Max Bennett
Max used to rise about 4am and serve breakfasts at his cafe in the Old Market in Wolverhampton (pictured) and after that spend the whole day in Communist activity. Max had inherited the cafe in 1946 from his father Norman Bennett, one of the pioneers of the Party.
Max was a skilled engineer, but was victimised for his Communism and the cafe enabled him to survive. Max never did things by halves and when the Party demanded a mass Party, he obliged by recruiting, whether initially willingly or not, all his relations, not to mention his friends, particularly Jack Henson who was a skilled engineer.
Max had a wise crack for everything, which made it so pleasurable to work with him. He was a very generous contributor to Party funds and had a car at a time when ownership of such a thing was not widespread. Because of this, we both attended the monthly meetings of the Midlands District Party and its fortnightly Secretariat in Birmingham, thus saving me the journey on the Midland Red Bus to Birmingham from 88 Lower Villiers St. where we lived and where the South Staffs party met.
George Barnsby
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