Eddie Marsden

Edwin Marsden (26 April 1913 – 30 August 1975) was a British trade union leader, communist activist, and political candidate.

Biography Eddie Marsden was born in the Openshaw area of Manchester. He was raised in a working-class family with four brothers and three sisters. He trained as a draughtsman but instead became a steel erector. In 1935 he joined the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB). Marsden was said to have been radicalised in opposition to the spread of fascism, as evidenced by the Italian invasion of Abyssinia. In the 1930s he also joined the Constructional Engineering Union (CEU), and was a site steward for more than thirty years. He stood again unsuccessfully for the seat in the 1964 and 1966 general elections.

Marsden was elected as general secretary of the CEU in 1968. He also played a significant role within the Trades Union Congress, which raised his public profile.