D H Lewis
Lewis was a member of the South Hendon branch of the Communist Party, which was first formed in July 1942. Only five of its sixteen branch committee members had any previous experience of office.
The branch reported that it had the responsibility for carrying out Party policy in an area that had a population of 50,000. The Communist Party’s membership in South Hendonwas then close to eight hundred persons and included 12 factory branches, and three `transport groups’ (probably Party sub-branches in bus garages).
The first political priority for the branch was in enacting two of the most recently published Party pamphlets: "How to use the services of every comrade in the fight for the Second Front" and “The Communist Party and the National Front”. Of course, the National Front in mind was the anit-fascist alliance of the time! This generated such support for the Communist Party that its membership ran at something like more than double what it would for the bulk of the post-war period.
Source: “Organising to win the offensive”
Michael Walker
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