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Julie (Julius) Jacobs
Julie Jacobs, born in 1906, was a long-standing Communist, furnishing trades worker and NUFTO official, and the charismatic leader of the London Trades Council from 1945 to 1952. As such he wrote the forward to its official history, edited by George Tate, the “London Trades Council 1860 – 1950: A History” (1950).
Jacobs had been part of the Jewish east end movement against fascism in the 1930s and, from the moment he became Trades Council secretary, he harassed Labour’s new Home Secretary, Chuter Ede, over the need to ban fascism in post-war Britain. Ede opposed the proscription of fascists from the Civil Service, yet later sanctioned a purge of Communists. Julie Jacobs forwarded a motion from the London Trades Council in April 1946, calling upon the government to make fascist activity illegal. Ede siply refused, claiming this would be a restriction of freedom of opinion
Julie’s brother, Hymie Jacobs was seconded to the Education Corps as a result of being wounded in one of the, rather infamous for its number of wounded, Armoured Corps exercises preparatory to D-Day.
Pic: Julie Jacobs is leading the Stepney Borough Communist Party banner (immediately behind the band) with Claud Berridge (see separate entry) on his left, also in front of the banner.
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