Obituaries

The 89 people whose deaths Socialist Action marked between 1984 and 2017: the veterans of American Trotskyism and the Minneapolis Teamsters, founders and members of Socialist Action, comrades in Canada, Mexico, Cuba and Europe, trade unionists, writers and artists, and a few adversaries. In order of death.

Found by reading every article on this site, printed and web edition, not only those headed as obituaries; some were set inside a neighbouring story or a letters page, and that is noted. Dates of death are from the obituary where it gives one, otherwise from the record. The obituaries of every Red Mole archive are together at archives.redmole.org/obituaries/.

• Farrell Dobbs died 31 October 1983
  Farrell Dobbs and Marvel Scholl in Socialist Action, Vol. 2, No. 5, May 1984 · leader of the 1934 Minneapolis Teamster strikes and national secretary of the SWP
• Ernest Rice McKinney died late January 1984
  Fighter for the unemployed in Socialist Action, Vol. 2, No. 2, February 1984 · Black labor organizer, leader of the Unemployed Leagues and a founder of the SWP
• Pierre Frank died 18 April 1984
  Farewell Pierre Frank in Socialist Action, Vol. 2, No. 6, June 1984
• Bert Cochran died June 1984
  Bert Cochran, until 1953 a leading member of the Socialist Workers Party in Socialist Action, Vol. 2, No. 7, July 1984 · set inside the page filed as “Librarians hit war drive” · a leader of the SWP for 20 years until the 1953 split
• Larry Stewart died 16 November 1984
  Larry Stewart: 1921-1984 in Socialist Action, Vol. 2, No. 12, December 1984
• George Weissman died 1985
  George Weissman's life remembered in Socialist Action, Vol. 3, No. 7, July 1985 · the memorial meeting in New York on 25 May 1985
• Ray Sparrow died 16 November 1985
  Memorial meeting honors Ray Sparrow in Socialist Action, Vol. 4, No. 1, January 1986
  Ray Sparrow 1914-1985 in Socialist Action, Vol. 3, No. 12, December 1985 · set inside the page filed as “Our readers speak out” · on the letters page
  Sparrow in Socialist Action, Vol. 4, No. 2, February 1986 · set inside the page filed as “Our readers speak out” · a letter adding to the remarks at his memorial meeting
• Milton Snipper died 10 December 1985
  Milton Snipper 1912-1985 in Socialist Action, Vol. 4, No. 1, January 1986
• Arne Swabeck died 13 March 1986
  Swabeck in Socialist Action, Vol. 4, No. 4, April 1986 · set inside the page filed as “Our readers speak out” · a letter: a long-time leader of American Trotskyism, died at 95
• George Breitman died 19 April 1986
  George Breitman: Veteran Marxist in Socialist Action, Vol. 4, No. 5, May 1986
• Alice Peurala died 19 June 1986
  Alice Peurala: Fighter for labor's rank and file in Socialist Action, Vol. 4, No. 8, August 1986 · steelworkers' union leader, first woman president of USWA Local 65
• Tom Gustafsson died 7 February 1987
  Tom Gustaffson: 1947-1987 A revolutionist who will be sorely missed in Socialist Action, Vol. 5, No. 3, March 1987
  On Feb. 7, our friend and comrade Tom Gustafsson died in Socialist Action, Vol. 5, No. 3, March 1987 · set inside the page filed as “Aquino victory conceals continuing gov't crisis” · the opening of the obituary
• Floyd Lenoch died 21 February 1987
  P-9 leader Floyd Lenoch: A fighter to the end in Socialist Action, Vol. 5, No. 4, April 1987 · P-9 leader in the Hormel strike, by Jake Cooper
  I read Jake Cooper's obituary of P-9 leader Floyd Lenoch in Socialist Action, Vol. 5, No. 5, May 1987 · set inside the page filed as “Our readers speak out” · a reader's letter
• E.D. Nixon died 25 February 1987
  E.D. Nixon: Trailblazer of civil rights movement in Socialist Action, Vol. 5, No. 4, April 1987 · civil rights leader and Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters organizer
• Gary Meseke died 10 April 1987
  Gary Meseke in Socialist Action, Vol. 5, No. 7, July 1987
• Chen Bilan died 7 September 1987
  Chen Bilan (1902-1987) Chinese Trotskyist in Socialist Action, Vol. 5, No. 11, November 1987
• Alice Snipper died 31 December 1987
  Alice Snipper in Socialist Action, Vol. 6, No. 2, February 1988
  Alice Snipper, a member of Socialist Action, died on New Year's Eve, 1987 in Socialist Action, Vol. 6, No. 2, February 1988 · set inside the page filed as “Our 'Jenny Higgins' showed”
  Meetings pay tribute to Alice Snipper in Socialist Action, Vol. 6, No. 3, March 1988
  Alice Snipper in Socialist Action, Vol. 6, No. 4, April 1988 · set inside the page filed as “Our readers speak out” · messages from Canada and Ireland
• Fred Halstead died 2 June 1988
  Antiwar organizer, Trotskyist leader Fred Halstead: 1927-1988 in Socialist Action, Vol. 6, No. 7, July 1988
  'He taught us how to fight' in Socialist Action, Vol. 6, No. 7, July 1988 · messages to his memorial meeting
• Sylvia Bleeker died 23 November 1988
  Sylvia Bleeker: 'Sided with the underdog' in Socialist Action, Vol. 7, No. 1, January 1989
• Dick Fraser died 27 November 1988
  Dick Fraser: 'He remained a committed socialist' in Socialist Action, Vol. 7, No. 1, January 1989 · set inside the page filed as “Sylvia Bleeker: 'Sided with the underdog'”
• Charlie Cornell died 1 January 1989
  Charles Olney Cornell, 78, one of the devoted American guards of Leon Trotsky in Socialist Action, Vol. 7, No. 7, July 1989 · set inside the page filed as “PACs pay for the 'best Congress money can buy'” · a reader's tribute on the letters page
  Charlie Cornell in Socialist Action, Vol. 7, No. 8, August 1989 · set inside the page filed as “C.L.R. James: A socialist scholar, writer, and orator” · the obituary sent by a reader, reprinted as a separate article
• Morris Starsky died 20 January 1989
  Morris Starsky, socialist activist in Socialist Action, Vol. 7, No. 3, March 1989
• James Kutcher died 10 February 1989
  James Kutcher (1912-1989): The man who never gave up in Socialist Action, Vol. 7, No. 5, May 1989
  Kutcher memorial meeting in Socialist Action, Vol. 7, No. 5, May 1989
• John Anderson died 17 February 1989
  John Anderson 1907-1989 in Socialist Action, Vol. 7, No. 3, March 1989
• C. L. R. James died 31 May 1989
  C.L.R. James: A socialist scholar, writer, and orator in Socialist Action, Vol. 7, No. 8, August 1989 · by Kwame M.A. Somburu
• Ryan White died 8 April 1990
  Ryan White—one of 78,341 in Socialist Action, Vol. 8, No. 5, May 1990
  Our readers speak out Ryan White in Socialist Action, Vol. 8, No. 5, May 1990 · a reader's letter
• Walter Schonbrun died 20 May 1990
  Two lifelong fighters for Trotskyism in Socialist Action, Vol. 8, No. 7, July 1990
• Sam Randall died 30 May 1990
  Two lifelong fighters for Trotskyism in Socialist Action, Vol. 8, No. 7, July 1990
• Reba Hansen died 3 July 1990
  Reba Hansen, a 60-year veteran of revolutionary struggle in Socialist Action, Vol. 8, No. 8, August 1990 · set inside the page filed as “What's behind sham debate over new Civil Rights Bill”
• Toni Porter died 27 August 1990
  And still the struggle goes on in Socialist Action, Vol. 8, No. 10, October 1990
• Jake Cooper died 8 September 1990
  Jake Cooper: A fighter for the working class and socialism in Socialist Action, Vol. 8, No. 10, October 1990 · a founder of the SWP and of Socialist Action, Trotsky's guard in Coyoacán
  St. Paul meeting salutes Jake Cooper in Socialist Action, Vol. 8, No. 11, November 1990
• Ann Snipper died 3 October 1991
  Ann Snipper: Activist for the cause of workers in Socialist Action, Vol. 10, No. 1, January 1992
• Dumile Feni died 16 October 1991
  Dumile Fena: Eloquent voice against apartheid in Socialist Action, Vol. 10, No. 1, January 1992 · South African artist
• Henry Snipper died 25 October 1991
  Henry Snipper: Life-long supporter of the party in Socialist Action, Vol. 10, No. 1, January 1992
• George Chomalou died 4 December 1991
  [George Chomalou died Dec. 4, 1991, at the…] in Socialist Action, Vol. 10, No. 3, March 1992
• Harry DeBoer died 1 January 1992
  Trade unionists honor Harry DeBoer in Socialist Action, Vol. 10, No. 3, March 1992 · a leader of the 1934 Minneapolis Teamster strikes
• Ed Mann died 23 March 1992
  Ed Mann: 1928-1992 An appreciation of a trade unionist who always put the working class first in Socialist Action, Vol. 10, No. 5, May 1992
• Celia Stodola Wald died 7 May 1992
  Celia Stodola Wald 1946-1992 in Socialist Action, Vol. 10, No. 6, June 1992
• Henry Graber died 5 July 1992
  Henry Graber: "Have you thought about the homeless this week?" in Socialist Action, Vol. 10, No. 8, August 1992
• Grace Carlson died 7 July 1992
  Grace Carlson in Socialist Action, Vol. 10, No. 8, August 1992 · Smith Act defendant, the SWP's 1948 vice-presidential candidate
• George Novack died 30 July 1992
  George Novack Remembered in Socialist Action, Vol. 10, No. 9, September 1992
• Emilio Anaya Broziak died 10 October 1999
  Adios, Emilio! in Socialist Action, December 1999 (web edition) · trade-union leader of the Liga de Unidad Socialista, Mexico
• Shaun 'Jack' Maloney died 19 December 1999
  Shaun 'Jack' Maloney: A Working-Class Hero in Socialist Action, January 2000 (web edition) · a leader of the Minneapolis Teamsters in the 1930s
• Libardo González died late March 2000
  Libardo Gonzalez: A Revolutionary in Colombia in Socialist Action, June 2000 (web edition) · veteran Colombian Trotskyist
• Joe Walsh died 2 March 2000
  Joe Walsh in Socialist Action, April 2000 (web edition) · Irish republican, San Francisco
• Joe Flexer died 31 July 2000
  Hundreds Honor Joe Flexer in Socialist Action, August 2000 (web edition) · a central leader of Socialist Action (Canada); the Toronto meeting to celebrate his life
• Hayden Perry died 2 August 2000
  Hayden Perry: Long-Time Socialist Action Journalist in Socialist Action, September 2000 (web edition)
• Sylvia Weinstein died 14 August 2001
  Sylvia Weinstein, 1926-2001 in Socialist Action, September 2001 (web edition) · a founder of Socialist Action
• Charlie van Gelderen died 26 October 2001
  British Trotskyist Charlie van Gelderen dies; in Socialist Action, December 2001 (web edition) · by Terry Conway, shortened from Socialist Outlook
• Stephen Jay Gould died 20 May 2002
  Stephen Jay Gould, a Man for All Seasons in Socialist Action, July 2002 (web edition)
• Paul Siegel died 26 April 2004
  Paul Siegel 1916-2004: Marxist scholar and activist in Socialist Action, May 2004 (web edition)
• Bob Mattingly died June 2004
  Feature Page: Bob Mattingly — a life spent in the service of the working class in Socialist Action, July 2004 (web edition) · Jeff Mackler's remarks at the memorial meeting; Mattingly wrote as Charles Walker
• Farouk Abdel-Muhti died 21 July 2004
  Palestinian Activist Abdel-Muhti Dies in Socialist Action, August 2004 (web edition)
• Marla Rusicka died 2005
  Marla Rusicka, Human: Rights Activist in Socialist Action, May 2005 (web edition) · human-rights activist; died at 28
• Ossie Davis died 4 February 2005
  In Memory of Ossie Davis in Socialist Action, March 2005 (web edition)
• Arthur Miller died 10 February 2005
  In Memory of Arthur Miller in Socialist Action, March 2005 (web edition)
• Hunter S. Thompson died 20 February 2005
  A Few Words of Appreciation for Hunter Thompson in Socialist Action, April 2005 (web edition)
• Rodolfo 'Corky' Gonzales died 12 April 2005
  In Memory of Chicano Leader Rodolfo ‘Corky’ Gonzalez in Socialist Action, May 2005 (web edition)
• Pierre Broué died 26 July 2005
  The Legacy of Pierre Broue in Socialist Action, October 2005 (web edition) · by Gerry Foley
• David Weiss died 11 August 2005
  David Weiss: Long-time Trotskyist in Socialist Action, October 2005 (web edition) · a founding member of the SWP
• Slobodan Milošević died 11 March 2006
  Slobodan Milosevic: Butcher of the Balkans in Socialist Action, April 2008 (web edition) · reprinted from Socialist Resistance, April 2007
• Caroline Lund died 12 October 2006
  Obituary for Caroline Lund in Socialist Action, November 2006 (web edition)
• Gillo Pontecorvo died 12 October 2006
  Gillo Pontecorvo: An Appreciation in Socialist Action, November 2006 (web edition)
• Lois Bédard died 14 December 2006
  A Socialist Departure: Lois Behard 1924-2007 in Socialist Action, January 2007 (web edition)
• Bahman Moayedi died 21 March 2007
  Bahman Moayedi: A political remembrance in Socialist Action, May 2007 (web edition)
• Kurt Vonnegut died 11 April 2007
  Kurt Vonnegut: Death of a Literary Icon in Socialist Action, May 2007 (web edition)
• Jerry Falwell died 15 May 2007
  Jerry Falwell: No fond farewell in Socialist Action, July 2007 (web edition)
• Norm Hacking died 25 November 2007
  Norm Hacking 1950-2007 in Socialist Action, January 2008 (web edition) · Toronto folk singer
• George Carlin died 22 June 2008
  In Memory of George Carlin in Socialist Action, July 2008 (web edition)
• Alexander Solzhenitsyn died 3 August 2008
  Alexander Solzhenitsyn: 1918-2008 in Socialist Action, September 2008 (web edition)
• Celia Hart died 7 September 2008
  Cuban Revolutionary Celia Hart Dies in Tragic Accident in Socialist Action, September 2008 (web edition)
  Cuban Revolutionary Celia Hart Dies in Accident in Socialist Action, October 2008 (web edition) · the same obituary in the October issue
• Gerard Jean-Juste died 27 May 2009
  Father Gerard Jean-juste: a Haitian Hero Dies in Socialist Action, Vol. 28, No. 6, July 2009
  Father Gerard Jean-Juste: A Haitian Hero Dies in Socialist Action, July 2009 (web edition) · the web edition
• Robert Novak died 18 August 2009
  Robert Novak and the Art of Red-Baiting in Socialist Action, August 2009 (web edition)
• Hal Verb died 4 December 2009
  Hal Verb 1931-2009 in Socialist Action, January 2010 (web edition)
  Harold (Hal) Verb, an occasional writer in Socialist Action, Vol. 28, No. 1, January 2010 · set inside the page filed as “U.S. Marines vs. Avatars” · the printed obituary
• Howard Zinn died 27 January 2010
  Remembering Howard Zinn in Socialist Action, Vol. 28, No. 3, March 2010
• Jack Layton died 22 August 2011
  Jack Layton 1950-2011 in Socialist Action, Vol. 29, No. 9, September 2011 · leader of Canada's NDP
• Gerry Foley died 21 April 2012
  Gerry Foley A life dedicated to socialist revolution in Socialist Action, Vol. 30, No. 5, May 2012 · long-time foreign affairs editor of Socialist Action
  Let the Games Begin! in Socialist Action, Vol. 30, No. 5, May 2012 · set inside the page filed as “Let the Games Begin!” · the obituary's continuation
• Hugo Chávez died 5 March 2013
  After the death of Hugo Chavez: Which way for socialism? in Socialist Action, Vol. 31, No. 4, April 2013
• Peter Kormos died 30 March 2013
  Rebel with a Cause in Socialist Action, Vol. 31, No. 5, May 2013 · NDP member of the Ontario legislature for Welland
• Henry Morgentaler died 29 May 2013
  Henry Morgenthaler and the fight for reproductive rights in Canada in Socialist Action, Vol. 31, No. 6, June 2013
• Herman Wallace died 4 October 2013
  A salute to Herman Wallace in Socialist Action, Vol. 31, No. 11, November 2013 · of the Angola Three
• Nelson Mandela died 5 December 2013
  The fractured legacy of Nelson Mandela in Socialist Action, Vol. 32, No. 1, January 2014
• Nat Weinstein died 9 May 2014
  Nat Weinstein: life-long revolutionary and a founder of Socialist Action in Socialist Action, Vol. 32, No. 6, June 2014
• Yuri Kochiyama died 1 June 2014
  Yuri Kochiyama died at 93 on June 1 in Socialist Action, Vol. 32, No. 6, June 2014 · set inside the page filed as “Nat Weinstein: life-long revolutionary and a founder of Socialist Action”
• Joe Johnson died 5 August 2015
  Joe Johnson — The Man Without a Country in Socialist Action, Vol. 33, No. 9, September 2015
• Lillian Pollak died 2016
  Socialist activist Lillian Pollak dies at 101 in Socialist Action, Vol. 34, No. 9, September 2016
• Fidel Castro died 25 November 2016
  The legacy of Fidel Castro in Socialist Action, Vol. 34, No. 12, December 2016
• Harry Paine died 30 December 2016
  In memoriam: Harry Paine (1933-2016) in Socialist Action, Vol. 35, No. 3, March 2017
• Lynne Stewart died 7 March 2017
  The extraordinary Lynne Stewart in Socialist Action, Vol. 35, No. 5, May 2017

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