Arthur Field (trade unionist)

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Arthur George Field (13 July 1869 – 6 December 1944) was a British trade unionist and socialist activist. He was born in Isleworth and grew up in Maidstone, Kent. He joined the National Secular Society and became involved with the Democratic Federation, which later became the British Socialist Party. He helped start Maidstone’s Central Debating Society in 1888 and, with others, founded the Maidstone Labour Electoral Association to back Labour candidates. He worked as a photographer and even tried to create a photographers’ union in 1890, but it failed; he then encouraged photographers to join other unions. He played a part in the 1889 London dock strike and joined the Dock, Wharf, Riverside and General Labourers’ Union representing the Medway area.

Field helped form the Kent Independent Labour Party in 1890 and attended early ILP activities, eventually being elected to the ILP's National Administrative Council in 1893. He remained active in Kent labour circles and led the Maidstone and District Trades Council, becoming its president in 1902 before resigning in 1903 over a dispute about alleged Conservative links. He moved to Battersea and led the South and East of England Trades and Labour Councils, and he explored affiliating with the Labour Representation Committee amid competition from other federations. Inspired by the Young Turks, he became interested in Islam and helped found the Anglo-Ottoman Society, serving as its secretary. He supported Indian independence and helped establish the Workers’ Welfare League of India in 1917, and worked with Indian newspapers. He was a founder member of the Communist Party of Great Britain, collaborating with several socialist leaders. In 1927, after the CPGB criticized a fellow member over religious questions, Field resigned in sympathy and later wrote anti-communist articles for the Indian press.