William Henry Andrews (20 April 1870 – 1950) was the first General Secretary of the South African Communist Party, serving from 1921 to 1925.
Biography[]
William Henry Andrews was born on 20 April 1870 in Suffolk, England, and he traveled to Johannesburg, South Africa in 1890. He worked at gold mines before becoming a trade union organizer, and he became the official South African organizer of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers and president of the Witwatersand Trades and Labor Council. In 1909, he became the leader of the South African Labor Party, and in 1912 he was elected an MP for the Labor Party. In 1915, he led anti-World War I socialists in forming the International Socialist League, and he founded the South African Communist Party in 1921. He died in 1950, having been expelled from his own SACP for his "black republic" policy.