IT IS WITH DEEP regret that we announce the death of our comrade Bob Smith at the age of 46. Bob died of a massive heart attack in Birmingham on Sunday April 24.
More than 250 people attended his funeral on Friday May 6, testifying to the imWORLD NEWS mense respect and affection for Bob in the Birmingham labour movement.
Bob got involved in socialist politics at the beginning of the 1980s, through anti-fascist activity. He was one of five people excluded from Yardley Labour Party in 1983.
Joining the Socialist League, the then British section of the Fourth International, he joined Socialist Outlook with a group of comrades of Birmingham at the time of the Gulf war, becoming one of our most loyal and determined supporters.
Bob's immense popularity, not just among Socialist OutLook supporters nationwide, but in the whole of the Birmingham labour movement, stemmed from his indefatigable activity and good humour.
His main fields of work were anti-racist activity, through his leading role in Birmingham CARF and support for the Irish struggle through the Troops Out movement.
But beyond that Bob was a tireless supporter of all workers' struggles. In the miners'strike and during the Wapping printers' struggle Bob's activity was tireless.
Whenever there was a picket line, Bob was there. In the last period of his life, the struggle of the Asian workers at Burnsalls consumed his activity, although he never slackened in his work on anti-racism and on Ireland.
Good humour
Bob took socialist comradeship seriously. He passionately debated his views inside and outside of Socialist Outlook, but never succumbed to sectarian rancour. His good humour, his infectious laughter, affected everyone around him.
Like all serious socialists, Bob had a passion for ideas. When he spoke in meetings he was always gripped by the excitement of Marxist and socialist ideas, thinking on his feet and inspiring those present.
He was a fervent internationalist, always passionately interested in news about the Fourth International and the struggle for socialism world-wide.
Bob was Socialist Outlook's most loyal correspondent, ringing the paper every production weekend with news of workers' and anti-racist struggles.
And he was one of the most determined sellers of the paper. He played a leading role in Socialist Outlook's anti-racist commission and never failed to attend our national events.
Bob always lived with his parents until their death several years ago. As Birmingham Trades Council president Mick Rice said at his funeral: 'Bob was a single man who made the labour movement his family'.
The affection with which he was held was reflected in the broad attendance at his funeral, which included people from the black and Irish communities, the Labour party, trade unions, anti-racist organisations and the far left.
Bob was a model of loyalty, determination and comradeship. He hated all forms of oppression, and he loathed the trade union and Labour bureaucrats who betrayed those fightBob Smith: 28 May memorial meeting is planned ing it.
While any form of sectarian rancour was alien to him, he was a fierce partisan of Socialist Outlook and the Fourth International.
Speaking at his funeral for the Socialist Outlook editorial board, Phil Hearse said: 'Bob did his duty by his comrades, he did his duty by his organisation,
SOCIALIST OUTLOOK No. 62, May 14 1994, Page 3