Your leftist pedigree

[MarxSchmarx]

I know it's not fashionable to speak of one's family history in the class struggle, but if you have any examples of ancestors who did a modicum of good it would be of some interest to the rest of us.

I guess I'll start. My maternal great grandfather was a radio technician for a leftist insurrectionist militarist in Latin America. There is also family lore that a distant relative was an anarcho-syndicalist that participated in a major insurrection at the turn of the 20th century that led to attempts to recreate a paris commune style gov't (no it wasn't st. petersburg). Sorry to keep it vague, but both these events were pretty location specific and security culture and all :þ Both of these were on my mother's side.

Anyway, I'm wondering what other pasts other people have in their family history that connect to them to the left. Whether these had any influences on you growing up, they form a sort of "folk history" of the left that would be neat to keep alive even within our own lives.

[Danielle Ni Dhighe]

My maternal 2nd-great-grandmother Florence Ada Gatchell (née Kelley) (1857-1942) was a member of the Socialist Party of America, and was one of those arrested during the Seattle Free Speech Fight of 1907 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist_Party_of_Washington#The_free_speech_figh ts). As a 50-year-old grandmother, she traveled 142 miles by train to take part in a protest she knew would get her arrested.

My paternal great-grandfather William Edward Anthony Dee (1887-1954) was a lifelong socialist activist in two different countries (Canada and USA). Several of his brothers were union activists. His brother Dennis Joseph Dee (1871-1937) was an official in the Brotherhood of Railway Trainmen union in Buffalo, New York.

[human strike]

I'm a direct descendant of William the Conqueror. :thumbup1:

[Comrade Samuel]

I know on one side of my family I have a great-grandfather who came from yugoslavia and became a farmer as for the other they came to America during the revolution as mercenaries from A very poor part of Germany.

This is just what I hear from my family though I really dont have anything to authenticate this.

[Lev Bronsteinovich]

My Dad was a member and organizer in the Socialist Party in the thirties. He supported Norman Thomas. He explained to me that the Trotskyists that entered the SP in in 1936 weren't really interested in building the SP, only in recruiting people to their own program (he was referring to the "French Turn" in the US, but the Trotskyist group). My reply, to his chagrin was, "yes dad, and it turned out pretty well." Cannon and Shachtman and their followers left with most of the SP youth and founded the Socialist Workers Party in 1938. He was a liberal Democrat by the time I was born. The rest of my relatives were apolitical as far as I know.

[The Jay]

My grandmother was in the Polish Resistance, and sabotaged products made in the camps during WWII. Does the fight against nazism count?

[Salyut]

Tommy Douglas used to stop by my granddads for tea.

That's about it.

[NewLeft]

I am probably the first leftist in my family, so no. :unsure: My grandparents were pretty bougie..

[ВАЛТЕР]

My great grandfather was Sava Kovacevic. Partisan commander and national hero of Yugoslavia. Just about every city in the former YU has a street bearing his name, with many songs written about him. He was tje first communist in his village, and was known for doing some crazy shit in battle. A friends grandfather who knew him personally told me Sava was always covered in blood after every battle I was also told he may have had a death wish with his recklessly brave behavior in battle. He was always in the thick of the fighting. Look him up. He was basically the Partisan version of Chick Norris.

[CommieTroll]

My dad used to tell me that Che Guevara is a distant relative of mine on my father's side. He believes it's through Che's father's family, Guevara Lynch, specifically Che's grandmother who came from around Galway or Clare (not too sure), probably just another one of my dad's tall tales (which is the most likely thing) but it's still pretty cool to ponder the notion. Other than that my family and extended family aren't pretty leftist.

[Brosa Luxemburg]

I am really the first socialist of my family. My dad is anti-imperialist and anti-corporation but that is about as far left as he goes.

[Vyacheslav Brolotov]

I'm not a dog.

[Vyacheslav Brolotov]

My parents are Independents who hate Republicans, so they are basically closet Democrats. My ancestors are mostly right-wing. No one else in my entire linage is communist.

[Brosa Luxemburg]

My parents are Independents who hate Republicans, so they are basically closet Democrats. My ancestors are mostly right-wing. No one else in my entire linage is communist.

What do they think about you Marxism-Leninism and support for Stalin? Me and my mom (who is highly republican) agree on nothing on politics and anytime politics is mentioned we argue all the time. While my dad is not a socialist, he is more open to the idea and can at least see where I come from.

[sithsaber]

My ancestors cut sugar cane. Soooooooooooooo yeah

[Dr Doom]

i dunno, half of my family spent time in jail for their political beliefs. although i can only think of one, maybe two that would describe themselves as socialists or even leftists. nobody of any sort of real notoriety though, one of my uncles was a relatively famous republican who was shot dead by the british army in the 70s if that counts.

[Brosa Luxemburg]

i dunno, half of my family spent time in jail for their political beliefs. although i can only think of one, maybe two that would describe themselves as socialists or even leftists. nobody of any sort of real notoriety though, one of my uncles was a relatively famous republican who was shot dead by the british army in the 70s if that counts.

...half my family spent time in jail for drugs/armed robbery/illegal weapons/ etc. :D

[Ostrinski]

I've got Basque terrorists in my blood on my paternal side. Does that count?

[Jimmie Higgins]

Irish, Mexican, and Okiee migrants. My grandfather grew up with the guy who wrote "Zoot Suit" and on the other side was a Bay Area Longshoreman, but I think after the strike. Father was drafted and then an anti-war protesting vet. But while people talked politics a lot and both my parents participated in strikes in their unions, no one was particularly political in an ideological way: average liberal Democrat supporters.

[Workers-Control-Over-Prod]

Well, let's see:
There is my father, a chief of police bureaucrat of the capitalist state and a non-political rather social conservative democrat.
There was his father, a bureaucrat for the Nazi regime who was a delegate and translated nazi propaganda to an amazing 17 languages!
There is my fathers' mother who became a secretary after being a Hitler youth and biked from Cologne to Berchtesgarden escaping american bombers.

There is my mother who is a veterinarian and is rather non-politically left liberal
Her mother was a model and then secretary to housewife
My mothers father was an airplane bomber in WW2

My Step-father was a cook
His father was a Hitler Youth, forced into the Volkswehr at age 15 after he escaped the SS recruits (since all germans knew these were the real crazy fuckers) and later became a social-democratic teacher
His mother was as well a Hitler Youth who became a (you guessed it) secretary.

------------------------------------------------

I am proud to say that i have broken the curse and am the first hard core Communist!

[#FF0000]

My family's always been a p. strong union family. my grandfather taught us never to cross picket lines. That's about it.

[black magick hustla]

some family were guerillas, others were college maoists, some of them are dead, some were tortured, and some of them became career criminals, this is the stuff i am made of

[ColonelCossack]

Communism in my family goes back to the 19th century, at least to the time of my great-granddad, probably when Engels was still around, and it is deeply linked with the Irish republican movement. I am directly related to both the founders of the official and the provisional IRA, as well.

[Deicide]

My grandfather was in the red army during world war 2.

Edit - My grandmother (from my mothers side) was a bureaucrat in the Communist party of Lithuania, from 1955 to 1975, in the Žemaitija region of Lithuania. If that amounts to anything. She was also a factory manager.. they used to hang photographs of her on the walls of the town hall.. praising her for being a brilliant worker, blah, blah.

[MaximMK]

In my family everyone is leftist my parents are social-democrats. My grandparents are communists and my great grandfather fought in the Greek civil war as an officer in the Democratic Army of Greece ( communist army )

[Zav]

As bourg-y as genealogy is considered, I find it fascinating. Unfortunately everyone in my family is Conservative or Reactionary. Tea Partiers and hardcore 'Mericans galore. It's quite depressing really.

[Rafiq]

Many of my relatives fought for the communists during the Lebanese Civil War.

[Welshy]

I am the great grandson of lenin and the great great grandson of marx. Top that :P

not really, I have no idea of the politics of my ancestors but I'm the first communist in my family recently.

[The Douche]

My dad's family came to the states as 48ers. And then fought in the Union army during the civil war.

My mom's family came from Egypt and Lebanon shortly before and shortly after WW2.

[human strike]

As bourg-y as genealogy is considered, I find it fascinating. Unfortunately everyone in my family is Conservative or Reactionary. Tea Partiers and hardcore 'Mericans galore. It's quite depressing really.

Really it's aristocratic though.

My parents taught me that Thatcher was scum and to never trust a Tory. That's about it for my leftist pedigree, I'm afraid.

[A Revolutionary Tool]

Well my mom's uncle was sent to Alcatraz for robbing a bank. He then killed one of the prison guards in an attempt to escape. Not really leftist though...

My uncle in Missouri is like a huge Republican. I mean like he's been granted awards at Republican Conventions before for the work he does for them, he's ran in local elections, etc. And I've got to say he's the dumbest person in my whole family on that side which is why I found it crazy that he does all this stuff(Not so surprised for the Republicans though).

Yeah I'm probably the first commie in my family.

[human strike]

Winston Churchill's nephew fought in the International Brigades.

[La Guaneña]

My dad got beaten by the police a few times back in the 80's for some student unrests, also got some free rides down to the PD.

I also found some Quilapayún albums in my dead Uncle's belongings, but I never met him. But my dad's family was a pretty poor one, so there were some small leftist tendencies. My dad was also in the Worker's Party when it was a bit more radical at the time of it's founding.

On my mother's side, bourgies, liberals and all that stuff.

[Left Leanings]

My Dad's family were all working-class. His father worked in the cotton mills operating a mule, and he was a lifelong trade unionist and Labour voter. My Dad's uncle was a senior Labour councillor, and was chairman of the Housing and Education Committees.

My maternal grandmother was an unmarried single-parent in the 1940s. She took some shit for that. She worked in the cotton mills as a ring spinner. She was a lifelong Labour supporter and trade unionist.

My mum never knew her father til she was 50, when she met him for the first time. My nan had never spoken of him. He came from a better-off family, and his father had been a mill manager in India during the Raj. His mother had been a teacher in the 1920s, and his grandmother a headmistress. We have her teaching certificate, dating back to 1882. All Tories I'm afraid - apart from my grandad. He was the exception, since he was trade unionist, and a socialist. I only met him once, but he well approved of my leftie politics lol.

[Firebrand]

Well my great grandad was imprisoned in the easter rising, and some of my spanish ancestors fought against franco in the civil war, of course some of them fought for franco as well, so that doesn't really say very much. Apart from that my immediate family have always been pretty solid leftists to varying degrees so you could say I was indoctrinated from birth.

[Art Vandelay]

I have heard it passed down in my family that Micheal Collins was a relative of mine, not sure about the accuracy of the claims though.

[eyeheartlenin]

My Dad was a member and organizer in the Socialist Party in the thirties. He supported Norman Thomas. He explained to me that the Trotskyists that entered the SP in in 1936 weren't really interested in building the SP, only in recruiting people to their own program (he was referring to the "French Turn" in the US, but the Trotskyist group). My reply, to his chagrin was, "yes dad, and it turned out pretty well." Cannon and Shachtman and their followers left with most of the SP youth and founded the Socialist Workers Party in 1938. He was a liberal Democrat by the time I was born. The rest of my relatives were apolitical as far as I know.

Thanks to Lev B for the info about his Dad in the SP. It was very interesting. I spent a year in the SPUSA, in order to work on Dave McReynolds' year 2000 presidential campaign, and I can tell you there were still people in the SP who were angry about the entrism of Cannon & Co. in the 1930's. (I should add that Cannon is one of heroes.) I happened to live in a state where there were actually leftists (as opposed to social democratic reformists and closet Democrats) in the SPUSA, but, because of Cannon's entrism, they were as anti-Trotskyist as everyone else in the SPUSA, in which I did not last very long.

From what Lev B has written about his father, the question that occurs to me is, given that the SP rank and file knew Cannon and the Trotskyists were entering Norman Thomas' party to recruit, and Norman Thomas must have known (he was a smart guy, I am sure), why on earth did Thomas let the Trotskyists into the SP?

* * *

To respond to the subject of this thread, in the Civil War, after a Union Army victory over the slaveholders' army in Chattanooga, on Missionary Ridge, one of my forebears, a farmer, took his wagon down the mountain and sold cabbages to the Union Army, and we have been proud of him ever since. I also had an uncle who was a militant in the IAM, the machinists' union, when I was a little boy. They got the union newspaper at their house in Chattanooga, and I used to read it. That was in the 1950's, and that was as close as my family ever got to radicalism. As I remember, the IAM led strikes, but their newspaper was solidly anti-communist.

[Vyacheslav Brolotov]

My grandfather was in the red army during world war 2.

Edit - My grandmother (from my mothers side) was a bureaucrat in the Communist party of Lithuania, from 1955 to 1975, in the Žemaitija region of Lithuania. If that amounts to anything. She was also a factory manager.. they used to hang photographs of her on the walls of the town hall.. praising her for being a brilliant worker, blah, blah.

I think that is the first post you made where only "Stalinists" thanked it.:)

[Geiseric]

My dad was a longshoreman/trucker for a while, he used to tell me that they'd pop scab trucks wheels and fuck with the management.

My grand dad was a railroad worker and a jazz musician, so he was one of the few non racist white people in Kansas! He was also a rum runner.

Most of my family are lowercase d democrat, meaning they believe everything they see on the news, and that is their politics. Albeit my mom who is in line with the union beureaucracy democrat alliance.

[Art Vandelay]

I want to party with your grandpa Syd Barrett.

[ColonelCossack]

I think that is the first post you made where only "Stalinists" thanked it.:)
Oh shit

You're right

that kinda makes us look like tankies... :mad:

[Omsk]

My grandfather was a communist,and in the government,my other grandfather escaped a death camp and was a partisan fighter,while a semi-distant relative of mine fought in the Spanish Civil War,(Republican side,of course.) and WW2.

However,currently,i am the only member of my family that is a leftist.

[Sasha]

Dads side where all catholic reactionarys but at my mums side where all prominent communists, the brothers of my grandpa fought in the international brigades, one of them died on the front other came back and joined the dutch resistance together with most other family members. Lots of them died in the camps but my great grandfather and my grandpa's brother survived. The state then refused to give him his dutch citizensship back until the 80s (even though dutch SS volunteers got to keep theirs) so he became a honory Cuban citizen.
great grandpa refused all royal resistance medals because of the war and post war treatment of communist fighters by the dutch government and because the royal prince was a fascist.

[Offbeat]

I'm very distantly related to one of the Haymarket anarchists. The rest of my family are generally centre-left Labour voters.

[El Oso Rojo]

People in my family were black liberationists and Black panthers members and supporters, now they are petit bourgeoise democrats and moderates.

[Dr. Rosenpenis]

not too much going on
i have a cousin who's a trot. my mom was a trot but has seriously confused views nowadays. my aunt was a maoist. my dad claims to be a leftist. he's an academic and an adherent of the marxist school of literary criticism if that counts for anything. a number of relatives were active in underground student and guerrilla movements against the military dictatorship.

[No_Leaders]

My grandfather was involved with his local union, in organizing workers for strikes, and stood amongst fellow workers in picket lines many times. My mom told me quite a few stories she remembered from when she was younger. One story my grandpa told me was how his brother who was actually republican tried to cross the picket line with his truck and he and some other workers stopped his brother and made him turn back. He gave him a good chewing out over that event as well. Even to this day my grandpa being 90 almost 91 still talks about the importance of working class sticking together and helping each other.

My mom is a staunch liberal but not really much of a radical, very leftist leaning democrat i suppose. But believes in obama, and this system. My father works for one of the main defense contractors here in the U.S. (he's not an engineer building the bombs at least, but is a financial adviser). He tends be a moderate who swings either way depending on what he feels is in 'best interest' and then of course me the only one who got branded an extremist by my rents hahahaha. Well my sister is not really too political, she's registered democrat though.

[Vyacheslav Brolotov]

My grandfather was a communist,and in the government,my other grandfather escaped a death camp and was a partisan fighter,while a semi-distant relative of mine fought in the Spanish Civil War,(Republican side,of course.) and WW2.

However,currently,i am the only member of my family that is a leftist.

Oh my fucking god, you never say what country you are from! Finland? Poland? Russia? Belarus? Which government? Partisans from where? Death camp from where?

[El Oso Rojo]

Oh my fucking god, you never say what country you are from! Finland? Poland? Russia? Belarus? Which government? Partisans from where? Death camp from where?

He might be a spainard of Eastern European decent?

[daft punk]

I am the first communist in my family and one of the first on revleft.

[ВАЛТЕР]

Oh my fucking god, you never say what country you are from! Finland? Poland? Russia? Belarus? Which government? Partisans from where? Death camp from where?

He is from the former Yugoslavia, Serbia to be specific. Chill out dude.

[Zukunftsmusik]

I am the first communist in my family and one of the first on revleft.

rrrrrrrrrrrrrright


******

My uncle looked like Lenin when he was young. Guess that doesn't count. But it's all I can think of on the top of my head.

[ed miliband]

I am the first communist in my family and one of the first on revleft.

lal

[OHumanista]

This would all be far more relevant on a monarchist forum, but the stories are pretty cool and nice so here it goes...

On my father's side of the family:
My great grandfather was russian soldier (with some low grade commanding rank) garrisoned in Lithuania during WWI. He was captured by germans and spent most of the war in a prisoners camp. When released he picked up his family and took the first ship off to Brazil.

Fortunately my grandfather (his third son) became a commie here albeit a not very active one. He joined some strikes and such but not very often as he was mostly a loner who lived most of his life in small towns and rural areas.

Now things get hot with dad. He was affiliated with some rogue communist groups since he was 18 and often spent many spare time hours working with leftist newspapers and such. Worked most of his life in banks and factories in São Paulo and supported a number of leftist trade unions, often working to bring them closer to communist ideas. For a time he was a member of the Brazilian Communist Party but left together with other trotskyists because of the stagnant stalinist leadership. Played a huge role in founding the CUT (one of the largest national trade union centers in the world) and the PT (Worker's Party) as well as the opposition to the military dictatorship. He was arrested and tortured but eventually released, he fled the country to Argentina, returning later in the same year. (the dictatorship started when he was there, though luck). He faded from mainstream politics as factions that opposed his views gained strength in the party. Tired he ceased most political activity and worried himself more with raising me :).

On my mom's side: Nothing special. Closest thing to leftist is my mom which is can be called a "communist by ideals". She worked in factory for most of her life and had some minor syndical activity. She has no interest or knowledge of theory however and just usually agrees with dad.

That's it I guess.:cool:

[Dr. Rosenpenis]

damn

[Dr. Rosenpenis]

i have one distant aunt who was a commie guerrilla against the military dictatorship and was actually jailed and tortured at some point. my mom was a student activist who was also jailed and tortured at the time. i dont know much about the history of the pt and the cut but where did your dad work and organize? ive been told that before the pt and so on labor was quite weak in brazil particularly under the military regime.

[Vyacheslav Brolotov]

He is from the former Yugoslavia, Serbia to be specific. Chill out dude.

Nope, I just wanted to get his attention. Why would I be mad at him? :)

Also, guys I was just talking to my grandmother about my great-grandmother, who is now 99 and has Alzheimer's (which is why I cannot talk to her directly about her past), and she said that she had worked very closely with Salvadoran communist revolutionary, Farabundo Marti, in 1931, the year he returned to El Salvador and one year before his killing. She helped spread his message to the other peasants (she was a peasant herself) even though she was illiterate (her signature used to be three X's). She got attached to him because he gave her promises that his movement would allow her to finally own the land she worked. She was pretty close to him, according to my grandmother and great-aunt, who were told stories about it by my great-grandmother as young girls in El Salvador. Perhaps Farabundo Marti is my great-grandfather! He could be. This is totally new to me and even my mother. RevLeft helped me uncover some deep shit in my family. Yet, most likely he is not my great-grandfather. Soooooooooo.....

But anyways, the largest left wing political party in El Salvador and former rebel group during the civil war, The Farabundo Marti Front for National Liberation, is named after him.

[Leonid Brozhnev]

My grandfathers parents were steam engine and railway engineers who worked in colonial India (according to my mother), not exactly any socialism in that but they seem like an industrious bunch... they died before I was born so I never met them. Other than that, the vast majority of my relatives were knitwear mill workers. No idea of any socialist actions or anything, I'm not too clued up on my family history, genealogy has never held much interest for me... and given I was never told anything interesting by my parents or grandparents who are still alive, I just assume a mill workers life was one of mind numbing drudgery.

[Doflamingo]

I'm the only far-leftist in my family I believe. My father is an anti-corporatist and my mother is somewhere between a reactionary and a liberal. I'm trying to convert my father to anarchism currently and he's agreeing with what he reads.

Anyway, I don't exactly have many famous relatives that I'm proud of. Especially Winston Churchill.

[BE_]

I don't have any leftist ancestors that i know about, but I have far right ancestors. Supposedly my great grandfather was a part of the SS.

[Krano]

I don't have any leftist ancestors that i know about, but I have far right ancestors. Supposedly my great grandfather was a part of the SS.
Same here Waffen SS Wiking Division.

[Sentinel]

My parents were both activists for the stalinist Communist Workers Party in Sweden in the early 1980s. Prior to that my mother was a member of the World Federation of Democratic Youth in Finland. None of them did any grand heroic deeds afaik, just basic activism stuff.

However my maternal great grandfather was locked in a prison camp after the Finnish Civil War due to his leftist views, even though he never got to join the Red guards -- due to his location in a White controlled area I think, but I don't know the details.

All the rest of the family have more or less been reactionaries afaik. I do have some hopes for some of my cousins though.

[Arlekino]

My parents both was deaf my mum was not active political but she adore Stalin well Stalin gave the land that what she told me and she joined communist party she thought she would gain some kind of better commodities but some my aunties strictly Catholics. My grandmother was in prison in Russia Katorga in Czarist regime and killed by Lithuanian forest of Brothers just after the war.
My fathers side granddad quite mix feelings recently I find out that Russian army killed him for some crimes which I don't know all story. I think his crimes would not make me proud of.

[The Young Pioneer]

I'm a border-collie, shar pei wrinkles mix. :closedeyes:


But in all seriousness, no, everyone in my family is republican. Maaaaybe one or two black sheep liberals somewhere. I never hear the end of it about my "leanings" at home. :mad:

[Krano]

I'm a border-collie, shar pei wrinkles mix. :closedeyes:


But in all seriousness, no, everyone in my family is republican. Maaaaybe one or two black sheep liberals somewhere. I never hear the end of it about my "leanings" at home. :mad:
You think you have it badly? my dad is a socialist who hates immigrants so a borderline Nazbol :unsure:

[Leonid Brozhnev]

Same here Waffen SS Wiking Division.



My girlfriends family are convinced they're related to Mussolini. He did get it about a bit, they are Italian and her great grandfather is unaccounted for (plus her grandmother was born in 1920 which is around the same time his other accounted children were born). I'm sure plenty of family circles have these stories about being related to famous/infamous historical figure (not my own personally), but part of me hopes it's true... ol' Benito would be pretty pleased to find out one of his great grandaughters became a communist :lol:

[Omsk]

Its really strange,half of my family was on the left,or actually fought right-wingers,but now,most of the people in my family are de facto on the right-wing. (Nationalism,patriotism,religious-views,etc etc.)

@ComradeCommistar: Sorry,i was not on the forum some time,the thing is,my relative was a fighter in his youth,although i never understood how he made it trough the trenches of WW1,to Madrid,and later to the fight against the Waffen SS.

[Railyon]

No leftist "ancestors" I know of.

The relative furthest back I can remember with political leanings was my nazi great-grandpa who was a fighter pilot in WWII on the Eastern Front, POW'd by the Russians. No idea if he was a Nazi by choice though, as I never got to know him.

Every generation after that, solid social democrats in the modern sense...

[Rooster]

My great-grandfather knew a guy who's brother had a friend that had a room mate who's cousin once saw Trotsky at the Hotel Bristol.

Apart from that, not much. It was kind of hard to not be a part of the labour and trade union movement from the 20s-70s so most of them were in unions and on strike, I gather.

[The Jay]

My great-grandfather knew a guy who's brother had a friend that had a room mate who's cousin once saw Trotsky at the Hotel Bristol.

Apart from that, not much. It was kind of hard to not be a part of the labour and trade union movement from the 20s-70s so most of them were in unions and on strike, I gather.

Wow I know people who knew someone who saw Trotsky too!

[RedAnarchist]

I think the only really political relative I have is some sort of great grand aunt who was mayor of my home city at one point and ran as a Labour candidate in a general election in the 1980s, so not really leftist. Also not really a leftist and not very closely related is E.M. Forster, who is a seventh cousin of mine.

Also not a leftist as far as I am aware, but a proudly working class relative of mine who saved quite a few other working class men in a Staffordshire mine is my second cousin three times removed William Dodd -


By 1895, William had worked at Diglake Colliery for over twenty years, and must have known the colliery and the men well. At around eleven thirty in the morning of Monday 14th January, 1895, William was in his office located near the bottom of number two shaft at Diglake, when a boy came running to tell him that water was pouring into the pit from the direction of the 10 foot seam. This seam was being extended at the time, and an explosive shot had brought down the wall between the current pit and an older abandoned pit, thought to be much further away, which had been filling with water for over 50 years.

As a result, water tore through the pit at a fantastic rate, carrying men, wagons, horses, roof supports and rock with it. William, in his own account of the disaster, gives us the best description of the impending horror; he describes going to the door of his office and feeling a 'concussion of the air'. He immediately gave the alarm and set off to warn men in other parts of the pit.

William's efforts to save as many men and boys as possible ultimately led to him spending some five hours underground in chest-high, freezing, fast-flowing water, often in pitch black darkness. At one point he was almost washed away himself, and several times avoided being hit by wreckage floating in the water. He did in fact pass out at least once, but upon coming round insisted on returning to the pit to try and reach others. Some accounts state that he saved 30 lives that day; others put it as high as 47. However many it was, it's clear that without his prompt action, organisation and selflessness, many more than 77 would have died that day.

By five o'clock that afternoon, all the men who were to survive the flood had been brought out of the pit. By this time, the colliery was thronging with anxious relatives, colliery officials and local press; William said nothing of his actions and simply went home. It was Wednesday before the press picked up on his part in the rescue and persuaded him to give an interview, and by this time it was becoming clear that despite frantic efforts, the 77 men still trapped below ground were not going to be rescued in time. In fact, they were never reached, and all but five bodies remained in the abandoned pit, where they lie to this day.

The pit was closed forever, and men either retired, found alternative work or moved to other pits. William received the Royal Humane Society Medal, along with other members of the rescue team, and was also presented with the gold Albert Medal by Queen Victoria herself at Windsor Castle on 9th March 1895. It is not clear whether he ever worked again; in 1901, he and Elizabeth were living alone in Diglake House on Bignall Hill, right next to the site of the colliery, and by this time he describes himself as a retired miner.

William lived at Diglake House until his death on Saturday, 7th January 1907, having never really recovered from his ordeal some 12 years earlier. At his funeral, colliery officials preceded the hearse, and his coffin was carried by eight of his nephews. William's mother, Martha, had died in 1881, but his half-brother, George Taylor, was there, and so were his brother-in-laws Robert Tompkinson and George Taylor, both of whom were married to Emberton girls. It must have been hard for him to live his life so close to the abandoned pit, watching it become overgrown and derelict year by year, but at the same time he would have been able to watch those whom he had saved carry on with their lives, grow up and get married and have children of their own.

http://www.warrinerprimaries.com/Topic/wmdodd.htm

[Omsk]

I forgot to mention the relative i wrote about in this topic also had some connections with the Comintern,and with another organization,but i think that's private information really.

[ellipsis]

At 13 my grandpa worked as an artillery trajectory calculator, killed himself unknown number of nazis, does that count.

[Vladimir Innit Lenin]

My great-grandfather was a Communist. He went to the USSR in the 1920s and met Trotsky, as part of a British Trade Union delegation. He wrote a massively detailed diary on his trip, which our family still has. It's very interesting.

[Vladimir Innit Lenin]

My girlfriend, on the other hand, is descended from royalty. Awkward.:lol:

[hatzel]

I believe I've mentioned on the boards before that I live almost next door to a house that Kropotkin lived in during his time in England*. In fact I can glance out of the window as I type and see it. From conversations about this I found out that my granddad had read his works, but he must have mellowed with age (or perhaps they just didn't resonate with him) because he was a Labour politician during his last few years...ah well...

*For some reason quite a few of the big names in early 20th century anarchism ended up in these parts, and that house seems to have functioned as somewhat of a meeting place for pretty much any radical who happened to find themselves in the London area for whatever reason. Bammmmm!

[ForgedConscience]

First communist in my family too unfortunately. My dad describes himself as a liberal though he is largely apolitical, my sister is also pretty apathetic though she expresses a general distrust of all politicians. No idea about my mother and she's not around these days for me to ask, but seeing as she was a freethinker she was probably left-wing of some description. The rest of my family are either typical American neoliberals, or typical British conservatives.

I don't even have many leftist friends in all honesty, one of them is a Maoist but ultimately dogmatic and an uncritical thinker (not saying all Maoists are like that btw). The rest don't care about politics.

EDIT: Oh and of course all of them take the piss out of my thought :thumbup:

[ComradeGrant]

My great-great-grandmother and great-grandfather were both old-school Labourites. He was more openly socialistic than she was, but she believed all the same things. When she got old she would wear all the Tory colors and have the Tories drive her to the voting booth, as they apparently did, and then vote Labour. Not as radical as the insurrecto relatives some people have, but at least kinda charming in its own way.

[ed miliband]

I believe I've mentioned on the boards before that I live almost next door to a house that Kropotkin lived in during his time in England*. In fact I can glance out of the window as I type and see it. From conversations about this I found out that my granddad had read his works, but he must have mellowed with age (or perhaps they just didn't resonate with him) because he was a Labour politician during his last few years...ah well...

*For some reason quite a few of the big names in early 20th century anarchism ended up in these parts, and that house seems to have functioned as somewhat of a meeting place for pretty much any radical who happened to find themselves in the London area for whatever reason. Bammmmm!

in bromley or harrow, ealing, bromley and highgate? he moved across ldn when he was here - interesting tho

[newdayrising]

Maternal grandpa, stalinist turned what some here would call a "revisionist", from the 1930's till He died in the 80s. Mom, former semi maoist catholic left militant, late 60s. Uncles, former trots, late 70s, early 80s. By the 90s when I got interested in politics it was all in the past.

[Crux]

Wow I know people who knew someone who saw Trotsky too!
In fact I know someone who've met someone (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton_Nilson) who's met both Trotsky, Stalin and Lenin. And probably a bunch of other leading bolsheviks. While in Russia he was crashing at Zinovievs crib apparently. Classy.

[Zeus the Moose]

One of my great grandfathers might have been in the KKK :/

Other than that, nothing much, though I am related (by marriage) to Darlington Hoopes, who was a Socialist state legislator in PA in the 1930s, and the SPA's last presidential candidate in 1952 and 1956.