Obituary: Joe Richmond (2006)

Obituary from the October 2006 issue of the Socialist Standard

Joe Richmond died a few months ago. He was a marvellous member. He taught me what little I know about the Materialist Conception of History and he was the best member I ever heard on Engels’s Transformation From Ape To Man. He was a great guy. He was a shipwright on the Clydeside and came across the socialist case from a trade union background (as an apprentice he has been involved in the unofficial – and illegal – 1944 apprentices’ strike). He later became a school teacher. I remember him best as a lecturer at the Glasgow branch rooms in Berkeley Street using fretwork pieces of wood to show how the continents were formed. Years later on television I saw the same thing. He was also an attender at various classes on philosophy at extra-mural Glasgow University courses where he embarrassed the lecturers with his corrections about the works of Hegel, Engels and Marx. After retiring Joe emigrated to Australia to be near his two sons. He rejoined the Socialist Party and kept up his interest in political matters. We have had many great members, he was one of the best. To his wife Anna and his children we extend our sympathies.

Thanks a lot Joe,

Richard Donnelly