Born in Leiston Suffolk, to Francis Andrews, a fitter, and Sarah Hannah Belmoor.

[2] Andrews served as a Member of Parliament until the 1915 general election after he had resigned from the Labour Party in August 1914, opposed to the country's participation in World War I.

He visited the United Kingdom in 1918, where he was impressed by the British shop stewards' movement at the time.

[3][4] In 1922, as part of the Committee of Action, he and others coerced the South African Industrial Federation into calling a general strike the resulted in the Rand Revolt.

[5][6][2][7] After a visit to Moscow in 1937, he was permitted to re-join on 1 May 1938 at the age of 68 after Solly Sachs, Moses Kotane, and Brian Bunting were re-admitted.