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The Sandy Hobbs CollectionSandy Hobbs was born in Aberdeen in 1937, attended Aberdeen University where he graduated in Psychology in 1958 and where he did post-graduate studies. He became a member of the Aberdeen Humanist Group and later the CND and the Aberdeen Left Club that was as cultural as well as a political society. This brought Sandy into contact with people like E.P.Thompson and Stuart Hall, Norman and Janey Buchan and Arnold Wesker, who was campaigning for Labour Movement involvement in the Arts. He joined the Young Socialists and the Labour Party in about 1959 and was a member for about 12 years, though, in his own words "not always a very loyal one", He was also a member of the Fife Socialist League that was led by Lawrence Daly who stood against the official Labour candidate in the 1959 General Election.In 1961, he married Lois Kemp who was a fellow student with a background in the Labour Movement and a leading member of Student CND. Sandy moved to Dundee and tells us at this time he came close to the Labour Worker Group, a Trotskyite movement within the Labour Party that included people like Tony Cliff, Paul Foot and Gus MacDonald. He became more active in CND, doing publicity work for them and then joining the Committee of 100 where he came into contact with Anarchist and Libertarian Groups. Sandy became a more active member of the Labour Party when he came to Glasgow, becoming Chairman of the Local Branch and Janey Buchan’s election agent. He finished with the Labour Party in the early 1970s, being disillusioned with the Wilson Government. He became active in the Anti-Apartheid Movement and Solidarity with Vietnam Campaign. He also became active in Trade Unionism and the College Lecturers Associations and was for a for a while a member of the International Socialists. Later Sandy worked for the radical newspaper, The Glasgow News and was a member of the Chile Committee for Human Rights that supported refugees from the regime of Pinochet in Chile. He has now dropped out of active politics and concentrates on research, writing and publishing. Lois Kemp remained in the Labour party after Sandy had left acting as Constituency Secretary and Election Agent. Later Lois became active in the Women’s Movement, especially in Glasgow Women’s Aid. The Sandy Hobbs Collection includes a range of Left Wing books, pamphlets and periodicals. The books include political biographies and books on trade unions and workers control. The periodicals cover Scottish, British and international concerns. Many date from the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s as well as later periodicals from the 1970s to the 1990s. The pamphlets cover labour and women’s issues, international Communism, Russia and Cuba and social security issues such as health and unemployment. Collection contentsCollection contact:Philip Wallace (Telephone 0141-273-1186. E-Mail T.Wallace@gcal.ac.uk) Last Updated:
8 June, 2007
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