Joe Vaughan

Joseph James Vaughan (1878 – 1938) was a British left-wing politician.

Early life and career Born in East London, Vaughan began working at the age of eight. He stayed at school part-time until he was thirteen. He worked a variety of jobs before he was apprenticed to a former Chartist, who shaped Vaughan's political education.

Vaughan eventually settled into a career as an electrician, joined the Electrical Trades Union (ETU), and was elected president of Bethnal Green Trades Council. The BSP affiliated to the Labour Party, and it was under this party label that Vaughan was elected in 1914 to the Bethnal Green Borough Council. He was the only Labour member of the council until 1919, when the party won a large majority.

Vaughan stood for Mayor of Bethnal Green in 1919, and won. He is often cited as the first British communist mayor. The next year he attended the 3rd World Congress of the Communist International in Moscow. During this period, he still remained a member of Labour, even serving on the executive of the London Labour Party.

In a surprise change of tactic, the CPGB stood Vaughan in Manchester Platting at the 1929 general election, where he took only 1.0% of the votes cast. He stood once more in Bethnal Green South West in 1931, falling to third with 17.4% of the vote.