Dates

• Existence: 1918 - 1970

Biography

Rhoda Mary Napier Fraser, née Jupp (1918-1970) was a communist and peace campaigner. She was also known by the pseudonym Crae Ritchie, used for her creative writing and poetry. She was born in Edinburgh and trained originally as a nurse. Rhoda joined the Communist Party of Great Britain in her early twenties and in 1944 became Scottish women's organiser. She campaigned for better housing, education, maternity services, equal pay and improved conditions for women workers throughout her career. She subsequently became secretary of the Scottish Communist Party's women's advisory committee, helping to recruit women to the party from across Scotland. She was also instrumental in organising the first Scottish National Assembly of Women held in Glasgow in March 1953. In addition, Fraser was also an active peace campaigner, calling for action against nucear warfare, and against the Korean War, against the Vietnam war, and against the ill-treatement of prisoners. In 1956, she left the Communist Party due to her concerns on policy direction. She went on to work for the Scottish Council of Social Services, administering welfare for the elderly. She joined the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in 1958. She died at the age of fifty-two in 1970. [Source: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/54398]

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