This had been founded the previous year but was struggling; it had only 88 members, few of whom had paid subscriptions, and was in financial difficulties.
Elvin was appointed as its general secretary and immediately established a union journal, and an employment exchange to help members find work.
[1] On the outbreak of World War II, the British Government decided that film production should halt.
The union expanded its remit, becoming the "Association of Cinematograph, Television and Allied Technicians", and by 1969, membership was more than 16,000.
He stood unsuccessfully for the party in Weston-super-Mare at the 1935 United Kingdom general election, Kingston-upon-Thames in 1945,[4] and Oxford in the 1951 and 1955.