Avtar Singh Jouhl
Avtar Jouhl, a lifelong class fighter and Marxist has died. He arrived in Smethwick in 1958 from a village in the Punjab, India, that had a strong tradition of fighting British colonialism. He was nevertheless shocked by the overt colour bar that he and other immigrants faced in housing, pubs, restaurants, hairdressers and employment.
Alongside others he built the Indian Workers Association to fight racism and build workers’ organisation. Every member was expected to join a union. Solidarity was their watchword.
Malcom X visited Smethwick in 1959 after being invited by Avtar to see the British colour bar for himself.
The Indian Workers Association was part of the Anti Nazi League. It played a leading role in mobilising against the fascist National Front in the 1970s and then in the Campaign against the Nationality bill in 1981.
Avtar combined his leadership role in fighting racism and fascism with organising in the foundries where he worked. He built democratic and accountable shop floor organisation.
He fought tirelessly against racist practices such as separate toilets and showers for white and Asian workers. He also led fights for better pay, improved health and safety and better pensions for all.
Avtar and others took the fight into the unions to get rid of rules that discriminated against black and Asian workers. The election of Bill Morris as the first black general secretary of the transport union, the TGWU, was partly down to the efforts of Avtar and other like-minded union members.
He continued campaigning after he became a college lecturer in Birmingham.
Avtar was a principled fighter all his life. The struggles he led made a difference to black, Asian and white workers.
He was, too, a husband and father to a family who adored him, an amazing individual to know and work alongside. He was respected by all, loved by many and will be sorely missed but not forgotten.
She was no harmless eccentric
