Obituary: Pat James 1930 – 2014

Pat James, lifelong socialist and supporter of the Socialist Party, has sadly passed away at the age of 83.

Pat was one of nine children and was born in the working class community of Easton, Bristol. Her hatred of the capitalist system developed at an early age. She joined the Co-operative youth club which helped form her socialist ideas.

She became very active in the Labour Party and a staunch supporter of the Labour Party Young Socialists.

She was a formidable organiser and became Tony Benn’s election agent. She was an activist in local campaigns, notably in the Stop the Coal Imports campaign.

After more than 30 years as a member of the Labour Party, she concluded that it was no longer a workers’ party, and looked for an alternative.

She continued to support the idea of a new workers’ party and when the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition was formed she was inspired that a real alternative could be built.

Even with the blow of Bob Crow’s death, which she learnt of from her hospital bed, she did not give up hope – she said loudly to the rest of the ward “what we need to do now is to build TUSC!”

Louise James