Early Life
Born in Sandhurst, Berkshire, Lawrence entered the British Army at the age of fourteen, before discovering his skill as a musician. He left the Army and toured the country during the Great Depression. During this period, he was awakened to the suffering of millions of workers around the country, and joined first the unemployed workers' movement, then in 1937 the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB). His opposition to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact led him to leave the CPGB and join instead the Trotskyist Revolutionary Workers League in 1939. A supporter of Isaac Deutscher, Lawrence followed him into the Workers International League (WIL) in 1941 and then left to join the Revolutionary Socialist League (RSL). There he became the industrial organiser, and the prime exponent of Trotsky's Proletarian Military Policy. However, this was a policy strongly supported by the WIL, who began paying Lawrence for his activities. As a result, he was expelled from the RSL.
Read more about this topic: John Lawrence (political Activist)
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