Sue Shatford (left)
It is with a profound sadness and with great difficulty that I write this obituary. Sue Shatford, who many comrades from around the country will have known, has tragically died shortly after being diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer.
It was hoped that by starting a course of palliative chemotherapy some time could be bought so that her loved ones and friends could have a chance to spend a little more time with the wonderful human being that Sue was. Alas this was not to be. After starting the treatment on 4 March, Sue’s weakened body succumbed to the cancer and she passed away on 11 March.
I can find some solace in this dark moment knowing that Sue had time to see her four daughters and grandchildren in the days before she died and that at the end she was at home surrounded by her family who she loved so dearly.
A deeply humane and caring person, Sue, a lifelong vegetarian, was a militant animal rights campaigner. Her later activism and revolutionary socialism was rooted in her lived experience of a working class woman seeking not only to make sense of a world she saw as unjust but looking to change it.
The idea that working class people could fight to fundamentally change the circumstances they found themselves in, and that the role of women in this fight was not peripheral but central, ignited Sue’s imagination and her enthusiasm.
A committed anti-fascist, Sue despised those who would spread racism and division in working class communities. She was always on hand to push back against the far right.
Hard working, thoroughly organised and logistically adept, Sue, with her lifelong partner Gary, has been at the heart of the Socialist Workers Party’s interventions at demonstrations, protests, meetings and conferences for many years.
Never seeking the limelight or acclaim, Sue, along with other comrades, quietly made sure what was needed to be done got done with as little fuss as possible.
And yet in all this activity Sue found time to be one of the most funny, warm hearted comrades I have known. Always willing to quietly listen and support others, lightening a dark moment with a light hearted or funny quip, often at her own expense but more often than not at Gary’s. Appearing like a sunflower on a bright summer’s day, Sue’s supporting nature endeared her to those of us lucky enough to know and work with her.
That Sue has gone so quickly I am sure leaves many of us feeling deeply sad. We have lost a genuinely kind and thoughtful friend and comrade too soon.
I know that it is often said “don’t mourn, get organised”, I would suggest otherwise—take a little time to mourn and reflect upon John Berger’s profound entreaty to “hold everything dear”, then think what would Sue have you do, “Get up, stand up, stand up for your rights. Get up, stand up, don’t give up the fight.” No we won’t give up the fight.
