so long.... [N]ow we find ourselves supporting partisan leaders in Russia by the supply of arms and munitions at the expense of the British taxpayer, and in addition we find our Government carrying on an inhuman and illegal blockade against the Russian people, the result of which during the coming winter months will indeed be terrible." Upon his return to England, Malone became active in the Hands Off Russia campaign, and in November 1919 he officially joined the proto-Communist British Socialist Party (BSP). Malone was soon being elected to the party's leadership through the patronage of Theodore Rothstein. In the summer of 1920, the BSP became the main constituent of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB), and as a result, Malone became the first CPGB MP. He attended the London Communist Unity Convention held 31 July and 1 August 1921, at which he was elected to the new party's governing Central Committee. Malone's sudden conversion to revolutionary politics brought more questions than answers, and its genuineness was questioned. John Maclean claimed that Malone was a counter-revolutionary sent to disrupt the workers' movement, and he refused to speak alongside Malone. Official CPGB historian James Klugmann saw Malone as a leading figure in the party's first year of existence: "In the first months of the Party's existence Col. Malone was very active not only in Parliament, but addressing mass meetings and rallies all over the country. Whatever his theoretical weaknesses, he was a man of passion, moved by the revolutionary tremors that were shaking the world, full of wrath and indignation against the powers that be, and after a fiery speech in the Albert Hall on November 7, 1920, he was charged with sedition under Regulation 42 of the Defense of the Realm Act ... [h]e was sentenced to six months in the Second Division." The line which landed Malone in jail related to his argument that during a revolutionary crisis, excesses might occur resulting in the killing of some prominent members of the bourgeoisie. "What are a few Churchills or a few Curzons on lampposts compared to the massacre of thousands of human beings?", Malone asked his audience. Despite Malone's prosecution, the Communist Party did not disavow Malone's rhetorical flourish, going so far as to publish an official party pamphlet, entitled What are a Few Churchills? in January 1921. He was stripped of his OBE on 24 June 1921. Malone