Harry and Mary Morris papers

Papers of Harry Morris (also known as H.D. Emery, George Weston). Subject files include Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB), c1920-1941; International Left Opposition, 1930-c1933; Marxist Group, 1937-1938; Marxist League, c1931; Revolutionary Socialist League, 1938-1943; Revolutionary Socialist Party, 1938-1941; Militant Labour League, c1939; De Havilland shop stewards, 1940-1942; Fourth International circulars, papers, c1938-c1948; photographs of British Communist and National Unemployed Workers Committee demonstrations, 1927-1936; Communist Party of Great Britain group photographs, c1920s; radical leaflets and pamphlets including anti-war, pacifist. Papers of Mary Morris including memoirs of the Soviet Union, 1923-1928; correspondence and papers, c1934-c1981; subject files including John Lawrence and the CPGB,1956-1958, and Yugoslavia information services, c1949-1974. Vera Morris research papers, c1980-c1989. Also Trotskyist press-cuttings, c1928-c1954 and newspapers and bulletins including Socialist Appeal, 1941 Aug-1948 March (incomplete), and The Communist, 1932 May-1934 January (missing number 6) ; Socialist Workers Party (USA) internal bulletins, papers, 1936-1939; French Trotskyism journals, reports, 1936-1948.

Harry Morris, who was also known as H. D. Emery and George Weston, was involved in the Isle of Man bread strike in 1918 and then became an activist with the Coventry Unemployed Workers' Committee in 1920. Morris took part in the foundation of the Communist Party of Great Britain and spoke at the Leeds Unity Conference in 1921. He was the author of a pamphlet, "The Coming Revolution in Britain" c1921. In this period, Morris came to the attention of the police and was prosecuted at least twice - for the use of seditious language and also for his alleged part in a break-in at an arms company. Morris lived in the Soviet Union in the early 1920s with his family. He subsequently broke with orthodox Communism and became a Trotskyist. Harry Morris was a shop steward at De Havilland shortly before his death.

Mary Morris lived in the Soviet Union with her family, 1923-1928. Like her husband, Harry, she was an activist on the Left and also a trade unionist. She remained politically active after her husband's death in 1942 and compiled her memoirs of her life in the Soviet Union with the help of her daughter Vera in the 1970s.

Vera Morris was the daughter of Harry Morris and his wife Mary. As part of her research into her parents' lives, she interviewed veteran British Trotskyists such as Harry Wicks.

Divided into the following sections: MS1249/1 Harry Morris; MS1249/2 Mary Morris; MS1249/3 Vera Morris; MS1249/4 Press-cuttings; MS1249/5 Newspapers; MS1249/6 Socialist Workers Party (USA) and French Trotskyism; MS1249/7 Other papers.

Open for research although at least 24 hours advance notice should be given.