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Walter Thomas Leo Tapsell (19 August 1904 – 31 March 1938) was a British communist activist, known as a leading figure in the British Battalion during the Spanish Civil War. ==Early life and activism== Born in the East End of London, Tapsell joined the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) at the age of sixteen, and also became prominent in the Young Communist League (YCL).〔Harry Wicks, ''Keeping My Head'', p.201〕 He studied at the Lenin School in Moscow,〔James K. Hopkins, ''Into the Heart of the Fire: The British in the Spanish Civil War'', p.54〕 taking his wife Esther, and co-ordinated the passing of documents between Moscow and the CPGB.〔''Labour History Review'', Vols.68-69, pp.20, 117〕 At the 1929 UK general election, Tapsell stood against Clement Attlee in Limehouse. However, he took only 245 votes, and was not elected. When the result was announced, he gave a speech complaining about the system of deposits, which, he claimed, made it difficult for representatives of the working class to stand.〔Samantha L. Bird, ''Stepney'', p.106〕 By 1929, Tapsell was the secretary of the YCL, and he had been noticed by the international Comintern leadership as a promising talent, alongside William Rust, Robin Page Arnot and Robbie Robson, and the group enthusiastically embraced the new "Class Against Class" line. However, each member of the group was associated with a failed project; in Tapsell's case, it was that he had performed poorly when organising the party's support of textile workers locked out in West Yorkshire in 1930.〔Tim Rees and Andrew Thorpe, ''International Communism and the Communist International, 1919-43'', pp.77-78〕 Tapsell was declared bankrupt in 1934, at which time he described his trades as "journalist",〔"(The Bankruptcy Acts, 1914 and 1926 ), ''Edinburgh Gazette'', 12 October 1934〕 probably due to his role as circulation manager of the ''Daily Worker'' newspaper.〔Ian MacDougall, ''Voices from War'', p.357〕 In his spare time, Tapsell was also a keen jazz drummer,〔Harry Wicks, ''Keeping My Head'', p.39〕 and was interested in sports, sitting on the National Committee of the British Workers' Sports Federation.〔Stephen G. Jones, ''Sport, Politics and the Working Class'', p.79〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Wally Tapsell」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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