Campbell, J. R. 1894-1969

John Ross Campbell (14 October 1894 – 18 September 1969) was a British communist activist and newspaper editor. Campbell was a co-founder of the Communist Party of Great Britain and briefly served as its second leader from July 1928 to July 1929. He is best remembered as the principal in the Campbell Case. In 1924, Campbell was charged under the Incitement to Mutiny Act for an article published in the paper Workers' Weekly. The article called on British soldiers to "let it be known that, neither in the class war nor in a military war, will you turn your guns on your fellow workers, but instead will line up with your fellow workers in an attack upon the exploiters and capitalists." He was sentenced to six months in prison. The decision by the Labour government of Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald to withdraw prosecution of Campbell lead to the loss of a confidence vote in the House of Commons, forcing the elections which ended the first Labour government in October 1924. Campbell remained a top leader and leading public figure associated with the CPGB from the 1920s to the 1960s.