obituaries

Frederick Engels Obituary - Ernest Belfort Bax

The leader whose loss the whole Socialist world is now deploring, was born, at Barman in Rheinish Prussia in November, 1820. Educated at the Gymnasium of that town, he was sent by his father, when twenty-two years of age, to Manchester to look after the cotton-spinning business in which Herr Engels senior, had a share.

Hodgson, Keith, 1962-2013

Submitted by Steven. on Mar 17 2013 20:37

An obituary for Liverpool-based anarchist and antifascist Keith Hodgson, who sadly died on 23 February 2013.

Keith Hodgson, long time activist in the Liverpool anarchist scene, died on Saturday 23rd February 2013, aged 50. Keith, like many of his generation, was radicalised by the re-vitalised Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, and by the Thatcher onslaught against working class rights and freedoms in the 1980s.

In memory of Cameron Minshull

Submitted by Ramona on Jan 13 2013 15:14
Cameron Minshull

Greater Manchester Hazards Centre and Families Against Corporate Killers statement on the death of Cameron Minshull, 16, at an engineering company in Bury, Thursday 10th January 2013.

WE are so very sad for Cameron Minshull, who was only 16 years old when he was killed at an engineering company in Bury, where he had worked as an apprentice for only a matter of weeks. We would like to send our condolences to his family who are naturally devastated.

Remembering FW Adam Briesemeister

An obituary of Twin Cities IWW member and anarchist organizer, Adam Briesemeister.

On March 21 of this year, members of the IWW and broader community in the Twin Cities were shattered by the tragic news that our Fellow Worker Adam Briesemeister perished in a house fire early that morning. It has been very hard to believe that Adam is no longer here. As the year draws to a close, I’d like to take a moment to remember him.

The Marikana massacre: a glimpse of the men behind the numbers

Submitted by red jack on Sep 10 2012 09:37

The City Press, a mainstream newspaper in South Africa, has published short obituaries of the striking miners gunned down by the ANC government.

Stelega Gadlela (50)

His first name was Stelega, a word Swazi language speakers use to describe a strike.

Ironic then that Stelega was shot by police during a strike by miners at Marikana.

Stelega hailed from the rural village of Dvokolwako, 60km from the city of Manzini, in Swaziland.

Cortez, Carlos, 1923-2005

An obitatury for long-time IWW member and artist Carlos Cortez.

“When you do a painting that’s it, it’s one of a kind. But when you do a graphic the amount of prints you can make from it is infinite. I made a provision in my estate, for whoever will take care of my blocks, that if any of my graphic works are selling for high prices immediate copies should be made to keep the price down.
--Carlos Cortez

Operaist freedom: for Romano Alquati

An obitatury for Italian Marxist, Romano Alquati, who passed away in April of 2010 at the age of 75.

“Look, you went to the wrong floor” Romano Alquati would answer at the beginning of the 1990s to a leftist student who wanted to write a dissertation on (factory) workers. If you want to write a dissertation on (factory) workers you should go to the second floor, to “ Archeology.” Like the “rude pagan race” [Tronti’s description of the mass worker], Alquati had no gods and refused myths.

In Memoriam: Stan Weir, 1921-2001

US socialist group Solidarity's obituary of Stan Weir.

STAN WEIR was a dear friend and inspiration to many of the new generation of socialists that arose in the mid-1960x, particularly in the Independent Socialist (later International Socialist) current. His pamphlet on "The New Rank and File Revolt" was a particularly valuable contribution in that period.

A life of struggle: Farewell to Herman Gorter - Anton Pannekoek

An obituary for left communist Herman Gorter by Anton Pannekoek in 1927.

In the person of Hermann Gorter, the revolutionary proletariat has just lost one of its most faithful friends and one of its most notable comrades in arms. He figured among the greatest experts in Marxist theory and was one of the very few who, through conflicts and splits, remained invariably devoted to revolutionary communism.

Miller, Bob, 1953-2011

Submitted by Steven. on Jul 21 2011 09:47

An obituary for Bob Miller (who posted as Knightrose on libcom) by his friend and comrade Nick Heath.

Over the last few years I have penned a number of biographies and obituaries of anarchist militants. One of the most poignant of these was a piece I had to write on the Spanish militant Luis Andres Edo whom I had known personally whilst living in Paris in the early 1970s. But nothing compares to the painful task of writing this remembrance of a comrade I have known for forty years.