Those who came before us

[Eoin Dubh]

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/SPlawO.jpgOliver Law

Oliver Law (1899-July 9, 1937) was an African American communist, labor organizer, and social activist, who fought in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in the Spanish Civil War.

Born in Texas, he served in the army in World War I, then moved to Chicago, where he worked at various jobs. He joined the Communist Party in 1929, during the Great Depression, and became a prominent activist.

Strongly opposed to Fascism, he led demonstrations against Italy's occupation of Ethiopia (Second Italo-Abyssinian War), and in 1936 he travelled to Spain to join the forces fighting against Francisco Franco and the Nationalists. An outstanding soldier with considerable military experience, he served in a machine gun company and soon became the commander of the battalion. It was the first time that an African American commanded white American troops.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Law
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/SPlawO.htm

[Eoin Dubh]

http://www.formac.ca/pictures/covers/1550286765.jpg

J.B Mclachlan
Although the Communist Party of Canada had tremendous influence among miners in Cape Breton during the 1920s and 1930s, the rise of dual unionism among miners was not the result of the party’s policy of "red unions". The CPC’s influence in Cape Breton derived largely from the work and reputation of J.B. McLachlan, who had been involved in miners’ struggles for decades. McLachlan maintained a principled position in support of the rank-and-file and the Leninist conception of the united front. As the CPC began to follow the sharp changes in the Communist International’s line after the mid-1920s, McLachlan came into conflict with the CPC, and eventually resigned in 1936, marking the demise of Communist influence in Cape Breton.

Prior to the formation of the Communist Party of Canada, the socialist movement had already established deep roots in Cape Breton, largely through the Socialist Party of Canada. In 1909, when District 26 of the United Mine Workers of America was formed, J.B. McLachlan and other SPC members were elected as executive officers.[1] In 1911, Alex McKinnon, was voted in to the Nova Scotia legislature representing a riding in Cape Breton, claiming "the honour of being the first socialist candidate for any legislature east of Saskatchewan."[2]

Following the formation of the Communist Party of Canada in May 1921, the SPC split over the question of whether or not to join. By January 1922 most of the SPC’s membership had joined the CPC.[3] Sometime in early 1922 McLachlan joined the CPC, having met Tim Buck in June 1921, and contributed to the CPC’s newspaper, The Worker, in May 1922.[4]

McLachlan joined the CPC in a period quite different from the late 1910s. "[T]he Communist International had reached the conclusion that the tide of revolution was receding and the collapse of capitalism in other countries was not imminent. Communist parties around the world were instructed to undertake the long hard work of preparing the working class for future struggles."[5] This conclusion was in stark contrast to the sectarian attitude towards trade unions by many of the newly formed communist parties. Regarding this attitude towards trade unions and working class organizations in general, Leon Trotsky wrote in 1921,

A purely mechanical conception of the proletarian revolution — which proceeds solely from the fact that capitalist economy continues to decay — has led certain groups of comrades to construe theories which are false to the core: the false theory of an initiating minority which by its heroism shatters "the wall of universal passivity" among the proletariat.[6]

Lenin had already sought to combat the same problem in his pamphlet "Left-Wing" Communism: An Infantile Disorder, which, according to Ian Angus, proved crucial in shaping the trade union policy of Canadian Communists.[7] Rather than acting as an elite vanguard acting on behalf of the working class, the CPC sought to build a mass party and adopted the program of working within existing unions rather than forming "red" unions as had happened in other countries. However, working within mainstream unions did not mean abandoning debate and trying to convince non-revolutionary workers of the necessity of socialism. Nor did it mean passivity in the face of the union bureaucracy.[8]

McLachlan had already operated by these principles for quite some time. With support from the CPC, McLachlan countered the temptation in 1922 to split District 26 of the UMWA and form a red union. Wages for miners, steelworkers and any British Empire Steel Corporation employees were cut by a third in January 1922. The union headquarters refused to strike on the grounds of insufficient funds, so a slow-down was authorized, as opposed to a strike. McLachlan and Dan Livingstone, another CPC member, were the minority left-wing members of the District 26 executive, and with the aide of the CPC they began to build a left-wing campaign within District 26. In June 1922, the CPC’s work paid off. Delegates voted for a left-wing majority of nominations to the executive, which later led to a left-wing sweep of the executive.[9] At the same convention, the rank-and-file voted to affiliate with the Comintern’s Red International of Labour Unions, much to the anger of John L. Lewis, president of the UMWA.

http://www.socialisthistory.ca/Docs/History/Mclachlan.htm

http://www.socialisthistory.ca/Docs/StalBi...hlanResigns.htm (http://www.socialisthistory.ca/Docs/StalBirth/McLachlanResigns.htm)

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/capebreton/unions.html

[Eoin Dubh]

http://collections.ic.gc.ca/heirloom_series/volume4/images/59.jpg

Norman Bethune - 1890-1939
“The Spirit of Absolute Selflessness”



Known widely as an innovative thoracic surgeon, a vigorous advocate of democratic medical services, and an international humanitarian, Norman Bethune is revered in China as a hero in the successful struggle for the establishment of its first united republic in 5,000 years. Mao Zedong, who received Bethune after his arrival in China early in 1939, wrote with great appreciation of Bethune’s spirit of absolute selflessness as proven dramatically in his tragic death on the battlefront in northwestern China from blood poisoning on November 12, 1939. His spirit and Mao’s tribute to his life and work became primary sources of inspiration in the new China.

Bethune’s unique contributions in China were the culmination of his family’s long tradition of dedication to altruistic human service and his personal experiences as a medical doctor in the First World War, the Spanish Civil War, and among the sick and destitute in both Canada and the United States. A descendant of French nonconformist Christians who emigrated from France to Scotland in the sixteenth century and to North America in the eighteenth century, he was born on March 3, 1890, into a deeply religious family in Gravenhurst, Ontario, the “Gateway to the Muskoka Lakes” a hundred miles north of Toronto. Curious, independent, and sometimes stubborn in his youth, he prepared for his medical career through study at the University of Toronto.

As a university student he began to demonstrate the compassion and commitment to helping less fortunate people that later became dominant features of his unorthodox but highly creative medical work. He consciously delayed his university studies on two separate occasions. In 1911-12 he worked as a lumberjack and as a teacher at Frontier College, a unique Canadian adult education agency dedicated to meeting the educational needs of men labouring in lumber and mining camps and other remote locations. When Canada entered the First World War in August 1914, he enlisted immediately as a stretcher bearer.

Badly wounded by shrapnel at Ypres, he spent six months in hospitals, first in France and then in England, before being invalided home. On completing his university studies and qualifying for his medical degree, he re-enlisted and served as a surgeon in the British navy. During the last six months of the First World War, he was a medical officer with Canadian airmen in France

http://collections.ic.gc.ca/heirloom_serie...lume4/58-63.htm (http://collections.ic.gc.ca/heirloom_series/volume4/58-63.htm)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Bethune

[Eoin Dubh]

http://www.marxists.org/glossary/people/f/pics/flynn-elizabeth-gurley.jpg

Elizabeth Gurley Flynn (1890-1964)

Elizabeth Gurley Flynn was born in Concord, New Hampshire on 7th August, 1890. The family moved to New York in 1900 and Flynn was educated at the local public school. Converted by her parents to socialism, she was only 16 when she gave her first speech, What Socialism Will Do for Women, at the Harlem Socialist Club. As a result of her political activities, Flynn was expelled from high school.

In 1907 Flynn became a full-time organizer for the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). Over the next few years she organised campaigns among garment workers in Pennsylvania, silk weavers in New Jersey, restaurant workers in New York, miners in Minnesota and textile workers in Massachusetts. During this period the writer, Theodore Dreiser, described her as "an East Side Joan of Arc.". Flynn was arrested ten times during this period but was never convicted of any criminal activity.

A founding member of the American Civil Liberties Union, Flynn was active in the campaign against the conviction of Sacco-Vanzetti. Flynn was particularly concerned with women's rights. She supported birth control and women's suffrage. Flynn also criticised the leadership of trade unions for being male dominated and not reflecting the needs of women.

In 1936 Flynn joined the Communist Party and wrote a feminist column for his journal, the Daily Worker. Two years later she was elected to the national committee.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAflynn.htm

http://college.hmco.com/history/readerscom...lynnelizabe.htm (http://college.hmco.com/history/readerscomp/rcah/html/ah_031800_flynnelizabe.htm)

[Eoin Dubh]

http://www.ucc.ie/celt/images/newconnolly.jpg

James Connolly (1868 - 1916)

Born Edinburgh, Scotland of Irish parents – said to have first come to Ireland in his youth as a member of the British Army – married in 1889 – active in The Socialist movement in Edinburgh in the early 1890s – came to Ireland in 1896 and founded the Irish Socialist Republican Party – lectured on socialism in Britain and U.S., 1902 – emigrated to U.S. in 1903 – member of Socialist Labour Party (U.S.) and the Industrial Workers of the World – founded the Irish Socialist Federation in New York, 1907 – returned to Ireland in 1910 as organiser for The Socialist Party of Ireland – Belfast organiser of the Irish Transport and General Workers Union, 1910 – acting Gen. Sec. of I.T.G.W.U. and Commandant of the Irish Citizen Army, 1914 – Commandant General of Dublin Division of the Army of the Republic, 1916 – executed following the 1916 Uprising.

With reference to the uprising, Connolly stated:

"We succeeded in proving that Irishmen are ready to die endeavouring to win for Ireland those national rights which the British government has been asking them to die to win for Belgium. As long as that remains the case, the cause of Irish freedom is safe. I personally thank God that I have lived to see the day when thousands of Irish men and boys, and hundreds of Irish women and girls, were ready to affirm that truth, and to attest it with their lives if need be"

James Connolly was sentenced to death. Some of the employers with whom he had battled in the ‘Great Lock-Out’ of 1913, called on the British government to execute Connolly.

On May 12th,1916, Connolly was shot by firing squad. He had been taken by military ambulance to Kilmainham Prison, carried on a stretcher to a courtyard in the prison, tied to a chair and shot. With the other executed rebels, his body was put into a mass grave with no coffin. All the executions of the rebels angered many Irish people who had shown little support for the rebels during the rebellion. However, it was the circumstances of Connolly’s execution that created the most anger. In death, Connolly and the other rebels had succeeded in rousing many Irish people who had been, at best, indifferent to the rebels and their desires when they had been alive.

http://www.marxists.org/archive/connolly/

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/james_connolly.htm

[Eoin Dubh]

http://www.sahistory.org.za/pages/people/images/hani,c.jpg

Chris Hani (1942-1993)

Freedom fighter and political activist Tembisile Chris Hani was born in the rural village of Sabalele, in the Cofimvaba region of the former Transkei. He was the fifth of the six children of Gilbert and Mary Hani. Three of the children died in childhood. The name Chris was adopted by him as a nom de guerre, and was in fact the real name of his brother.

Hani was introduced to the politics of inequality early in life, when his father had to leave their rural home in search of work in the urban areas of South Africa. This had a profound influence on the young Chris, who became aware of his mother's struggle to keep the family alive by herself. Like other young men of his age, Chris tended the livestock until he reached school-going age and was enrolled at a primary school.

Hani's political involvement began in 1957 when he became a member of the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL). His political career spanned a period of 30 years, culminating in his tragic death by an assassin's bullet in 1993. Three people significantly influenced Hani in his youth. They were his father, his uncle, Milton Hani, and the veteran activist Govan Mbeki, father of President Thabo Mbeki. Govan Mbeki taught the young Hani the finer aspects of Marxism-Leninism. Soon afterwards, while at university, Hani took part in protests against black education, or Bantu education as it was known. The Freedom Charter played an important role in honing Hani's political philosophy. The Freedom Charter's ideology was based on democratic, egalitarian principles, which coincided with Hani's personal socialist outlook.

While in Cape Town, Hani came into contact with the South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU). This increased his awareness of the workers' struggle. His frustration with the apartheid system led him to join Umkontho We Sizwe, the military wing of the ANC. The ANC was banned in 1960 and in 1962 Hani became a member of the Committee of Seven, which was in effect the leadership structure of Umkontho in the Western Cape. His encounters with the law began with his arrest at a police roadblock in 1962. He was found to be in possession of pamphlets containing objections to the government's notorious policy of detention without trila. He was subsequently charged under the Suppression of Communism Act and held in jail. He was granted bail of R500.00, and during his period entered Botswana to attend the 1962 ANC Conference in Lobatsi. On his return to South Africa, he was arrested at the border. He was tried and given an 18-month jail sentence. While out on bail pending an appeal, Hani went underground on the advice of the ANC hierarchy.

He left South Africa for Zambia to receive military training, and became Commissar of the famous Luthuli Regiment of Umkontho in 1967. In the same year he fought in Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia) with cadres of the Zimbabwe Arfican People's Union (ZAPU). From the Rhodesian front, Hani moved to Botswana, where he was arrested on charges of possessing arms. He was given a six-year sentence, but served only two years before returning to Zambia.
Hani re-entered South Africa secretly in 1973 to establish an underground infrastructure for the ANC in the Western Cape. He moved to Zambia, where he was appointed Deputy Commander of Umkontho. In 1983 he fought against Jonas Savimbi's UNITA movement and helped to oust UNITA from the Angolan province of Malanje. By 1987 Hani had become Chief of Staff of Umkontho, which was intensifying its struggle against the Pretoria government. During his active military period, he set up a military training base at Kongwa, a harsh dry region in Central Tanzania.

On his return to South Africa in 1990, Hani began to play an active and important role in political developments leading to a democratic social order. Upon Joe Slovo's retirement on grounds of ill health, he became a member of the Politburo of the South African Communist party (SACP). Chris Hani's popularity with the masses, especially the youth, was legendary. He polled the most votes, after Nelson Mandela, in an opinion poll in November 1992, and became Secretary-General of the small but powerful SACP in 1991.

Chris Hani was assassinated on 10 April 1993 outside his home in Dawn Park, a racially mixed suburb of Boksburg. He was accosted by a Polish anti-communist immigrant named Janusz Walus, who shot him in the head as he stepped out of his car. Walus fled the scene but was arrested soon afterwards. Clive Derby-Lewis, a senior South African Conservative Party M.P., who had loaned Walus his pistol, was also arrested for complicity in Hani's murder.

Hani's assassination was part of a plot by the far right in South African to derail the negotiations to end apartheid. An alleged hit list of senior ANC and SACP figures found in the Derby-Lewis home included Nelson Mandela and Joe Slovo at numbers one and two. Hani was number three on the list.

http://www.sahistory.org.za/pages/people/hani,c.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Hani

http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/history/people/hani_c.html