Reg Birch

Reg Birch (7 June 1914 - 2 June 1994) was a British Maoist trade unionist.

Born in Kilburn, Birch became a toolmaker and joined the Amalgamated Engineering Union (AEU). He became active in supporting the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War, and joined the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) in 1938.

In 1941, Birch worked with Wal Hannington to organise a strike at a firm in Stonebridge. This action was illegal under wartime regulations, but the two were merely bound over to keep the peace. Soon after, the Hitler-Stalin pact was broken, and the CPGB instead opposed wartime strike action.

In 1956, Birch was elected to the executive committee of the CPGB, and in 1960, he became a full-time AEU official. The union was soon renamed the Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers, and in 1966, Birch was elected to its executive. Birch challenged William Carron for the leadership on two occasions. On the second, the CPGB supported Hugh Scanlon's candidature over his. Birch left the party soon afterwards, forming his own Maoist group, the Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist) (CPB(M-L)).

Birch continued to support various strikes, including the Ford strike, 1971, and was granted a personal audience with Mao Zedong. In 1975, he was elected to the general council of the Trades Union Congress, the only Maoist to hold such a post. In 1977, he became a member of the Energy Commission. He retired in 1979, but remained leader of the CPB(M-L).

References

:Oxford Dictionary of National BiographyPodmore, Will Reg Birch: Engineer, Trade Unionist, Communist 2004 0947967338