Hans Neumann

Who was Hans Neumann?

Hans Neumann was a founding member of the Socialist Party of Great Britain.

Neumann had previously been very active in the Social Democratic Federation, being a public speaker for that party and secretary of its Chelsea & Fulham branch in 1897. Neumann was a well-known early Impossibilist, being a victim of the expulsions of April 1904 which led to the foundation of the Socialist Party of Great Britain in June.

A notable indoor and outdoor speaker for the SPGB, he was also an enthusiastic writer for the Socialist Standard, translated foreign-language articles and was the author of the Party song. From 1904 to 1909 he was on the Executive Committee and from 1909 to 1911 was Treasurer.

Herbert Morrison described his encounters with Neumann in his 1960 autobiography as follows:

Neumann often spoke at one corner of the small Kennington Triangle while I spoke at another. Often our addresses degenerated into slanging matches which did have the advantage of attracting small crowds which might otherwise have passed by. Neumann was not loath to pour contempt on the views of people like me with all the fervour at his command. The more excited he got the stronger became his German accent.