Patrick Peter Lavin (1881-unknown) was an English communist, activist, and translator. He started off as a miner, but as an autodidact he was attracted to Independent Working Class Education. Lavin was secretary of the Scottish Labour College.[1] After membership of the Independent Labour Party and the Socialist Labour Party he became a founding member of the Communist Party of Great Britain at their Foundation Congress in 1920.[2]
In October 1922 Lavin advocated that communists should support the Anti-Treaty Irish Republican Army in their struggle.[1] In the article he wrote for the Workers' Republic he quoted Lenin's address to the 2nd World Congress of the Comintern: "Direct assistance must be given by all Communist Parties to the revolutionary movements of subject peoples (for example – Ireland)." This article was noted in the fortnightly police report to the British cabinet.[3]