A charismatic ex-soldier, orator and propagandist, John A. Lee was a
dynamic figure in the Labour Party from the 1920s until 1940, when he
was expelled for attacking the leadership of M.J. Savage.
John A. Lee was a
dynamic figure in the Labour Party from the 1920s until 1940. But Lee had a
parallel career as a writer and later bookseller. His best-known novel,
the largely autobiographical Children of the poor (1934), was described
as a ‘sensational book on vice, poverty, misery'.
Lee's criticisms of the dying Prime Minister M.J. Savage's leadership and his dissatisfaction with economic policy led to his expulsion from the Labour Party. Savage died two days later.
