Catalogue description Paper of William Gillies

The surviving papers date from 1919 to 1941. Very few however pre-date 1930 or continue after the commencement of World War II. Whilst Gillies himself was not instrumental in framing pre-war Labour Party foreign policy, but rather reflecting it, the papers indicate Party attitudes towards issues of the time, such as disarmament, the boycott of Japan, the Italian invasion of Abyssinia and the Spanish Civil War. There is also interesting correspondence with some leading Socialists of the day, such as Adler, Nenni, Modigliani Thorsing and the Russian Menshevicks, Abramovitsch and Dan. Other interesting items are the letters with Captain Cipriani, the Trinidadian Labour leader and the first contact the Labour Party had with the 20 year old Dom Mintoff. A very revealing set of papers are those containing the desperate appeals from the Saarland SPD at the time of the plebiscite of 1934.

The collection is arranged where possible chronologically according to country. Exceptions being the boxes on Peace and Refugees and the four boxes at the end labelled Parties, Organisations and Committees, the Labour Party, International Socialism and Conferences and International Organisations.

Open to view with an appointment, email: archive@phm.org.uk

Accruals not expected.

William Gillies was the first International Secretary of the Labour Party, holding the post from 1920 until his retirement in 1944. He was born in Glasgow in 1885, joined the Headquarters staff in 1915 and died in 1958.