Obituary: Ennis “Cheerio” Clarke (1971)

Obituary from issue number 1 (1971) of The Western Socialist

Ennis “Cheerio” Clarke was born in Walmsley, England, about 1895. His parents moved the family to the Boston, Massachusetts, area sometime prior to the World War I period where Ennis remained until the late Thirties when he settled in the town of East Greenwich, Rhode Island. He made his living for many years as a professional photographer and, in a small way, as a dealer in philatelic stamps.

“Cheerio.” as he was known to just about all who knew him to any extent, met members of the World Socialist Party during his Boston days and found our political philosophy conformed with his own. He remained a member of the WSP and a convinced socialist until his death on Nov. 9, 1970. at the Veterans Home in Bristol. Rhode Island. As a draftee in World War I, where he was stationed for the duration in a training camp in So. Carolina, “Cheerio” was entitled to Veteran benefits. He was in and out of the V.A. Hospital in Providence, R. I. for a number of years before his death, the victim of cancer. He had never married.

“Cheerio” was also an accomplished amateur musician and performed creditably on the banjo, guitar and mandolin. He was well-known and liked in E. Greenwich as the following excerpt from a letter to this writer from one of his close friends, Don Rice, will attest. Our correspondent, who now lives in Ohio and edits a Quarterly “Journal of American Opinion” — SCHISM — writes:

“Trips back east won't seem the same now, without being able to stop by his studio-apartment for a visit. More than any other person, he was responsible for opening my eyes to the possibilities of alternatives. There were many in East Greenwich who were influenced by his youthful readiness to challenge old fogies one-fourth his age. He went on the wagon once for years; we kids got him drinking beer again, going out to bars or just sitting up in his studio playing guitar and singing. It never seemed odd to us at nineteen and twenty and twenty-one to have as a member of our crowd a man in his sixties. Though “Cheerio” didn't neglect those his own age. It was always great fun to sit on the courthouse wall listening to him argue with two of his regular cronies; a part-time policeman and a Jehovah's Witness. He was considered a harmless crank by many in town, but those of us who knew him well, knew that he was a good man deeply concerned with correcting social injustice and the inequities of modern life."

Which we, his comrades, would only amend by pointing out that “Cheerio’' went beyond a desire to correct “social injustice,” something that most people would profess to favor provided it could be done within the framework of capitalist society. “Cheerio” was a revolutionist in the most meaningful sense of the term, even organizing propaganda trips to E. Greenwich by his Boston comrades in order that those in E. Greenwich who cared to listen could hear and debate the case for a brand new way of life with others than himself. There were, over the years, a few such trips when at least two carloads of WSPers made the 65-mile trip from Boston.

In his final days, “Cheerio” was able to have visits from a number of his comrades, including Gilbert McClatchle of the Socialist Party of Great Britain, who was in our area last September. He was also enabled to see consummated his wish that his possessions should go to the World Socialist Party. Several of us made the trip to E. Greenwich where we removed many items, including a valuable stamp collection and a number of musical instruments, all of which are adding much-needed funds to aid socialist work.

Those of us who knew him, including this writer who visited him on a number of occasions over the last few years, will miss him. I can attest, as one who has examined much of the voluminous correspondence accumulated by Comrade Clarke — in the capacity of a sort of literary executor — that he has done his part in spreading the case for socialism. He has made his mark in the World Socialist Movement.

Harry Morrison

Obituary: Comrade Sid Earp (1971)

Obituary from issue number 1 (1971) of The Western Socialist

It is with regret that we announce the passing of Comrade Sid Earp of Vancouver, B.C., Canada, on November 23, 1970. He was taken ill in his hotel room and was dead on arrival at the hospital.

This writer can recall the time — I think it was in 1915 — that Sid joined the old, and at that time robust and vital, Vancouver Local No. 1, S.P.C. He soon made his presence felt in many ways. At the Saturday evening socials of the Local his mellow and well-placed baritone often regaled us with “Brown October Ale” and other popular vocal favorites. This earned for him the name of “The All-Red Baritone.”

In his later years, as many may recall, he traveled much, visiting comrades in England, Scotland, Ireland. New Zealand. Australia, as well as those in the United States and Canada. I remember well his filling me in with his glowing impressions of these visits and am grateful therefor.

Though not one of great means (he was a waterfront worker and received a pension on retirement — he was an expert on supervising the loading of cargo on merchant ships) he was generous to the socialist movement on many occasions. When on a visit to Boston* many years ago, he donated $1000 to the WSP.

As time goes on, we witness one more old stalwart passing. This should spur the rest who remain to greater efforts to obtain knowledge able recruits so that the shoes of those passing away should not remain unfilled.

“Bill” Pritchard.

* We in Boston have fond memories of Sid Earp.

Obituary: Fred Neale (1973)

Obituary from issue number 5 (1973) of The Western Socialist

It Is with sadness that we record the passing of another old stalwart.

Fred Neale, for some twenty years a member of the World Socialist Party in Los Angeles and Seattle and previously a member of the Socialist Party of Canada in Winnipeg and Vancouver, has been forced out of the struggle after a lengthy and painful illness.

Fred became a member of the Winnipeg Local shortly after the first world war and never lost interest in the work of spreading Socialism. During the interval between the decline of the old S. P. of C. in the 1920s and its reorganization at the beginning of the 1930s he was a one-man distributor of Socialist literature and for part of this time his name and address appeared regularly in the Socialist Standard as a source of copies and subscriptions to that journal.

Fred was active in the Party's reorganization and its adoption of the Socialist Party of Great Britain's Declaration of Principles and became its first Local and Dominion Executive Committee Secretary, offices he held for several years. Through this period he was also a regular soap boxer.

During the second world war he lived for a time in Vancouver and was active there in the Party’s work. Later he moved to the United States and became a member of the Los Angeles Local of the W.S.P.. sending regular donations to The Western Socialist and helping in its circulation

To his family in Winnipeg and Seattle, our deepest sympathy. His kind are rare.

Jim Milne

Aaron Smith . . . In Memoriam (1973)

Obituary from issue number 3 (1973) of The Western Socialist

Once again it is our sad duty to report the death of a comrade. Aaron H. Smith of Los Angeles, a dedicated member of the World Socialist Movement, if ever there was one, passed away in April of 1973 after a lengthy illness.

"Smitty" first Joined the World Socialist Party in New York City in the Thirties and was a member of the N. Y Local until he settled in Los Angeles in the Mid-Forties. In L. A. he served for a number of years as local secretary and contact member in the directory of The Western Socialist. He was one of those socialists who will be long remembered by his comrades both for his socialist understanding and his wit. He had travelled a bit on the World Socialist trail, having made the scene in Canada. Britain and in Vienna as well as at least two visits to Party Conferences in Boston in his later years.

I first met "Smitty’’ in New York City in 1939 when I was but a fledgling socialist. He was one of the comrades who reinforced my own understanding. He was particularly fond of the taxation question and adept at explaining that it is a capitalist, not a working class problem. Old timers of Boston Local still remember and talk of a lecture he gave on the subject at one of their forums in the Thirties. He broke up his audience as he demolished the theory — prevalent then. too. with radicals — that the poverty-stricken working class pays taxes.

"Smitty" was an upholsterer by trade and when he settled in L. A. he earned his living refurbishing and restoring office chairs, bar stools, etc. He became, as he termed it. a "tacks expert.” I can still see him in my "mind’s eye” (I had settled in L. A. a few years before he arrived) a mouthful of tacks and an upholsterer’s hammer in his hand, plying his trade and joking about his "tacks" expertise.

But it would take much more than a necessarily brief obit to do Justice to Comrade Aaron Smith. All we can do here is bid him a sad farewell in the Journal of his Party.

— A Boston comrade

Obituary: Sam Orner (1973)

Obituary from issue number 6 (1973) of The Western Socialist

Our comrade Sam Orner died on Sunday, September 2, at the Englewood (NJ.) Hospital as the Conference sessions of the World Socialist Party of the U.S. were being held In Boston. He was 79 years of age.

Since his youth Sam was active In the working class movements having belonged to such groups as the old Socialist Party of America, circa World War I and the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). In 1934 he was deeply involved in the New York taxi strike and was, in fact, the prototype of the character "Lefty" In the Clifford Odets play dealing with that strike, "Waiting for Lefty.”

It is his measure as a socialist, however, that the World Socialist Party and The Western Socialist wishes to take, for to us the struggle for a sane system of society is the most important activity one can ever be engaged in. And Sam certainly measures tall in the Socialist Movement. He left his mark especially for his contemporaries but also for posterity in the articles he contributed to The Western Socialist and, occasionally, to The Socialist Standard (SPBG). He was one who had something to say and those who have had the experience of hearing him on indoor or outdoor platforms, expounding the case for socialism in his Brooklynese accent, will long remember him, in fact, will never forget him. It should be noted that comrades in Canada. Great Britain and Australia—as well as many throughout the UJS.A. have had the experience of knowing him and of hearing him in action.

Sam was, it should be mentioned, a highly controversial and emotional type, a hard antagonist in argument. But he was, above all, concerned for the Movement and gave generously, over the years, in both time and money for the advancement of its ideas. On numerous occasions he drove the long miles between his summer camp in the Catskill Mountains of New York to New York City in order to attend Party meetings or to service stores with socialist literature. A great many members, from near and far, have enjoyed his outgoing hospitality — along with Ida’s, his wife and constant companion — both at Roscoe in the mountains and at their permanent home in Tenafly, New Jersey. Along with his other accomplishments, Sam was a raconteur of anecdotes, a skilled fisherman and an experienced flapjack flipper as those who partook of his specialty breakfasts can attest. He will be missed.

A Boston Comrade