Leonard Hall (socialist)

William Leonard Hall (1866 – 29 June 1916) was a British trade union leader, journalist, and socialist activist, who held prominent positions in the Independent Labour Party.

He and Tom Fox led a campaign to improve the working conditions of the navvies building the Manchester Ship Canal.

He was active on the Manchester and Salford Trades Council,[2] and in 1892 ran a joint recruitment campaign with the Colne Valley Labour League.

An opponent claimed that he was misusing union funds to support his candidature; an enquiry found that the charge was baseless, but he decided to withdraw from the election, leaving the ILP to instead stand James Johnston.

[9] He was involved in the free speech campaign at Boggart Hole Clough, speaking in defiance of a ban by Manchester City Council, and for this served one month in Strangeways Prison, causing his family serious financial problems.

This was condemned by a majority on the NAC,[11][12] and C. T. Douthwaite, Hall and Smart were the leading ILP figures to attend the 1911 Socialist Unity conference organised by the Social Democratic Federation.