John Gollan

Who was John Gollan?

John Gollan was a leader of the Communist Party of Great Britain.

Born in Edinburgh, Gollan joined the CPGB and the Young Communist League 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.