Obituaries Organized Rage

Nina Fishman obituary. By Donald Sassoon. Historian, political activist and outstanding character of the British left. With the death of the political historian and activist Nina Fishman, who has died of cancer aged 63, the British left has lost one of its most outstanding and original personalities. Born in San Francisco, Nina was a genuine "red baby". Her father, Leslie, an academic economist, was a member of the Communist party of the US. Hounded out of the University of California, Berkeley, in the late 1940s, he took refuge at Idaho State College and, later, at the University of Colorado, in Boulder. Nina attended junior ... Read Full Story

The last year has seen the death of two people who were imprisoned for being members of the Angry Brigade, both of who claimed they were victims of a miscarriage of justice. Earlier this year J ake Prescott died, and now Anna Mendelssohn  has also passed away. It is ironic that these two have died, as they both came from a working class background, whereas most of those who were caught up in the trials that followed a number of bombs exploding in London in the early 1970s came from solidly middle class backgrounds. MH --------------------------------------------------------------- Anna Mendelssohn obituary by Peter Riley was first published ... Read Full Story

Pat Ripley obituary Leader of a six-week sit-in at Islington town hall aimed at winning better pay for home helps. Anthony Barnett   In our street in Islington, north London, my neighbour Pat Ripley, who has died aged 84, was known as a bright-eyed, friendly and caring figure who lived alone in her basement flat. Imagine the surprise when it turned out that this modest lady had been a leading shop steward, and had led the occupation of Islington town hall for six weeks in 1986 in pursuit of a better pay deal for her fellow homecare workers. Pat's father was a sailor, who died ... Read Full Story

Hilda Baruch, who has died aged 90, was one of those unsung female heroes of the left. She was a "peace baby", born Hilda Froom eight days after the end of the first world war. She grew up in a working-class home in Liverpool where Speed, the news-sheet of the Liverpool tram drivers, was produced. Aged 13, in 1931, she proposed that her school should condemn the Japanese invasion of China and call upon the League of Nations to live up to its charter and take sanctions against Japan. The motion was taken in front of the whole school. She was not intimidated and ... Read Full Story

Obituary: Ernesto Leal Jimenez By Roger Sutton. Ernesto Leal Jimenez was born to communist parents on January 11 1938. At that time they were on the run, persecuted by the government of Arturo Alessandri for their part in organising the peasant struggle for better living standards. His father, a self-taught man, was the Communist Party organiser for southern Chile and he and his wife were denounced as agitators and forced into clandestinity from their home in Valvidia. Eventually they settled in in the small industrial and naval town of Talcahuano, where Ernesto's birth was registered. His father helped set up neighbourhood committees to support ... Read Full Story