Gordon McLennan (politician)

Gordon McLennan (12 May 1924 – 21 May 2011[1]) was General Secretary of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) between 1975-1990.

Born in Glasgow, McLennan worked as an engineering draughtsperson before taking on various full-time posts within the CPGB. He contested the Glasgow Govan constituency at the 1959 general election, then the 1962 West Lothian by-election; Glasgow Govan again at the 1966 general election. He became the National Organiser of the CPGB in 1966, and while holding this post, contested elections in St Pancras North at the 1970 and February 1974 general elections.

In 1975, McLennan was elected as General Secretary of the Communist Party of Great Britain. He held the post while the party was in terminal decline, with factional infighting within the CPGB, finally stepping down in 1989. One of his acts at General Secretary was to appoint Martin Jacques, then an academic at the University of Bristol, as editor of Marxism Today in 1977.[2] After the dissolution of the party, in 1991, he joined the Communist Party of Scotland. He remained active in the pensioners' movement and supported the Respect – The Unity Coalition candidate George Galloway at the 2005 general election. He also maintained contact with the Alliance for Green Socialism, one of the successor bodies to the CPGB (via the Green Socialist Network) but although he addressed AGS meetings and wrote for the AGS journal (Green Socialist) he never joined this organisation.

References

1. Francis Beckett Obituary: Gordon McLennan, The Guardian, 23 May 2011
2. Harris, John (29 September 2015). "Marxism Today: the forgotten visionaries whose ideas could save Labour". theguardian.com. Retrieved 29 September 2015.

• Hansen, Philip W. (1995). "McLennan, Gordon (1924-)". In A. Thomas Lane (ed.). Biographical Dictionary of European Labor Leaders. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 599. ISBN 978-0-313-29900-1.