Person Open DS/UK/10310 Gollan; John (1911-1977); Scottish leader of the Communist Party of Great Britain Gollan John 1911-1977 Scottish leader of the Communist Party of Great Britain Male

John Gollan (2 April 1911 - 5 September 1977) was a leader of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB). Born in Edinburgh, Gollan joined the CPGB and the Young Communist League (YCL) aged sixteen. He became a signwriter but was soon imprisoned for distributing an anti-militarist leaflet. In 1932 he was released and began working for the party. Gollan became the Editor of the YCL's newspaper, then General Secretary of the YCL. He then held various regional posts before becoming the party's National Organiser in 1945. In 1949, he became assistant editor of the Daily Worker, and in 1954 he became the party's Assistant General Secretary. In 1956 he became the party's General Secretary and immediately had to deal with the drop in membership following the Soviet crushing of the Hungarian Revolution. He held the post until 1976, when he resigned following ill health, and died the following year. International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families - ISAAR(CPF) 2nd edition - ICA 2004 ISBN 2-9521932-2-3 National Council on Archives, Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997 Yes RAHdroberts 12/17/2013 Rachael.Fragola 3/1/2022 abbecc85-70ed-4a9b-802e-3f7b637f4960