Party Memorial Meeting Held for Tom Graham (John Maharg)

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Party Memorial Meeting Held for Tom Graham (John Maharg)

Message from a Representative of the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) to the Tom Graham Memorial Meeting

Message of Gerry MacLochlainn, Sinn Fein Councillor in Derry

Poems by John Maharg: Sonnet, Lakenheath

The hall of the International Brigade library of Marx House, Camberwell Green, which Tom Graham, known to many by his pen name of John Maharg, had frequented so many times, filled up on Saturday, October 9, for a memorial meeting for this old comrade whom the Party and his many friends held so dear. Tom sadly passed away, it must have been the evening of September 17. He died of a stroke sat in his armchair.

On September 30, he had been cremated at West Norwood Cemetery, in a very beautiful and fitting ceremony. On the afternoon of October 9, RCPB(ML)’s national spokesperson, Tom’s daughter and a few others scattered his ashes on Karl Marx’s grave, a very fitting place for his ashes as Tom himself had wished.

The cremation ceremony, a ceremony of farewell and a celebration of his life, was itself extremely moving. A piper piped in Tom’s coffin to the chapel, and after the welcoming address those gathered sang the song Immortal. One of John Maharg’s sonnets from "Don Juan of Pimlico" was read followed by Robbie Burns’ My Love is Like A Red, Red Rose. John had written the words to the song for RCPB(ML)’s 3rd Congress, and the music to this song was played as a vigorous instrumental for violin and organ. Three of old John’s close friends gave beautiful and moving tributes from the heart, following which red roses were collected by his daughter and grandchildren from each of the mourners and placed on the coffin. As the curtains closed for the last time on Tom Graham, the piper’s farewell strains of a Scottish lament receded far away into the distance.

The memorial meeting of October 9 gave the opportunity for a number of comrades and friends who were not able to speak at the ceremony to make their tributes, as well as representatives of different organisations. Present was a representative of the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist). Further performances of John Maharg’s poems and of music based on his poems and written in collaboration with him were given.

After welcoming everyone, Chris Coleman, National Spokesperson of RCPB(ML), paid tribute to Tom, or "Old John" as his friends and comrades mostly knew him. He was born of working class parents of Irish origin in Edinburgh on October 4, 1918, Chris Coleman explained, and was a fighter for his whole life. He hitchhiked and walked to London from Edinburgh in his teens and soon after he volunteered for the Spanish Civil War only to be arrested in Paris and deported, as many volunteers in fact were. From that time up to his last days, he was a fighter right up to the last minute, a fighter for the cause of the working class, a fighter for the freedom and independence of nations, particularly his own nation Scotland and that of his origin Ireland. At the same time, he was a great internationalist who fought for the cause of the world’s people.

He dedicated his life to the cause of the downtrodden and oppressed. He never wavered in his conviction that another world was possible and he fought to bring this new world, this new society into being. He was a loyal comrade of our Party and its predecessors right from 1970. He was still a member the day he died. For many years he managed the bookshop in Wandsworth Road and he became a much-loved and respected local personality.

He was a worker who worked on the construction sites and in the building trade, Chris Coleman continued. In his mid-fifties he retired to devote his time to writing, from which time he wrote tirelessly. Although he left school at 14, we all knew him as a very erudite, extremely widely read, scholarly man. He produced a huge amount of poetry, notably his mammoth epic poem Don Juan of Pimlico which was published on his 80th birthday, as well as many anti-war poems, at least one novel, short-stories, and two plays, Tiocfhaidh Ár Lá (Our Day Will Come) and Anne Devlin, which were written in support of the Irish struggle for freedom and against colonial rule. In fact, the last time he read in public was at the Not-In-Our-Name Concert in September of 2002. When John stepped up and read his poems at the concert there was no need for any sound system so vigorous was his delivery.

We knew him as a man of enormous vigour, a man of huge warmth and of very sharp-witted good humour, Chris Coleman said. I think it was very aptly said that his was a type of mischief which will be sadly missed. Most of all he never wavered in his conviction in the cause of socialism and communism. Throughout his life, he was a great inspiration to everyone who knew him, as he will be from now on also, and he will be sorely missed. His life and work will continue to be a source of great inspiration.

This is the comrade, this is the man whom we meet this evening to commemorate, Chris Coleman concluded.

The proceedings continued with a short video produced by Stuart Monro giving glimpses of images of John’s life with the Party which brought him very powerfully to life, after which it was very appropriate for the participants to stand for two minutes’ silence. Two of John’s poems were read: Lakenheath and the Sonnet in Memory of Comrade Hardial Bains. Following that a violin and piano version of the setting of the sonnet, originally written for the PCA Choir of which John was a member, by Michael Chant was played by the composer and Lesley Larkum. Hugh Shrapnel also wrote settings of John’s "Love Sonnets of a Building Worker" for violin and piano. Hugh and Lesley performed When I look out the window of today.

John, in both his cultural work and his political work, worked very closely with the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist), and he went with several delegations of the Progressive Cultural Association (PCA) to Canada and worked very closely with the Canadian Cultural Workers’ Committee. CPC(ML) sent a wreath to his funeral, with the Canadian Party’s National Leader, Sandra Smith, sending also a personal wreath. A comrade from CPC(ML), a poet who worked very closely with John, delivered a message to the memorial meeting, which is reproduced below. A representative of the Communist Ghadar Party of India had attended the funeral and also left best wishes for the memorial meeting.

Speaking for the Central Committee of RCPB(ML), Michael Chant recalled John’s work as an activist of the Party from the early 1970s, mentioning that he had worked with John in South London from 1974. He said that John was one of the most vigorous of all the comrades, not only in the vigorousness of his work, but also throughout his life in the vigorousness of his communist spirit. John, he said, would always exercise his right to conscience, being a model in the sense that in speaking his mind he had no hidden agenda, but had the highest of motives in aiming to strengthen the Party and its work. In this respect, he was most active in his basic organisation, and channelled his fighting spirit into its work. While studying the Party’s line and applying it, he would never refrain from addressing what he saw as shortcomings, no matter at what level, and from taking initiatives which he perceived would contribute to its work. This he did because for him it was an axiom that the revolutionary party, the Marxist-Leninist Party, is the indispensable instrument of the working class in bringing about the revolutionary transformation of society, and opening up that new world which is the negation of imperialist reaction and obscurantism. His concern was always therefore for the success of the work of the Party, for the victory of the cause of revolutionary and socialism, and as a consequence there was no more vigorous defender of the Party than was John.

The speaker also recalled that there had been no more steadfast comrade in going on to the streets with Workers’ Weekly, and selling outside the factories in all weathers. And even when he could no longer stand, he would take his stool to Clapham Junction and sit there outselling all the other comrades. As a comrade of little means, John was also proactive in supporting the Party financially, insisting even in his last months that he kept up to date with his dues.

In all these respects, the speaker concluded, we can learn from the vigorousness, from the communist quality of Comrade John, and I feel very proud and honoured to have known him and worked with him, for the past 30 years and more.

Chris Coleman, in introducing messages paying tribute to John, remarked that the video had included scenes of John acting in his play Anne Devlin, which, together Tiocfhaidh Ár Lá, for quite a number of years was performed at the Bobby Sands/James Connolly commemoration which is organised in London by the Wolfe Tone Society. At that time, the Sinn Fein representative in London was Gerry MacLochlainn, who is now a councillor in Derry and one of the chief negotiators for Sinn Fein. Gerry MacLochlainn sent a message, which is reproduced below.

Chris Coleman then read extracts from other messages which the Party had received, including from the Rev Graham Buckle and the Buckle family, from the pianist John Tilbury, from Dermot Hudson of the DPRK support movement, and from others who had known and loved John from his time at the Party’s bookshop.

Messages of tribute were given in person to the meeting by a comrade from Eh Din who spoke of how John, as a proud member of the working class in Britain, stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the workers of India; by a woman comrade, a long-time friend, who spoke of John’s passion and kindness; and by long-standing friend of the Party Keith Bennett, who recalled that he had in fact for most of his life known John. For many years he would see John practically every Saturday selling Workers’ Weekly outside Brixton tube. Workers’ Weekly had very powerful very courageous things to say, and not only the paper but John in particular as a person never fudged these issues which is why so many people respected John and followed his lead. John, Keith Bennett said, was the epitome of the working class intellectual, a lovely person and everyone will miss him. Musician Hugh Shrapnel recalled his involvement with John over the years in the PCA, mentioning especially the passion of his beliefs. A representative of the African and Caribbean Progressive Study Group(ACPSG) mentioned that John had always been a keen supporter of its work of enlightenment, as well as being active, for example, on the issue of the Ethiopian revolution. Other comrades and friends also paid tribute from the floor.

In drawing the formal part of the meeting to a close, Chris Coleman said that the tributes, including the video, attest to a really remarkable man and comrade. It brings home how much we will miss him. At the same time, we are celebrating a comrade who took up the work of the Party, the cause of the nations and peoples of the world. In this way, he will continue to be a very great inspiration to us all, I am sure, in our continuing struggles in various fields.

We are all honoured to have known John – Tom – and to have worked with him. Every time you see his picture it brings a smile to your face, and it stiffens the sinews. He himself and his unshakeable conviction in the cause of communism will continue to be a very great inspiration.

The memorial meeting concluded with the singing of The Internationale, after which informal reminiscences continued for some time.

Comrades and friends,

I would like to express the great sorrow of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist), of the Canadian Cultural Workers Committee, of communists and progressive people across Canada, and of myself personally at the death of Tom Graham and covey our condolences to his comrades in the Revolutionary Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist), to his family and to his friends.

John was a skilful poet who used his talents to strike a blow for the working class. Although, like many sons and daughters of the working class, he had limited formal education, he knew his stuff, and he appropriated the best from the traditions of English poetry. The high road of civilisation was conspicuously manifest in his work. It is impossible to read Don Juan of Pimlico without drawing comparisons to the poetry of Edmund Spenser and John Milton. It is poetry that is intended to be pondered and grappled with, before its meaning becomes clear, before its beauty becomes manifest. It is poetry that requires the conscious participation of the reader.

I first met John twenty-four years ago when he came to Canada as part of the second delegation of the Progressive Cultural Association of Britain led by Comrade Cornelius Cardew to work with the Canadian Cultural Workers Committee led by Comrade Hardial Bains. We made great advances in the cultural work at that time, and John made his contribution to this unforgettable work. Since then John returned to Canada several times. He travelled across the breadth of Canada, writing poetry and songs and performing in almost every major city for workers who were eager to share in the excitement of those days in October. He shared weal and woe, laughter and tears, with us, and we were proud to have such a man as our comrade. He will be sorely missed on our side of the Atlantic as well.

What are those characteristics embodied in John which made us proud to have him as a comrade and which are still an inspiration to us? First and foremost, he was a political man. He saw the necessity for the working class to organise itself as the ruling class, and he worked to achieve this throughout his life. His courage and loyalty to the cause of the working class was unshakeable. From the time of the Spanish Civil War until his death, one knew where John stood.

In the flush of youth, many people are excited about the prospect of revolution and the creation of a new world without oppression and exploitation. For not a few, as they grow older, this excitement dims and even turns into a morbid fear of change. Not so with John. To a young man such as I was when I first met John, his steadfastness to the revolutionary path was an inspiration and a living link to the struggles of the older generations.

Tines have changed a great deal since I first met John. The tide of revolution is at ebb, and the bourgeoisie and imperialism are carrying out a massive offensive which holds grave dangers for the peoples of the world. But even in these days of great sorrow, there is no room for pessimism. To quote a poem which came out of our working together in those days of October 1979 and subsequently, "The dream of the generations is young and fresh in us."

In conclusion, I would like to thank the Revolutionary Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist) for having nurtured, trained and guided such a comrade as John, for making it possible for a humble soul like John to make not-a-small contribution to the cause of the international working class. For with comrades such as these, the victory of the working class is inevitable.

A Red Salute to Comrade Tom Graham! Long Live the Revolutionary Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist)! Workers of All Countries, Unite!

A Chairde

It was with some sadness that I heard of the death of Thomas and I want to be associated with this gathering of his family, friends and comrades to remember his life, to celebrate his stalwart struggle and to pledge ongoing determination to bring about the world of equals to which Thomas dedicated his life.

Like another Irishman born in Scotland Thomas understood that cause of Ireland was the cause of labour and he stood firmly for the Reconquest of Ireland. This generation will see the political liberation of Ireland and the struggle to build an Ireland of equals will take a great leap forward.

Next year we remember the 100^th anniversary of Sinn Fein and the year afterwards we will remember the 90^th anniversary of James Connolly along with his comrades of the Rising and Bobby Sands along with his brave comrades in Long Kesh. I will remember throughout that time the contribution made by Thomas to our commemorations in London. When times were not easy Thomas stood alongside us in support of Ireland’s cause. Today I am proud to stand with him.

We will achieve our goal Thomas I have no doubt.

For our demands most moderate are –
We only want the earth.

Tiocfhaidh Ár Lá!

Cllr Gerry MacLochlainn

from "Don Juan of Pimlico"

'But if there are no epitaphs in hand,
I'm off, for no less than Cleopatra I
Have immortal longings in me, and no grand
Ceremonial departure, please; goodbye,
One word, no more, and even less would do.
I give to Daniel what I said I would
To be read when I'm gone in words as few
As they are an expression of how good
For me will be my absence from the living.
So, no handshakes, just farewell to you from me,
As I go now. And come now Peg, no weeping,
We met only today — I will be free!
Think that of me as I go where for pain
Of living, death can only be a gain.'

John Maharg

Lakenheath

The following poem was written on the first anniversary of the bombing of Libya by American aircraft flying from bases in Britain, thus making the British government every bit as guilty of the deaths of men, women and children in an arbitrary punitive strike by American imperialism.

Oh Lakenheath
As English as an English rose
Breathing of summer in the bud
That April day of promise to high June
When hay is in the making
And the cattle browse
Drowsy with peace
As in the heat of the day the harvesters
Toil for the bread of life

That April day of promise to high June
The sky was innocent of evil
And a bird was singing
Its territorial song
When
From a deadly nest of razor wire
Screaming to heaven came
The sinister silhouettes of F one Elevens
Taking from Lakenheath to Tripoli
From Upper Heyford to Benghazi
Death on American wings
That April day

That April day of promise to high June
When we were sleeping in our homes
In our own country
As innocent of evil as the sky
That April day
Death on American wings was on its way
For execution of the innocents
In their own homes in their own country

For long time now and time to come
The American way of life for others has become
The American way of death

Out with the American way
The American way
The American way
Out
Out
Out
From the military bases
Out and away from Lakenheath
From Mildenhall and Fairford
From upper Heyford
Out and away
Out and away
Oh Lakenheath!

John Maharg