International Worker No 239, Saturday, September
13, 1997
SEP celebrates 40 year struggle for Trotskyism
by Barbara Slaughter
On August 22, members and supporters of the Socialist Equality Party
celebrated the 70th birthday of Barbara Slaughter and her 40 years in the
Trotskyist movement. Representatives from International Committee sections
in Germany, America and Canada brought greetings, in addition to those sent
from other sections.
Comrade Barbara joined the Communist Party of Great Britain in 1944 in
reaction to the horrors of the Second World War. In opposition to this,
she sought to build a new and higher society based on social equality and
internationalism. When the crisis erupted inside the CPGB following Khrushchev's
Secret Speech and the Stalinist invasion of Hungary in 1956, Barbara's profound
belief in the principles of socialism led her to join the Socialist Labour
League, then the British section of the International Committee of the Fourth
International.
Throughout the last 40 years, Barbara has defended socialist principles
and in doing so set a fine example to hundreds of thousands of workers and
young people looking for a genuine socialist alternative.
This was stressed by all those who brought greetings personally from
the sections of the Fourth International; Verena Nees of the Party for Social
Equality in Germany, Keith Meadowcroft, the National Secretary of the SEP
in Canada and Shannon Jones of the American SEP.
Speaking on behalf of all her British comrades, SEP National Secretary
Dave Hyland paid a warm tribute to Barbara's lifelong struggle, which is
reproduced below. That same warmth, love and respect was expressed in many
written tributes that were gathered together in a book presented to Barbara
and presents and cards sent from all over the world.
Barbara thanked everyone for joining her birthday celebration. She told
those present, "When people say to me what has given you the strength
throughout the last 40 years, I explain that I have been motivated by two
basic beliefs. The first is an absolute conviction in the revolutionary
role of the working class. The second is the knowledge that in order for
the working class to become conscious of itself as a revolutionary force,
it is necessary to build an international revolutionary leadership."
"Comrade Barbara is a truly remarkable person"
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