The Comintern announces the death of one of its originators, the Welsh-born David Ivon Jones, a central figure in the founding of South African Communism, a Marxist theorist and prolific writer.

‘David Ivon Jones’ from International Press Correspondence. Vol. 4 No. 35. June 19, 1924.

It is with the greatest sorrow that we have to record the loss of Comrade David Ivon Jones who died recently in a sanatorium in the Crimea. Although taken from us when scarcely in his prime, Comrade Jones leaves behind him a career of valuable service to the revolutionary labour movement and the Communist International.

Born of working class parents in a Welsh village he started life as wage-earner at the age of thirteen. At the age of nineteen he emigrated to New Zealand where he remained four years working for the most time as an agricultural labourer. In 1906 Comrade Jones arrived in South Africa and here he threw himself whole-heartedly into the labour movement, devoting close study to the revolutionary movement and to Marxist theory as well as actively participating in the labour struggles and in general working class activity. In the severe struggles which took place in 1912 and 1913 Comrade Jones took a leading part. In 1914 he was elected as general secretary to the Labour Party and the outbreak of the world-war found him among the few who set their face determinedly against it, as a result of which the chauvinists elements forced him from the leadership of the party which led to a split. Throughout the war Comrade Jones remained true to revolutionary principles in the face of all opposition and persecution. During this period he helped to found what was known as the International Socialist League and became editor of its paper “The International”.

When the Communist International was founded in 1919 Jones was among the first to give it his allegiance and to urge that the South African workers became affiliated thereto. In 1921 he arrived in Moscow as delegate to the III. World Congress and since that time remained in Russia where he devoted his time to the study of international questions and was a constant contributor to the press of the British sections of the Comintern. The article from his pen in the current number of our English brother organ “The Communist Review” shows to what good purpose he was able to put the results of his study of the early history of the Bolshevist Party and the struggle waged by Lenin against all deviations.

The Comintern, and in particular the British sections, will deeply feel the loss sustained in the early death of this comrade, while his life will afford a splendid example of earnest and untiring service to the cause of Communism.

International Press Correspondence, widely known as”Inprecorr” was published by the Executive Committee of the Communist International (ECCI) regularly in German and English, occasionally in many other languages, beginning in 1921 and lasting in English until 1938. Inprecorr’s role was to supply translated articles to the English-speaking press of the International from the Comintern’s different sections, as well as news and statements from the ECCI. Many ‘Daily Worker’ and ‘Communist’ articles originated in Inprecorr, and it also published articles by American comrades for use in other countries. It was published at least weekly, and often thrice weekly. The ECCI also published the glossy magazine ‘Communist International’ edited by Zinoviev and Karl Radek from 1919 until 1926 monthly in German, French, Russian, and English. Unlike, Inprecorr, CI contained long-form articles by the leading figures of the International as well as proceedings, statements, and notices of the Comintern. No complete run of Communist International is available in English. Both were largely published outside of Soviet territory, with Communist International printed in London, to facilitate distribution and both were major contributors to the Communist press in the U.S. Communist International and Inprecorr are an invaluable English-language source on the history of the Communist International and its sections.

PDF of issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/international/comintern/inprecor/1924/v04n35-jun-19-1924-inprecor.pdf