Bert Ramelson
Bert Ramelson | |
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) | |
Died | 13 April 1994 | (aged 84)
Occupation | Industrial organiser |
Baruch Rahmilevich Mendelson (22 March 1910 – 13 April 1994), commonly known as Bert Ramelson, was an
Early life
Ramelson was born the sixth of seven children in a Jewish family in
In 1922 Ramelson's family emigrated to
After completing his mandatory year in practice as an articled clerk and qualifying as a barrister, he left to join a kibbutz in Palestine. He later recalled that he became disillusioned after Histadrut called a strike on an orange grove in the kibbutz, demanding that the Arab workers be replaced by Jews.[3]
Wars
After briefly returning to Canada, he left to fight with the Canadian battalion of the
In 1939 he settled in Britain and for a short time was a trainee manager at
During the
Post-war
After the war, he became acting full-time secretary of the
National Industrial Organiser
In 1965 Ramelson was appointed National Industrial Organiser of the Communist Party and in 1966, during the
During his time as National Organiser Ramelson encouraged the party to forge links with trade unions such as the
The tactics implemented by Ramelson mobilised militant trades unionists to organise within the labour movement. He opposed the
Personal life
He married his first wife Marian in 1939, whom he met in the Communist Party in Leeds. Marian Ramelson wrote Petticoat Rebellion, a work about women's rights, and was a leading activist in the Party.[8] Marian died in 1967 and he married Joan Smith in 1970.
Publications
- Incomes Policy: The Great Wage Freeze Trick
- Keep the Unions Free (1969)
- Donovan Exposed: A Critical Analysis of the Report of the Royal Commission on Trade Unions (1968)
- Productivity Agreements: An Exposure of the Latest and Greatest Swindle on the Wages Front (1970)
- Carr's Bill and How to Kill It: A Class Analysis (1971)
- Heath's War on Your Wage Packet: The Latest Tory Attack on Living Standards and Trade Union Rights (1973)
- Smash Phase III: The Tory Fraud Exposed (1973)
- Social Contract: Cure or Con-trick? (1974)
- Bury the Social Contract: The Case for an Alternative Policy (1977)
- Consensus for Socialism (1987)
References
- ^ a b Seifert, R. & Sibley, T. (2012) Revolutionary Communist at Work: A Political Biography of Bert Ramelson London: Lawrence & Wishart p. 23
- ^ a b Seifert, R. & Sibley, T. (2012) Revolutionary Communist at Work: A Political Biography of Bert Ramelson London: Lawrence & Wishart p. 27
- ^ Seifert, R. & Sibley, T. (2012) Revolutionary Communist at Work: A Political Biography of Bert Ramelson London: Lawrence & Wishart pp. 28-29
- ^ Pattinson, Terry (15 April 1994). "Obituary: Bert Ramelson". The Independent. London. Retrieved 30 March 2011.
- ^ Conrad Wood (7 April 1983). Recollections of period as member of Communist Party of Great Britain (audio recording).
- ISBN 978-0-571-22137-0.
- .
- ISBN 9780198614128.