Journalist. He was a writer for several newspapers in England, but is remembered for being the editor of the communist newspaper, "The Daily Worker," from 1930 to 1949. He was a founding member of the Communist Party of Great Britain, serving as Secretary of the Young Communist League from 1923 to 1929 and executive Member of the Communist Party from 1923 to 1949. On July 31, 1920 with the merging of several far-left political parties, the Communist Party of Great Britain was founded. In July of 1924 he traveled to Moscow to attend the Fifth Congress of the Communist International. Many sources describe him has being one of the more militant members. In November of 1925 he and eleven others were sentenced to twelve months imprisonment under the Incitement to Mutiny Act 1797. In 1935 he published the book, "Communism and Cotton." While being a war correspondent, he traveled to Spain for their Civil War. He married twice. He and his first wife separated while he was in Russia, with his wife and their daughter staying in Russia. Eventually, his wife came back to England, but sadly his daughter was caught up in the 1941 ethnic cleansing of the Volga Germans, being sentenced to a forced labor camp before returning to England in 1943. He married for a second time, and after his death, his widow married Wogan Philipps, who succeeded to his father's peerage as 2nd Baron Milford in 1962, becoming the only Communist to sit in the House of Lords. Rust died young of a heart attack. For a detailed account of Rust's political life read the 329-page 1998 PhD thesis of Matthew Worley, "Class against Class: The Communist Party of Great Britain in the Third Period, 1927-1932."
Journalist. He was a writer for several newspapers in England, but is remembered for being the editor of the communist newspaper, "The Daily Worker," from 1930 to 1949. He was a founding member of the Communist Party of Great Britain, serving as Secretary of the Young Communist League from 1923 to 1929 and executive Member of the Communist Party from 1923 to 1949. On July 31, 1920 with the merging of several far-left political parties, the Communist Party of Great Britain was founded. In July of 1924 he traveled to Moscow to attend the Fifth Congress of the Communist International. Many sources describe him has being one of the more militant members. In November of 1925 he and eleven others were sentenced to twelve months imprisonment under the Incitement to Mutiny Act 1797. In 1935 he published the book, "Communism and Cotton." While being a war correspondent, he traveled to Spain for their Civil War. He married twice. He and his first wife separated while he was in Russia, with his wife and their daughter staying in Russia. Eventually, his wife came back to England, but sadly his daughter was caught up in the 1941 ethnic cleansing of the Volga Germans, being sentenced to a forced labor camp before returning to England in 1943. He married for a second time, and after his death, his widow married Wogan Philipps, who succeeded to his father's peerage as 2nd Baron Milford in 1962, becoming the only Communist to sit in the House of Lords. Rust died young of a heart attack. For a detailed account of Rust's political life read the 329-page 1998 PhD thesis of Matthew Worley, "Class against Class: The Communist Party of Great Britain in the Third Period, 1927-1932."
Bio by: Linda Davis
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