International Worker No 240, Saturday October 11, 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 during 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. 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.

Here we reproduce two of these written tributes, from her comrades in West and South Yorkshire.

"Your life has been motivated by the fight to prepare the future"

"An example of determined commitment and boundless energy"

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