Remembering Tom Weston here ♦ More letters about Pat Ryle here ♦ Son of the Working Class here ♦ Communist Study and Struggle here ♦ Communism is a Living Practice here ♦ A Favorite Song here ♦ A True Communist here ♦
Remembering Comrade Tom Weston (1944 – 2025)
Sadly, we report that comrade Tom Weston passed away on December 3 after a courageous battle with lung cancer. He was a beloved comrade who dedicated his life to the fight for communism.
Tom was passionate about introducing all workers and youth interested in revolution to the communist philosophy of dialectical materialism. “He opened up doors for other peoples’ lives,” said a comrade in South Africa.
He was stalwart in his commitment to the collective. He built and conscientiously maintained our party’s website and drove for hours to attend meetings.
He organized students to distribute Red Flag to workers and carried communist placards in mass demonstrations. In his forty-five-year role as a philosophy professor, he studied, taught, and wrote about dialectical and historical materialism.
He is remembered as a devoted husband and father and as very good at fixing things around the house. We extend our deep condolences to Tom’s widow, his four surviving sons and daughters, eight grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.
We pledge to honor Comrade Tom’s lifelong commitment to communism by sharpening the struggle for communist theory and practice among workers, students, and soldiers and sailors worldwide. A fuller memorial will appear in the next issue of Red Flag.
Read some of Tom’s contributions to our study of communist philosophy here
More letters about Pat Ryle
Son of the Working Class
Pat Ryle was someone you would be attracted to almost immediately.
He came from a working-class Irish family and grew up in Manchester, England…. a tough industrial city in the North.
He knew a lot of great stories about workers (mostly factory workers) there and all over the world. He would draw you into these stories with his firsthand knowledge of class struggle.
He talked about the harsh reality of life under capitalism, and the tremendous resilience of our class. Some things made you laugh, but humor is also necessary during struggle!
I loved the way Pat shared his knowledge of working-class history through these stories. And I noticed that young people around the party were interested in them too.
We are all going to miss him so very much.
—Comrade C in Seattle (USA)
Communist Study and Struggle
“We will finish the book discussion in his memory,” said Ana, when she heard of Pat’s death.
Five of us in Los Angeles have just started reading Blood in the Machine. We are three comrades in their 30s, an older former tech bro, and myself, a comrade of Pat’s generation. The book is about the Luddites, who smashed machines in the first revolt against the capitalist use of technology. Bay Area comrades had found the book to be useful and inspiring, and Pat recommended it to us.
I discussed the book with Pat the week before he died. We talked about the need to focus on relations of production and class struggle, rather than rejection of technology. In his characteristically insightful manner, he said that the legacy of the Luddite revolt can be seen in Marx’s Capital and in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the first science fiction novel. I shared those insights in the study group and reported that Pat was unwell. The young people, who loved and respected Pat, found his comments helpful. They wished him well.
The next day, Pat called to ask how the study group had gone. We agreed that I should have emphasized the role of class struggle in setting the preconditions for Marx’s analysis. Like an article from El Salvador said: Practice, Theory, Practice. I said I’d do that next time and report back.
The following Monday, Pat was gone. We will continue to learn from his example, and from the fight of the international working class. We will carry the red flag on to victory.
Pat Ryle, Presente!
—Comrade in Los Angeles (USA)
Communism Is a Living Practice
Love and respect for our older Comrades!
By their example, they forge the path that the communist youth must follow. In times where capitalism disguises itself with new masks. Their constancy reminds us that the class struggle does not end, that the enemy remains the same. That progress is only made when the masses rise up with class consciousness and communist organization.
Their experience of struggle in years of militancy teaches us that communism is not a distant utopia, but a daily work. A living practice that is built with discipline, dedication, commitment, and love. Our ICWP party is not just a name, but the instrument of struggle of all of us for a communist society. Tearing down the chains of exploitation.
We know that capitalism wants us to be docile, individualistic, and hopeless. But the example of all our experienced comrades teaches us that history belongs to those who fight, not to those who resign themselves.
We, the young people of the new generation, take their example as a banner. We will not be spectators of the system that destroys the earth and steals human dignity. We will be an active part of the revolution from El Salvador to India, South Africa, Mexico, Spain, Costa Rica, all internationally united by our communist struggle.
Comrades present, and those of us who will always carry ourselves engraved with your example of struggle. So thank you for guiding us, for not giving up, for continuing to believe in the organized strength of the working class. We will follow your example. We will not back down. We commit ourselves to our collective struggle. The future will be communist.
Until victory always! For revolution and workers’ power!
—A young comrade who is learning
Remembering Comrade Pat Ryle and a Favorite Song
Pat had a unique way of explaining complicated political/economic ideas. I remember the time he gave an exposition on Marx’s theory (the truth) of the inevitability of capitalism’s law of declining profit. In his own melodious baritone, he could make complex ideas not just or even simple, but clear and relevant. It was his passion to eliminate the secondary, less important, and go to the heart, the unambiguous essence. It came with years of struggle and compassion for his fellow workers.
The other thing I remember, like it was yesterday, was him passionately singing this song. It’s ringing in my ears now. I’m smiling with joy and camaraderie.
Walking around with my mates one night
We got in a little fight
Geezer coming at me with a knife in his fist
I gots cut along the wrist
[Chorus]
A.C.A.B.
A.C.A.B.
A.C.A.B.
All coppers are bastards
Had to go to court to plead my case
Judge didn’t like the look of my face
He said “I’m gonna put you away”
Last thing that I had to say, I said
[Chorus]
Don’t got much to say to you
Now you’ll see what we ‘gon do
Next thing I was put in a cell
All my mates in here as well
[Chorus]
A.C.A.B.
A.C.A.B.
A.C.A.B.
All coppers are bastards!
—Old comrade
Comrade Pat Ryle: A True Communist
I want to first acknowledge the wonderful work and dedication comrade Pat has done for the party. How he carried himself, consistently showing everyone how true communists carry themselves. His warmth, teachings, and dedication shall live with us forever. We will continue with the struggle in fighting for communism. Long live comrade Pat!
—Comrade in Despatch (South Africa)
More about Comrade Pat appeared in the previous two issues of Red Flag.
See In Memory of Comrade Pat Ryle here and Letters Remembering Comrade Pat Ryle here