statutory Marriages 490/00 0075) |website= Scotland's People}}</ref> However, she became increasingly radical, after witnessing injustices, and what she deemed to be "un-Christian" behaviour from the Church.<ref name="lane">A. T. Lane, ed., ''Biographical Dictionary of European Labor Leaders, Vol. 1'', pp. 224–226.</ref> For example, not helping widows financially before they had sold all their belongings in their home.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Helen Crawfurd by MARX MEMORIAL LIBRARY & WORKERS' SCHOOL - Issuu |url=https://issuu.com/marxmemoriallibrary/docs/helen_crawfurd |access-date=2023-05-09 |website=issuu.com |date=28 January 2016 |language=en}}</ref> Alexander died, aged 85, at 17 Sutherland Street in Partick, Glasgow.

⚫
In 1944, Crawfurd remarried, to widower George Anderson of Anderson Brothers Engineers, [[Coatbridge]]. Her second husband was a member of the [[Communist Party of Great Britain]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk |title=SR Marriage Search Anderson George Crawford Helen COATBRIDGE OR OLD MONKLAND Lanark 652/02 0071 |website=Scotland's People}}</ref> George Anderson died on 2 February 1952 and Crawfurd two years later at Mahson Cottage, Kilbride Avenue, Dunoon, Argyll, aged 76.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk |title=SR Death Search ANDERSON, GEORGE (Statutory Deaths 510/02 0002) |website=Scotland's People}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |url=http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk |title=SR Death Search ANDERSON, HELEN (Statutory Deaths 510/01 0067) |website=Scotland's People}}</ref>


==Political activity==
==Political activity==
Crawfurd first became active in the [[women's suffrage]] movement around 1900, then in 1910 during a meeting in Rutherglen.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |title=The Scottish Suffragettes |last=Leneman |first=Leah |publisher=NMS Publishing Limited |year=2000 |isbn=1-901663-40-X |location=British Library |pages=58–61}}</ref> Crawfurd was jailed three times for "militant" political activity throughout her career as an activist.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Castells, Manuel, 1942- |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/8929555 |title=The city and the grassroots: a cross-cultural theory of urban social movements |date=1983 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=0-520-04756-7 |location=Berkeley |oclc=8929555}}</ref> In 1912, Crawfurd smashed the windows of [[Jack Pease, 1st Baron Gainford|Jack Pease]], Minister for Education, and received a one-month prison sentence. In March 1914, Crawfurd was arrested in Glasgow when [[Emmeline Pankhurst]] was speaking. She received another month in prison<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |title=Rise up, women! the remarkable lives of the suffragettes |last=Atkinson |first=Diane |publisher=Bloomsbury |year=2018 |isbn=9781408844045 |location=London |pages=308, 532 |oclc=1016848621}}</ref> and went on an eight-day [[hunger strike]].<ref name=":1"/> After one further arrest, Crawfurd left the WSPU in protest at its support of [[World War I]] and in 1914 she joined the [[Independent Labour Party]] (ILP).<ref name=":2"/><ref name="lane"/>
Crawfurd first became active in the [[women's suffrage]] movement in about 1900, then in 1910 at a meeting in [[Rutherglen]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |title=The Scottish Suffragettes |last=Leneman |first=Leah |publisher=NMS Publishing Limited |year=2000 |isbn=1-901663-40-X |location=British Library |pages=58–61}}</ref> Crawfurd was jailed three times for "militant" political activity during her career as an activist.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Castells, Manuel, 1942- |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/8929555 |title=The city and the grassroots: a cross-cultural theory of urban social movements |date=1983 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=0-520-04756-7 |location=Berkeley |oclc=8929555}}</ref> In 1912, Crawfurd smashed the windows of [[Jack Pease, 1st Baron Gainford|Jack Pease]], Minister for Education, and received a one-month prison sentence. In March 1914, Crawfurd was arrested in Glasgow when [[Emmeline Pankhurst]] was speaking. She received another month in prison<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |title=Rise up, women! the remarkable lives of the suffragettes |last=Atkinson |first=Diane |publisher=Bloomsbury |year=2018 |isbn=9781408844045 |location=London |pages=308, 532 |oclc=1016848621}}</ref> and went on an eight-day [[hunger strike]].<ref name=":1"/> She spoke at the Music Hall, Aberdeen on 26 February 1914, in favour of militarism.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Pedersen |first=Sarah |title=The Aberdeen Women's Suffrage Campaign |url=https://suffrageaberdeen.co.uk/ |access-date=2023-03-18 |website=suffrageaberdeen.co.uk |publisher=copyright WildFireOne}}</ref> But after one further arrest, Crawfurd left the WSPU in protest at its support of [[World War I|the First World War]] and in 1914 she joined the [[Independent Labour Party]] (ILP).<ref name=":2"/><ref name="lane"/>

[[File:Mary Barbour Statue - Front view.jpg|thumb|Mary Barbour Statue - Front view]]
[[File:Mary Barbour Statue - Front view.jpg|thumb|Mary Barbour Statue - Front view]]
During the war, Crawfurd was involved with the [[Red Clydeside]] movement, including the [[Glasgow rent strikes 1915|Glasgow rent strikes]] in 1915 when she led the [[South Govan Women's Housing Association]] to resist rent increases and prevent evictions, alongside [[Mary Barbour]], [[Mary Laird]], [[Mary Jeff]] and [[Agnes Dollan]]. Crawfurd had co-founded the Glasgow branch of the [[Women's International League for Peace and Freedom|Women's International League]]<ref name=":2"/> and become secretary of [[the Women's Peace Crusade]].<ref>{{Cite news |title=The Peace Negitiations Memorial |work=Forward |date=8 July 1916}}</ref> By then she had met Agnes [[Agnes Harben|Harben]] and others who held the same international perspectives.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Women's International League |url=https://spartacus-educational.com/Winternational.htm |access-date=2021-01-21 |website=Spartacus Educational}}</ref> On 23 July 1916, Crawfurd organised the first demonstration of the Women's Peace Crusade, which was attended by 5,000 people.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Life and Times of a Respectable Rebel: Selina Cooper (1864–1946) |last=Liddington |first=Jill |publisher=Virago |year=1984 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Most Dangerous Women: Feminist Peace Campaigners of the Great War |last=Wiltshire |first=Anna |publisher=Pandora |year=1985}}</ref> Crawfurd formed a branch of the [[United Suffragists]] in Glasgow.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Suffrage in Glasgow |date=30 July 1915 |work=Votes for Women}}</ref>
During WWI, Crawfurd was involved with the [[Red Clydeside]] movement, including the [[Glasgow rent strikes 1915|Glasgow rent strikes]] in 1915 when she led the [[South Govan Women's Housing Association]] to resist rent increases and prevent evictions, alongside [[Mary Barbour]], [[Mary Laird]], [[Mary Jeff]], [[Jessie Stephen|Jessie Stephens]] and [[Agnes Dollan]]. Crawfurd had co-founded the Glasgow branch of the [[Women's International League for Peace and Freedom|Women's International League]]<ref name=":2"/> and become secretary of [[the Women's Peace Crusade]].<ref>{{Cite news |title=The Peace Negitiations Memorial |work=Forward |date=8 July 1916}}</ref> By then she had met [[Agnes Harben]] and others, who held the same international perspectives.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Women's International League |url=https://spartacus-educational.com/Winternational.htm |access-date=2021-01-21 |website=Spartacus Educational}}</ref> On 23 July 1916, Crawfurd organised the first demonstration of the Women's Peace Crusade, which was attended by 5,000.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Life and Times of a Respectable Rebel: Selina Cooper (1864–1946) |last=Liddington |first=Jill |publisher=Virago |year=1984 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Most Dangerous Women: Feminist Peace Campaigners of the Great War |last=Wiltshire |first=Anna |publisher=Pandora |year=1985}}</ref> Crawfurd formed a branch of the [[United Suffragists]] in Glasgow.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Suffrage in Glasgow |date=30 July 1915 |work=Votes for Women}}</ref> These women used the realms of domesticity entrenched within society to support their campaign, known as "Wives and Weans Socialism".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hughes |first=Annmarie |title=Gender and Political Identities in Scotland, 1919-1939 |publisher=Edinburgh Scholarship Publishing |year=2010}}</ref>


== A Propagandist’s Work Is Never Done. ==
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In 1918, Crawfurd was elected as vice-chair of the Scottish division of the [[Independent Labour Party]] (ILP), and was said to be a convincing speaker when she spoke in the Market Place at the branch meeting in [[Loftus, North Yorkshire|Loftus]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=22 August 1918 |title=Branch Reports - Loftus |page=2 |work=The Labour Leader}}</ref> Shortly afterwards, Crawfurd became a founder member of the ILP's left-wing faction, which was campaigning for it to affiliate to the [[Communist International]]. Crawford went to Moscow in 1920, with [[Marjory Newbold]], [[Sylvia Pankhurst]], [[Willie Gallacher (politician)|Willie Gallacher]] and others for the Congress of the Third Communist International and interviewed [[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Holmes |first=Rachel |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1196193442 |title=Sylvia Pankhurst natural born rebel |date=17 September 2020 |isbn=978-1-4088-8043-2 |location=London |oclc=1196193442}}</ref><ref name=":2"/> When the affiliation policy was defeated, Crawfurd joined the new [[Communist Party of Great Britain]] (CPGB). She served on its Central Committee and became involved in various journalistic projects. She also became secretary of [[Workers International Relief|Workers' International Relief]].<ref name="lane"/>
The Women’s Peace Crusade (WPC) was the first popular campaign that linked Feminism with Antimilitarism. The realm of maternalism was exploited by Agnes Dollan and Crawfurd and their nvolvement with the WPC. They encouraged women to be anti-war on the basis that they were the creators of life and, consequently, in neglecting to protect their sons’ lives they were neglecting their maternal roles.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dr Lesley Orr speaks about Suffragette and Rent Striker Helen Crawfurd {{!}} Protests & Suffragettes was live. {{!}} By Protests & Suffragettes {{!}} Facebook |url=https://www.facebook.com/ProtestsandSuffragettes/videos/dr-lesley-orr-speaks-about-suffragette-and-rent-striker-helen-crawfurd/682352439302524/ |access-date=2023-05-09 |website=www.facebook.com |language=en}}</ref> Crawfurd and Dollan were grassroots propagandists. Both women travelled the length and breadth of Scotland to inform the public that fighting in the war was not the exciting adventure their sons, husbands and fathers had been sold; they were, as Dollan describes, being ‘consumed as common fodder.’<ref>{{Cite ODNB |last=Corr |first=Helen |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/54395 |title=Dollan [née Moir], Agnes Johnston, Lady Dollan (1887–1966), suffragette and socialist |date=2004-09-23 |series=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/54395 }}</ref>  The emotional nature of their speeches convinced women to become members of the WPC and, in turn, learn about the wider Clydeside movement. Open-air and public hall meetings frequented almost every town and village and they drew in large audiences; up to 5000 women demonstrated in [[Glasgow Green]] for anti-war and anti-conscription rallies.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Men Who Said No |url=https://menwhosaidno.org/ |access-date=2023-05-09 |website=menwhosaidno.org}}</ref> Crawfurd stated at a public meeting that ‘Christ came that we might have life more abundantly’ in her appeal for the cessation of the brutal war.<ref>{{Cite web |title= |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001607/19180301/074/0003 |access-date=2023-05-09 |via=[[British Newspaper Archive]]}}</ref>  Gallacher recalls the demonstrations established by the WPC, stating ‘they showed the men how a demonstration should be organised.'<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Gallacher |first=William |title=Revolt on The Clyde: An Autobiography |publisher=Laurene and Wishart |year=2013 |edition=3rd |location=Southhampton}}</ref> He describe the scenes at Glasgow Green to protest the war. The women used banners, streamers, orators, and marches throughout Glasgow to ensure their plight was heard.<ref name=":4" /> [[Rose Klasko|Klasko]] also recalls her attendance at the WPC demonstrations, she states that she was anti-war and anti-conscription and participated in the discussions at a young age.  She remembers candidly some older demonstrators quieting the crowd to ‘let the wee lassie speak.’<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kerrigan, Rose (Oral history) |url=https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80009686 |access-date=2023-05-09 |website=Imperial War Museums |language=en}}</ref> It is recollections such as these that truly highlight the collective effervescence of the movement.


== The End of WWI ==
⚫
In 1918, Crawfurd was elected as vice-chair of the Scottish division of the [[Independent Labour Party]] (ILP), and was said to be a convincing speaker when she spoke in the Market Place at the branch meeting in [[Loftus, North Yorkshire|Loftus]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=22 August 1918 |title=Branch Reports - Loftus |page=2 |work=The Labour Leader}}</ref> Shortly afterwards, Crawfurd became a founder member of the ILP's left-wing faction, which was campaigning for it to affiliate to the [[Communist International]]. Crawford went to Moscow in 1920, with [[Marjory Newbold]], [[Sylvia Pankhurst]], [[Willie Gallacher (politician)|Willie Gallacher]] and others for the Congress of the Third Communist International and interviewed [[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Holmes |first=Rachel |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1196193442 |title=Sylvia Pankhurst natural born rebel |date=17 September 2020 |isbn=978-1-4088-8043-2 |location=London |oclc=1196193442}}</ref><ref name=":2"/> When the affiliation policy was defeated, Crawfurd joined the new [[Communist Party of Great Britain]] (CPGB). She served on its Central Committee and involved herself in various journalistic projects. She also became secretary of [[Workers International Relief|Workers' International Relief]].<ref name="lane"/>
[[File:British delegation at the 2nd international conference held by the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom conference, Zurich, 1919.jpg|thumb|Helen Crawfurd: middle row, second from left- At Women's International League for Peace and Freedom Conference, Zurich, 1919]]
In 1919, Crawfurd was a delegate to the Congress of the [[Women's International League for Peace and Freedom|Women's International League]] in [[Zürich]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=6 June 1919 |title=Women who have pledged themselves to work for the Prevention of all future wars |work=The Crusader}}</ref>
In 1919, Crawfurd was a delegate to the Congress of the [[Women's International League for Peace and Freedom|Women's International League]] in [[Zürich]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=6 June 1919 |title=Women who have pledged themselves to work for the Prevention of all future wars |work=The Crusader}}</ref>


Crawfurd ran in 1921 as the first Communist Party candidate in the Govan ward.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://govanshiddenhistories.wordpress.com/2015/06/17/strong-women-of-clydeside-join-us-for-a-guided-walk-public-art-action-sat-15-aug-2-4pm/helencrawfurd_govanelectionposter1921/#main |title=HelenCrawfurd_GovanElectionPoster1921 |date=2015-06-17 |website=Govan's Hidden Histories |access-date=2016-07-02}}</ref>
Crawfurd ran in 1921 as the first Communist Party candidate in the [[Govan]] ward of Glasgow.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://govanshiddenhistories.wordpress.com/2015/06/17/strong-women-of-clydeside-join-us-for-a-guided-walk-public-art-action-sat-15-aug-2-4pm/helencrawfurd_govanelectionposter1921/#main |title=HelenCrawfurd_GovanElectionPoster1921 |date=2015-06-17 |website=Govan's Hidden Histories |access-date=2016-07-02}}</ref>


In 1927, Crawfurd was an official delegate to the Brussels International Conference against Oppressed Nationalities,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ellison |first=John |date=2017 |title=The League against Imperialism (British Section)- A Hidden History |journal=Communist Party History Group: Our History|volume=15 (vol 2 new series) |pages=6 |via=issuu}}</ref> at which the [[League against Imperialism]] was established. Crawfurd joined the executive of the British section.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ellison |first=John |date=2017 |title=The League against Imperialism (British Section) - A Hidden History |journal=Communist Party History Group: Our History |volume=15 (vol 2 new series) |pages=8 |via=issuu}}</ref>
In 1927, Crawfurd was an official delegate to the Brussels International Conference against Oppressed Nationalities,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ellison |first=John |date=2017 |title=The League against Imperialism (British Section)- A Hidden History |journal=Communist Party History Group: Our History|volume=15 (vol 2 new series) |pages=6 |via=issuu}}</ref> at which the [[League against Imperialism]] was established. Crawfurd joined the executive of the British section.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ellison |first=John |date=2017 |title=The League against Imperialism (British Section) - A Hidden History |journal=Communist Party History Group: Our History |volume=15 (vol 2 new series) |pages=8 |via=issuu}}</ref>
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Crawfurd stood for the CPGB in [[Bothwell (UK Parliament constituency)|Bothwell]] at the [[1929 United Kingdom general election|1929 general election]], and [[Aberdeen North (UK Parliament constituency)|Aberdeen North]] in [[1931 United Kingdom general election|1931]], but did not come close to being elected.<ref name="lane"/>
Crawfurd stood for the CPGB in [[Bothwell (UK Parliament constituency)|Bothwell]] at the [[1929 United Kingdom general election|1929 general election]], and [[Aberdeen North (UK Parliament constituency)|Aberdeen North]] in [[1931 United Kingdom general election|1931]], but did not come close to being elected.<ref name="lane"/>


During the 1930s, Crawfurd was prominent in the Friends of the Soviet Union. She unsuccessfully stood for Dunoon Town Council in 1938,<ref>{{Cite news |title=Other burghs |work=The Scotsman |date=2 Nov 1938}}</ref> but she was elected as [[Dunoon]]'s first woman town councillor shortly after the war,<ref name=":1"/> but retired from it in 1947 due to poor health.<ref name="lane"/><ref>[http://www.grahamstevenson.me.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=128:helen-crawfurd-anderson&catid=3:c&Itemid=99 Crawfurd Helen], ''Compendium of Communist Biography''</ref>
During the 1930s, Crawfurd was prominent in the Friends of the Soviet Union. She unsuccessfully stood for [[Dunoon]] Town Council in 1938.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Other burghs |work=The Scotsman |date=2 Nov 1938}}</ref> However, she was elected as Dunoon's first woman town councillor shortly after the war,<ref name=":1"/> but retired from it in 1947 due to poor health.<ref name="lane"/><ref>[http://www.grahamstevenson.me.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=128:helen-crawfurd-anderson&catid=3:c&Itemid=99 Crawfurd Helen], ''Compendium of Communist Biography''</ref>
⚫
Helen Crawfurd (by then Mrs Anderson) died in 1954 at Mahson Cottage, Kilbride Avenue, Dunoon, Argyll, aged 76.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" />


==Further reading==
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Helen Crawfurd (by then Mrs Anderson) died in 1954 at Mahson Cottage, Kilbride Avenue, Dunoon, Argyll, aged 76.<ref name=":2"/><ref name=":3"/>
*Wilkins, K. (2023). Helen Crawfurd (1877–1954): Scottish Suffragette and International Communist. In: de Haan, F. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Communist Women Activists around the World. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-13127-1_5


==References==
==References==
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[[Category:Red Clydeside]]
[[Category:Red Clydeside]]
[[Category:Scottish communists]]
[[Category:Scottish communists]]
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[[Category:Scottish feminists]]
[[Category:19th-century Scottish women]]
[[Category:19th-century Scottish women]]
[[Category:20th-century Scottish women]]
[[Category:20th-century Scottish women]]
[[Category:Socialist feminists]]
[[Category:Scottish socialist feminists]]
[[Category:Pacifist feminists]]
[[Category:Pacifist feminists]]
[[Category:Hunger Strike Medal recipients]]
[[Category:Scottish women activists]]
[[Category:Scottish women activists]]
[[Category:Scottish anti-war activists]]
[[Category:Scottish anti-war activists]]
[[Category:Scottish women in politics]]
[[Category:Women councillors in Scotland]]
[[Category:20th-century Scottish women politicians]]
[[Category:20th-century Scottish women politicians]]
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[[Category:20th-century Scottish politicians]]
[[Category:20th-century British women politicians]]
[[Category:20th-century British women politicians]]
[[Category:Women's Social and Political Union]]
[[Category:Women's Social and Political Union]]
[[Category:Women's Peace Crusade]]

Latest revision as of 09:23, 19 April 2024

Helen Crawfurd
Born
Helen Jack

(1877-11-09)9 November 1877
Glasgow, Scotland
Died18 April 1954(1954-04-18) (aged 76)
Dunoon, Scotland
NationalityScottish
Occupation(s)Politician, activist, suffragette
Notable workSuffragette, activist, politician
Spouses
  • Alexander Montgomerie Crawfurd
  • George Anderson

Helen Crawfurd (née Jack, later Anderson; 9 November 1877 – 18 April 1954) was a Scottish suffragette, rent strike organiser, Communist activist and politician. Born in Glasgow, she was brought up there and in London.

Biography[edit]

Born Helen Jack at 175 Cumberland Street in the Gorbals area of Glasgow, her parents were Helen L. (née Kyle) and William Jack.[1] Her mother worked a steam-loom before she wed.[2] Helen's family moved to Ipswich while she was young. Crawfurd later went to school in London and Ipswich before moving back to Glasgow as a teenager. Crawfurd's father, a master baker,[1] was a Catholic, but converted to the Church of Scotland and became a conservative trade unionist.

(L - R) Helen Crawfurd, Janet Barrowman, Margaret McPhun, Mrs A. A. Wilson, Frances McPhun, Nancy A. John and Annie S. Swan

Initially religious herself and a Sunday School teacher, Crawfurd felt a call to be married at 21 to the 67-year-old widower Alexander Montgomerie Crawfurd (29 August 1828 – 31 May 1914), a Church of Scotland minister and family friend.[2][3][4][5] However, she became increasingly radical, after witnessing injustices, and what she deemed to be "un-Christian" behaviour from the Church.[6] For example, not helping widows financially before they had sold all their belongings in their home.[7] Alexander died, aged 85, at 17 Sutherland Street in Partick, Glasgow.

In 1944, Crawfurd remarried, to widower George Anderson of Anderson Brothers Engineers, Coatbridge. Her second husband was a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain.[8] George Anderson died on 2 February 1952 and Crawfurd two years later at Mahson Cottage, Kilbride Avenue, Dunoon, Argyll, aged 76.[9][10]

Political activity[edit]

Crawfurd first became active in the women's suffrage movement in about 1900, then in 1910 at a meeting in Rutherglen.[11] Crawfurd was jailed three times for "militant" political activity during her career as an activist.[12] In 1912, Crawfurd smashed the windows of Jack Pease, Minister for Education, and received a one-month prison sentence. In March 1914, Crawfurd was arrested in Glasgow when Emmeline Pankhurst was speaking. She received another month in prison[2] and went on an eight-day hunger strike.[11] She spoke at the Music Hall, Aberdeen on 26 February 1914, in favour of militarism.[13] But after one further arrest, Crawfurd left the WSPU in protest at its support of the First World War and in 1914 she joined the Independent Labour Party (ILP).[2][6]

Mary Barbour Statue - Front view

During WWI, Crawfurd was involved with the Red Clydeside movement, including the Glasgow rent strikes in 1915 when she led the South Govan Women's Housing Association to resist rent increases and prevent evictions, alongside Mary Barbour, Mary Laird, Mary Jeff, Jessie Stephens and Agnes Dollan. Crawfurd had co-founded the Glasgow branch of the Women's International League[2] and become secretary of the Women's Peace Crusade.[14] By then she had met Agnes Harben and others, who held the same international perspectives.[15] On 23 July 1916, Crawfurd organised the first demonstration of the Women's Peace Crusade, which was attended by 5,000.[16][17] Crawfurd formed a branch of the United Suffragists in Glasgow.[18] These women used the realms of domesticity entrenched within society to support their campaign, known as "Wives and Weans Socialism".[19]

A Propagandist’s Work Is Never Done.[edit]

The Women’s Peace Crusade (WPC) was the first popular campaign that linked Feminism with Antimilitarism. The realm of maternalism was exploited by Agnes Dollan and Crawfurd and their nvolvement with the WPC. They encouraged women to be anti-war on the basis that they were the creators of life and, consequently, in neglecting to protect their sons’ lives they were neglecting their maternal roles.[20] Crawfurd and Dollan were grassroots propagandists. Both women travelled the length and breadth of Scotland to inform the public that fighting in the war was not the exciting adventure their sons, husbands and fathers had been sold; they were, as Dollan describes, being ‘consumed as common fodder.’[21]  The emotional nature of their speeches convinced women to become members of the WPC and, in turn, learn about the wider Clydeside movement. Open-air and public hall meetings frequented almost every town and village and they drew in large audiences; up to 5000 women demonstrated in Glasgow Green for anti-war and anti-conscription rallies.[22] Crawfurd stated at a public meeting that ‘Christ came that we might have life more abundantly’ in her appeal for the cessation of the brutal war.[23]  Gallacher recalls the demonstrations established by the WPC, stating ‘they showed the men how a demonstration should be organised.'[24] He describe the scenes at Glasgow Green to protest the war. The women used banners, streamers, orators, and marches throughout Glasgow to ensure their plight was heard.[24] Klasko also recalls her attendance at the WPC demonstrations, she states that she was anti-war and anti-conscription and participated in the discussions at a young age.  She remembers candidly some older demonstrators quieting the crowd to ‘let the wee lassie speak.’[25] It is recollections such as these that truly highlight the collective effervescence of the movement.

The End of WWI[edit]

In 1918, Crawfurd was elected as vice-chair of the Scottish division of the Independent Labour Party (ILP), and was said to be a convincing speaker when she spoke in the Market Place at the branch meeting in Loftus.[26] Shortly afterwards, Crawfurd became a founder member of the ILP's left-wing faction, which was campaigning for it to affiliate to the Communist International. Crawford went to Moscow in 1920, with Marjory Newbold, Sylvia Pankhurst, Willie Gallacher and others for the Congress of the Third Communist International and interviewed Lenin.[27][2] When the affiliation policy was defeated, Crawfurd joined the new Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB). She served on its Central Committee and involved herself in various journalistic projects. She also became secretary of Workers' International Relief.[6]

Helen Crawfurd: middle row, second from left- At Women's International League for Peace and Freedom Conference, Zurich, 1919

In 1919, Crawfurd was a delegate to the Congress of the Women's International League in Zürich.[28]

Crawfurd ran in 1921 as the first Communist Party candidate in the Govan ward of Glasgow.[29]

In 1927, Crawfurd was an official delegate to the Brussels International Conference against Oppressed Nationalities,[30] at which the League against Imperialism was established. Crawfurd joined the executive of the British section.[31]

Crawfurd stood for the CPGB in Bothwell at the 1929 general election, and Aberdeen North in 1931, but did not come close to being elected.[6]

During the 1930s, Crawfurd was prominent in the Friends of the Soviet Union. She unsuccessfully stood for Dunoon Town Council in 1938.[32] However, she was elected as Dunoon's first woman town councillor shortly after the war,[11] but retired from it in 1947 due to poor health.[6][33] Helen Crawfurd (by then Mrs Anderson) died in 1954 at Mahson Cottage, Kilbride Avenue, Dunoon, Argyll, aged 76.[2][10]

Further reading[edit]

  • Wilkins, K. (2023). Helen Crawfurd (1877–1954): Scottish Suffragette and International Communist. In: de Haan, F. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Communist Women Activists around the World. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-13127-1_5

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "SR Birth Search for Helen Jack (Statutory Births 644/12 1466)". Scotland's People.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Atkinson, Diane (2018). Rise up, women! the remarkable lives of the suffragettes. London: Bloomsbury. pp. 308, 532. ISBN 9781408844045. OCLC 1016848621.
  3. ^ "OR Birth and Baptism Search CRAWFORD, ALEXANDER (O.P.R. Births 612/01 0020 0089 ST QUIVOX)". Scotland's People.
  4. ^ "SR Death Search for Alexander Montgomerie Crawfurd (Statutory Deaths 644/22 0321)". Scotland's People.
  5. ^ "SR Marriage Search for CRAWFORD, ALEXANDER M - JACK, HELEN (Statutory Marriages 490/00 0075)". Scotland's People.
  6. ^ a b c d e A. T. Lane, ed., Biographical Dictionary of European Labor Leaders, Vol. 1, pp. 224–226.
  7. ^ "Helen Crawfurd by MARX MEMORIAL LIBRARY & WORKERS' SCHOOL - Issuu". issuu.com. 28 January 2016. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
  8. ^ "SR Marriage Search Anderson George Crawford Helen COATBRIDGE OR OLD MONKLAND Lanark 652/02 0071". Scotland's People.
  9. ^ "SR Death Search ANDERSON, GEORGE (Statutory Deaths 510/02 0002)". Scotland's People.
  10. ^ a b "SR Death Search ANDERSON, HELEN (Statutory Deaths 510/01 0067)". Scotland's People.
  11. ^ a b c Leneman, Leah (2000). The Scottish Suffragettes. British Library: NMS Publishing Limited. pp. 58–61. ISBN 1-901663-40-X.
  12. ^ Castells, Manuel, 1942- (1983). The city and the grassroots: a cross-cultural theory of urban social movements. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-04756-7. OCLC 8929555.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  13. ^ Pedersen, Sarah. "The Aberdeen Women's Suffrage Campaign". suffrageaberdeen.co.uk. copyright WildFireOne. Retrieved 18 March 2023.
  14. ^ "The Peace Negitiations Memorial". Forward. 8 July 1916.
  15. ^ "Women's International League". Spartacus Educational. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
  16. ^ Liddington, Jill (1984). The Life and Times of a Respectable Rebel: Selina Cooper (1864–1946). Virago.
  17. ^ Wiltshire, Anna (1985). Most Dangerous Women: Feminist Peace Campaigners of the Great War. Pandora.
  18. ^ "Suffrage in Glasgow". Votes for Women. 30 July 1915.
  19. ^ Hughes, Annmarie (2010). Gender and Political Identities in Scotland, 1919-1939. Edinburgh Scholarship Publishing.
  20. ^ "Dr Lesley Orr speaks about Suffragette and Rent Striker Helen Crawfurd | Protests & Suffragettes was live. | By Protests & Suffragettes | Facebook". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
  21. ^ Corr, Helen (23 September 2004). "Dollan [née Moir], Agnes Johnston, Lady Dollan (1887–1966), suffragette and socialist". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/54395. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  22. ^ "Men Who Said No". menwhosaidno.org. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
  23. ^ https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001607/19180301/074/0003. Retrieved 9 May 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  24. ^ a b Gallacher, William (2013). Revolt on The Clyde: An Autobiography (3rd ed.). Southhampton: Laurene and Wishart.
  25. ^ "Kerrigan, Rose (Oral history)". Imperial War Museums. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
  26. ^ "Branch Reports - Loftus". The Labour Leader. 22 August 1918. p. 2.
  27. ^ Holmes, Rachel (17 September 2020). Sylvia Pankhurst natural born rebel. London. ISBN 978-1-4088-8043-2. OCLC 1196193442.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  28. ^ "Women who have pledged themselves to work for the Prevention of all future wars". The Crusader. 6 June 1919.
  29. ^ "HelenCrawfurd_GovanElectionPoster1921". Govan's Hidden Histories. 17 June 2015. Retrieved 2 July 2016.
  30. ^ Ellison, John (2017). "The League against Imperialism (British Section)- A Hidden History". Communist Party History Group: Our History. 15 (vol 2 new series): 6 – via issuu.
  31. ^ Ellison, John (2017). "The League against Imperialism (British Section) - A Hidden History". Communist Party History Group: Our History. 15 (vol 2 new series): 8 – via issuu.
  32. ^ "Other burghs". The Scotsman. 2 November 1938.
  33. ^ Crawfurd Helen, Compendium of Communist Biography
Political offices
Preceded by
New position
 British Secretary of Workers International Relief
1921 – 1925 		Succeeded by
Party political offices
Preceded by
New position
 National Women's Organiser of the Communist Party of Great Britain
1922 – 1924 		Succeeded by
Beth Turner
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