S.P.G.B. Lecture List For October, 1911. A. Barker

In recent months, when I have posted details of the Pre-World War One monthly lecture list on the blog, I have tried where I can to give some extra information on the listed speakers. That only seems fair when covering a period in the SPGB's history when it was so active and visible in working class politics in London. For example, just looking at the lecture list for the October 1911 issue of the Standard, you have advertised over a hundred meetings in London alone listed with 20 plus speakers.

Sometimes, the added information on the listed speakers is only the basics gleaned from the early SPGB membership records: a speaker's full name; their branch; when they joined the SPGB; if and when (and why) they left the SPGB. Sometimes I'm more fortunate in that there might be a wiki page for a speaker (see R. M. Fox, Frank Dawkins and Tommy Jackson, for example). On other occasions - if a speaker has 'lasted the course' - it might be an obituary in the pages of the Socialist Standard (see J. E. Roe, Alex Anderson and Jack Fitzgerald, for example). Whatever the case - and wherever I can - I try to flesh out the bones of the early history of the SPGB and the Socialist Standard. It's important that that information is readily available for anyone interested in the history of our tradition.

In keeping with that 'mission', posted below is a potted political history of the Socialist Party member, A. Barker, who was a listed speaker in the October 1911 issue of the Socialist Standard. The words below are not mine. It's from an unpublished document entitled 'The Founding Members of the Socialist Party of Great Britain', which was written by Keith Scholey a number of years ago. Keith was an excellent archivist and historian of the Party - he is no longer a member - and this document was an attempt to provide as much background as possible on the founding members of the SPGB. If I can get his permission, I may post the full document on the blog.

Barker, A

Tooting branch. Barker was very active for the Party before the First World War, being a public speaker in 1909-14 and serving on the 1906-7 and 1908-9 Executive Committees. At a local level he served as Tooting branch secretary in 1905-6 and was a local election candidate for Tooting Ward, Wandsworth in 1906 and again in 1909. He had previously been a local election candidate for the SDF in 1903. Barker probably left the Party during the First World War, rejoining on 16th June 1927. He was again most active, for example being nominated as the prospective Parliamentary candidate for North Battersea in the 1929 election (in the event however the deposit could not be raised to contest the seat). Barker finally lapsed on 25th June 1943.