Arthur James Cook known as A. J. Cook, was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 coal miner and trade union

Trade union

A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...

 leader. He is remembered as one of the United Kingdom's best known miners’ leaders and a key component of the National Minority Movement (NMM) around the General Strike

1926 United Kingdom general strike

The 1926 general strike in the United Kingdom was a general strike that lasted nine days, from 4 May 1926 to 13 May 1926. It was called by the general council of the Trades Union Congress in an unsuccessful attempt to force the British government to act to prevent wage reduction and worsening...

 of 1926.

Early years

A.J. Cook was born to Thomas and Selina Cook in August 1883, in the town of Wookey

Wookey

Wookey is a village and civil parish west of Wells, on the River Axe in the Mendip district of Somerset, England. Wookey is often confused with its sister village Wookey Hole which is perhaps best known today for the Wookey Hole Caves...

 (Somerset). He spent the early part of his life in the West Country

West Country

The West Country is an informal term for the area of south western England roughly corresponding to the modern South West England government region. It is often defined to encompass the historic counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Somerset and the City of Bristol, while the counties of...

. Cook later described his childhood as a troubled one, which included both a poor relationship with his family as well as a genuine struggle in school.

Political career

As a result, at the age of 18 Cook moved to Porth in South Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

, and later to Merthyr Tydfil

Merthyr Tydfil

Merthyr Tydfil is a town in Wales, with a population of about 30,000. Although once the largest town in Wales, it is now ranked as the 15th largest urban area in Wales. It also gives its name to a county borough, which has a population of around 55,000. It is located in the historic county of...

, to find work in the coal mines; he also was a Baptist preacher in the local chapel. It was in this mining town where Cook first became involved in politics, committing active service to the Independent Labour Party

Independent Labour Party

The Independent Labour Party was a socialist political party in Britain established in 1893. The ILP was affiliated to the Labour Party from 1906 to 1932, when it voted to leave...

 (ILP). He first came to prominence in the Cambrian Coal Dispute in 1910 and went on to active involvement in the Miners' Unofficial Reform Committee which published the famous syndicalist

Syndicalism

Syndicalism is a type of economic system proposed as a replacement for capitalism and an alternative to state socialism, which uses federations of collectivised trade unions or industrial unions...

 pamphlet 'The Miners' Next Step

The Miners' Next Step

The Miners' Next Step was an economic and political pamphlet produced in 1912 calling for coal miners through their lodges, to embrace syndicalism and a new 'scientific' trade unionism. The pamphlet was written by the 'Unofficial Reform Committee' a group of syndaclist and socialists involved in...

' in 1912. The pamphlet argued that the left needed to organize from below to gain control of the leadership of the union.

Cook opposed World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 and in March 1918 was arrested and charged with sedition

Sedition

In law, sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that is deemed by the legal authority to tend toward insurrection against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent to lawful authority. Sedition may include any...

 under the Defence of the Realm Act. He was sentenced to three months' imprisonment.

Having established a reputation as a left-winger, Cook spent the next ten years following through on this initiative; finally getting elected as the secretary of the South Wales Miners' Federation

South Wales Miners' Federation

The South Wales Miners' Federation , nicknamed "The Fed", was a trade union for miners in South Wales.The union was founded on 24 October 1898, following the defeat of the South Wales miners' strike of 1898...

 in 1921 and spending another brief period in prison in the same year for incitement and unlawful assembly. In 1924 the Miners' Minority Movement was able to force Frank Hodges

Frank Hodges (trade unionist)

Frank Hodges was an English trade union leader, who became General Secretary of the Miners' Federation of Great Britain. A Member of Parliament for one year, he was Civil Lord of the Admiralty in the first Labour Government....

 to resign his union office, and thus an election was held to determine the next leader of the movement. The South Wales Miners’ Federation nominated AJ Cook to replace him, and he beat Joseph Jones

Joseph Jones (trade unionist)

Joseph Jones was a British trade unionist.Born in St Helens, Jones studied at a technical college before becoming a coal miner. He moved to work at Thurcroft, and was elected branch secretary of the Yorkshire Miners' Association in 1914...

 for the post by 217,664 votes to 202,297. Cook was then 39 years old.

On learning of his election, Trades Union Congress

Trades Union Congress

The Trades Union Congress is a national trade union centre, a federation of trade unions in the United Kingdom, representing the majority of trade unions...

 general secretary Fred Bramley

Fred Bramley

Fred Bramley was the second General Secretary of the British Trade Union Congress .Born in Pool near Otley in the West Riding of Yorkshire, Bramley worked as a cabinet maker and joined the Independent Labour Party...

 exploded in outrage against Cook's election, claiming him to be a “raving Communist”. Regardless, he was General Secretary of the Miners’ Federation of Great Britain from 1924 until 1931, a period that included the 1926 General Strike, about which he wrote the pamphlet "The Nine Days". He was also elected as secretary of the International Miners' Federation.

Although a member of the Independent Labour Party

Independent Labour Party

The Independent Labour Party was a socialist political party in Britain established in 1893. The ILP was affiliated to the Labour Party from 1906 to 1932, when it voted to leave...

, Cook worked closely with the Communist Party

Communist Party of Great Britain

The Communist Party of Great Britain was the largest communist party in Great Britain, although it never became a mass party like those in France and Italy. It existed from 1920 to 1991.-Formation:...

 after its formation in 1920 and the National Minority Movement

National Minority Movement

The National Minority Movement was a British organisation, established in 1924 by the Communist Party of Great Britain, which attempted to organise a radical presence within the existing trade unions...

 from 1924 to 1929. Arthur Horner

Arthur Horner (politician)

Arthur Lewis Horner was a Welsh trade union leader and communist politician. During his periods of office as President of the South Wales Miners Federation from 1936, and as General Secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers from 1946, he became one of the most prominent and influential...

, a leading South Wales Communist and mining militant described Cook's tenure as General Secretary as “a time for new ideas — an agitator, a man with a sense of adventure”.

Works

• "A.J. Cook Tells His Own Story," Tit-Bits, April and May 1926.