Russell Smart

Hyman Russell Smart (1858 – 12 November 1923) was a British socialist activist.

Born in London, Smart attended Dulwich College before becoming an actor. However, he soon changed careers and instead became a sanitation engineer.

Smart became interested in socialism and joined the Social Democratic Federation (SDF) and Fabian Society, but he devoted most of his time to the Independent Labour Party (ILP). At the 1895 general election, he stood as the ILP candidate for Huddersfield; he took 11.2% of the vote and was not elected. Despite this, he became increasingly prominent in the ILP, serving on its National Administrative Council. He subsequently became less prominent, although he did join a new SDF, successor to the National Socialist Party, in 1923.