Springhall, Dave

Born in London in the quarter Kensal Green. Entered the royal fleet at the age of fifteen, during the First World War . In 1920, he wrote an article entitled “Discontent on the Lower Deck” in the publication Worker Dreadnought , which led to his dismissal from the fleet for “links with extremists” ^[1] .

He joined the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPV) and its subsidiary Komsomol organization (Young Communist League). He worked as a builder, although he often had problems with employment. He was a functionary of the Committee of the national movement of the unemployed and a member of the trade union movement. Participated in the election campaign as a candidate from the Labor Party in the city council of Richmond , then ran for the CPV, but was not elected.

In 1924, Sprighol was a delegate to the Fifth Congress of the Communist International , and also took part in the IV Congress of the Communist Youth International . In 1926, after the arrest of William Rastus, he became the acting secretary of the Komsomol, was one of the organizers of the British general strike , for which he was twice imprisoned. From 1928 to 1931, Sprigall studied at the International Lenin School . Then he returned to the UK and began campaigning for the expulsion of the Trotskyists from the CPV ^[1] . From now on, he may have worked for the OGPU ^[2] .

During the Spanish Civil War, Springhall served as political commissar of the British battalion , and then as assistant military commissar of the XV International Brigade . He was wounded in the battle of Haram : a bullet went through his cheeks. He returned to the UK in 1938, becoming the editor of the Morning Star , then spent some time as a CPV representative in Moscow . He returned to the UK again to make sure that his party supported the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact . Secretary General Harry Pollit , who opposed the pact, was removed from office. Springhall became one of the party leaders along with Rast and Rajani Palm Datt ^[1] .

In 1943, Springhall was imprisoned, removed from all party posts, and was found guilty of receiving secret information from an employee of the Ministry of Aviation. It later emerged that he also received classified information from Desmond Yuren from the ODR . Departed four and a half years from seven years hard labor. He traveled to Eastern Europe on his way to China , where he worked as an adviser to the Chinese Press Management Information Office. He traveled to Moscow in 1953 to be treated for throat cancer , but he died there. His grave is located in Babaoshan cemetery in Beijing ^[1] .