I met Frank Bailey while doing an oral history project for the Workers’ Educational Association on the experience of black trade unionists. The CIA were apparently responsible for Frank’s contribution to the British labour movement. His union activity in 1950s New York led to him being put under surveillance and then subsequently “advised” by his assigned agent that he might be safer in Britain. It was a shock to learn that when he joined the fire service in east London, the Fire Brigades Union rep was actually an Oswald Mosley supporter. Guyana’s loss was our gain.
