Sunday, August 26, 2018

Obituary: Jack Law (1962)

Obituary from the August 1962 issue of the Socialist Standard

Many members of the party will be shocked and grieved to hear of the sudden death, at the age of 67, of Thomas (Jack) Law, who was a member of Paddington Branch. During the First World War, Jack was with the Canadian Infantry in France. The shell-shock he suffered, and what he saw there, gave him some bitter food for thought. Jack became a Socialist and joined the party in 1934. He was a familiar figure thereafter at Hyde Park and elsewhere selling our literature and putting the Socialist case to everyone who came to hand. He was one of the stalwarts who built up the Paddington Branch. Many members remember with gratitude the encouragement he gave them when they first joined the Party, and with his help became able propagandists for Socialism.

He was deeply disgusted at the mass working class support for the Second World War; his experiences in the trenches had made him somewhat impatient of such ignorant acceptance of capitalism's bloodbaths. Jack dropped out of party activity after the war, although to the end he was a Socialist and made no bones about it.

He leaves a widow and two sons, one of whom is a member of Wembley Branch. To them we offer our sympathy.

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