He was born in Whitechapel, London, to an eastern European Jewish family, he left school when he was 14 to follow his father as a tailor, he later became a bookseller, a profession he continued most of his life.

In 1936, he was involved in the Battle of Cable Street, when Oswald Mosley's Blackshirts were routed by a mobilisation of East End workers.

He was a founding member of the London Socialist Film Co-op and also worked as a chauffeur for Clive Jenkins, a British trade union leader, for many years.

He left the Communist Party in 1956 after the Soviet Union suppression of the Hungarian Uprising that year.

He was deeply involved with his local Neighbourhood Advice Centre as a trustee on the management board, and he also dedicated many hours to helping others with welfare problems.