Mary Docherty (27 April 1908 – 2 February 2000) was a British activist and member of the Communist Party of Great Britain.
Born to a working-class family in Cowdenbeath, Scotland, she was influenced by the communist beliefs of her father, a miner, as well as by the poverty she grew up in.
She retired from active politics at the age of 60, but continued to give talks and write her memoirs, published in 1991 as A Miner's Lass.
[3] Her father had lost his job due to his political work with the Communist Party, and as a result was forced to sell firewood to support the family.
[9] While still a teenager, she became the literature secretary for the Cowdenbeath branch of the party, and was responsible for the production and sale of a number of weekly newspapers.
[8] During propaganda meetings of the children's wing, she taught songs, poetry, and plays, and in 1928 organised an agitation to obtain a holiday for all schoolchildren on 1 May, or Labour Day,[4] which was successful in five different burghs, including Cowdenbeath.
[8] The use of the strap to punish children was eventually prohibited after the communists were elected to the Fife education authority and the town council in Lochgelly.
Her affiliation with the party allowed her to travel to the Soviet Union in 1929 as a Scottish delegate to a gathering of young communists.
[5] Of her time in the Soviet Union, she stated: I felt a different person, no worry about where the next meal was coming from, free to go where I pleased, everyone doing everything they could to make me happy.
[4] She worked for Willie Gallacher, the communist Member of Parliament for Fife, for several years, and in 1952 unsuccessfully ran for a city council seat.
[1] At various points, Docherty held the positions of treasurer, Women's Group leader, and secretary for the Fife branch of the Communist Party.
[1] She retired from active political life when she was 60 years old,[2] but despite being crippled by arthritis, participated in fundraising efforts for the newspaper Morning Star.
[5] She continued to give talks and participate in International Women's Day events nearly every year until her death on 2 February 2000.
[5] When the Second World War broke out in 1939, she began working in the Crombie munitions factory,[14][15] before shifting to looking after children in Rosyth.