DUNCAN HALLAS, who died last week, was a lifelong fighter for revolutionary socialism. A whole generation of supporters of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) remembers him as an inspired speaker and teacher of Marxist ideas. Year after year he would fill halls with hundreds of people at the SWP's annual Marxism event as he spoke about a range of topics - historical materialism, the struggle of the working class in Britain, the revolutionary tradition, the origins of humanity.
COMRADES WHO knew Les will be sad to learn that he died on 30 July. Above all, Les believed in being an activist. He had been a car worker at the Longbridge plant in Birmingham in the 1970s and early 1980s, and after he retired he became one of the mainstays of his local Socialist Workers Party branch in the city.
Stephen Jay Gould, the scientist who died last week, will be remembered for many things. He was one of the greatest ever popularisers of science, especially in his chosen field of natural history and evolution. Gould was also a lifelong fighter against racism and reactionary ideas of all kinds.
COMRADES AND friends will be deeply saddened to hear that Bob Pether has died at the age of 55, from cancer. Bob was an active trade unionist, first in the Inland Revenue Staff Federation and later in Cohse. He was part of the group in the 1970s that produced Revenue Rank and File, a tabloid that terrified top union bureaucrats.
Debbie was a central member of Wolverhampton Socialist Workers Party for many years. She was also an active trade unionist and campaigner for women's rights. Until recently she was deputy branch secretary of the Wolverhampton Unison union.
SOCIALIST Workers Party members in Hackney, east London, are saddened by the death of Tony Kingston. Tony grew up around the Hoxton area, although he was originally from West Hampstead. Tony, like many young working class lads, turned to boxing as a sport, and was not bad at it.
Socialists and trade unionists in Hull are saddened to hear of the death of Walt Cunningham, former chairman of the Hull Port Shop Stewards Committee and more recently a city councillor. Many readers will have heard of the Pentonville Five. These were London dockers whose jailing in 1972 sparked a near general strike.
Benny Rothman should be mourned by every hill walker and climber in the country. In 1932 he led a mass trespass of ramblers onto the beautiful land of Kinder Scout.
I'M SADDENED to announce the passing of a veteran of American radicalism. Martin Glaberman, Professor Emeritus of Social Science at Wayne State University in Detroit, was an auto worker, shop steward and union committee man for 20 years.
Merseyside Socialist Workers Party members are deeply saddened at the recent death of Kate Rankin, a longstanding member of the party. Kate played a key role as branch secretary for the SWP in Liverpool, holding together and building that branch during the difficult years of the 1980s. Her commitment to revolutionary socialism always shone out.
It is with great sadness that I heard of the death of Charlie Van Gelderen. Charlie represented a historical link from his attendance at the founding conference of the Fourth International in Paris in 1938 up to general election campaigning for the Cambridge Socialist Alliance.
COMRADES IN Sheffield are mourning the loss of Allan Swan. He was a respected teacher, thinker and fighter for socialist ideas who died aged 53 on 13 September.
