Obituary: Fred Allen (2020)

Obituary from the December 2020 issue of the Socialist Standard

Sadly we report the death on 11 September of comrade Fred Allen, aged 91 years. 

He joined the Socialist Party when aged 17 having decided ‘there was no god and the SPGB was the best thing he knew of’.

In later years he was a member of East London Branch and then for some years an active member of the East Anglian Regional Branch. He served a short time on the Executive Committee and was an assistant to the Treasurer, taking seriously the collection of dues.

Fred was an enthusiastic supporter of the annual Summer School held in Birmingham probably enjoying the social side as much as the meetings. He was ready to help out wherever he could. A member recalls how a couple of years ago he helped her with the catering for a conference carrying the heavy shopping and spending the day in the kitchen rather than at the delegate meeting saying he was ‘not interested in the chit chat, I prefer to get things done’.

Fred would have been at HO for the Conference in April – he rang to arrange that we travel by cab – but sadly the lockdown meant that it did not take place.

We extend our condolences to his wife Barbara and family.