Obituary: Jimmy Moir (2023)

Obituary from the December 2023 issue of the Socialist Standard

Edinburgh Branch are saddened to report the death of Comrade Jimmy Moir in September at the age of 85. He left school at 15 and became a socialist after reading the Socialist Standard and listening to outdoor meetings at the Mound in Edinburgh (where he was later to speak himself), joining the Party in 1968. His last job was as a road worker for the Edinburgh Corporation/Lothian Regional Council where he was a NUPE shop steward. He said he never hesitated to put at union conferences the socialist analysis of worker/capitalist class relations and their struggle. He stood for the Party at the first Scottish government elections in 1999. Radio Scotland broadcast one of the hustings debates and he cut through our opponents’ Blairite bullshit in his strong East Coast accent and railed against the poverty of the working class. Jimmy was a stalwart of the branch and at the time of his death was the branch secretary and treasurer. Comrades like him are difficult to replace.