Dave Springhall

Douglas Frank Springhall (28 March 1901 – 2 September 1953), known as Dave Springhall, was a <a href="/facts/British_people/xn7cqlzV">British</a> <a href="/facts/Communist/PkUwa9xK">communist</a> activist.
Born in <a href="/facts/Kensal_Green/KVPDm6Yk">Kensal Green</a>, Springhall joined the <a href="/facts/Royal_Navy/Xdy8YCH7">Royal Navy</a> at the age of fifteen, during <a href="/facts/World_War_I/vITTUanQ">World War I</a>. In 1920, he wrote "Discontent on the Lower Deck", an article for the communist publication <a href="/facts/Workers%2527_Dreadnought/CL73CHlx">Workers' Dreadnought</a>, leading to his dismissal from the Navy for "associating with extremists".
Springhall joined the <a href="/facts/Communist_Party_of_Great_Britain/GFF6JLpS">Communist Party of Great Britain</a> (CPGB) and its affiliated <a href="/facts/Young_Communist_League_(Britain)/xPc5CNsn">Young Communist League</a> (YCL). He worked as a builder, but struggled to find employment, focussing his time on the <a href="/facts/National_Unemployed_Workers%2527_Committee_Movement/g4YeTTNu">National Unemployed Workers' Committee Movement</a> and the <a href="/facts/Trade_union/PjeN2WKu">trade union</a> movement. He stood as a <a href="/facts/Labour_Party_(UK)/jr0wYRdF">Labour Party</a> candidate for <a href="/facts/Richmond-upon-Thames/UVuPBVwS">Richmond</a> Town Council, then later as a Communist candidate, but was not elected.
In 1924, Springhall was a delegate to the Fifth Congress of the <a href="/facts/Communist_International/lE7vfpeY">Communist International</a>, and also the Fourth Congress of the <a href="/facts/Young_Communist_International/xw3Iyz24">Young Communist International</a>. In 1926, following the imprisonment of <a href="/facts/William_Rust_(journalist)/DQUDlEyr">William Rust</a>, he became Acting Secretary of the YCL, serving during the <a href="/facts/British_general_strike/EzsFdoF0">British general strike</a>, for which he was twice jailed himself. From 1928 to 1931, Springhall studied at the <a href="/facts/International_Lenin_School/P3P8jlsx">International Lenin School</a>. He then returned to the UK, when he led moves to expel <a href="/facts/Trotskyist/vFTI0SKS">Trotskyists</a> from the CPGB. From this period on, he may have been working for the <a href="/facts/GRU_(Soviet_Union)/2MkQEIvj">GRU</a>. By 1937 he was secretary of the London district of the Communist party and a member of the party's Political Bureau.

Dave Springhall open-in-new

Dave Springhall