Ali Ghiassi

1974-2011

Comrades and friends of the Spartacist League were saddened to learn that Ali Ghiassi died suddenly and tragically on 1 October 2011. Ali was a long-time supporter of the Spartacist League and a former member of the Spartacus Youth Group. We extend our heartfelt condolences to Ali’s mother, Marguerita; his brother Connell; his sister and brother-in-law Ramesh and David; and to the rest of his extended family, his many friends and co-workers.

Ali was a committed socialist and fighter against capitalism throughout his adult life. As a physics student at Aberystwyth University, he joined the first left group he came across, Militant Labour (now the Socialist Party) in October 1995. Wanting to make a difference on his campus, he ran for election as President of the Students Union on a Students for Socialism platform. However, Ali soon realised that Militant’s perspective did not go beyond obtaining reforms within the confines of bourgeois parliamentarism, and he joined the Spartacus Youth Group in September 1996. He was unable to continue as a member due to health and other reasons, but rejoined for a time in 2002, and remained a staunch supporter of the work of the Spartacist League until his death.

What motivated Ali to become political was above all his deep sense of social justice, and in particular his hatred of racism and the oppression of women and homosexuals. Coming from an Iranian background, Ali was always keenly aware of the threat the Iranian Islamic “revolution” of 1979 represented for women, gays and leftists in Iran, and argued passionately with British leftists who thought Khomeini represented a step forward. At a Spartacist League national conference in 2002, he spoke powerfully to how the bourgeoisie uses sexism and homophobia to sow backwardness and divisions in the working class, and to the importance of opposing measures, such as age of consent laws, which criminalise youth for sexual activity deviating from bourgeois morality. When Ali was living in Yorkshire, he wrote to us regularly, and his letters often vividly described his experiences of racism as well as what daily life was like for the oppressed black and Asian minorities in the north of England. Ali also got into trouble at work several times for taking a stand against discrimination and injustices affecting him and his co-workers.

Ali’s family organised an extremely moving memorial in tribute to his life shortly after his death. Those who knew him from all walks of life spoke to how compassionate, sensitive and caring he was towards his friends and family. Ali was an open-minded, sociable person who pursued a wide range of interests. He played several sports, including hockey. Throughout his life Ali had a passion for nature and wildlife. For several years, he took part in amateur musicals and was a member of the Wimbledon Light Opera Society. Friends who performed alongside Ali spoke to his great sense of humour and to his ability to make everyone around him feel at ease.

Ali never wavered in his belief that, in his own words, “there are only 2 choices, communism or capitalist butchery”. He knew there would need to be a revolutionary party ready to act even if the revolution didn’t happen in his lifetime, and always lived by the commitment he made in his 1996 application letter to the Spartacus Youth Group that “I must help now to make the party as strong as possible for the future”. He was generous in his financial support to the work of the Spartacist League over many years and had been in touch shortly before he died to renew his subscription to our press. Ali will be remembered by comrades and friends in Britain and elsewhere who continue the fight for socialism which Ali was so passionate about.