Ten years ago today comrade Phil Mitchinson died tragically at the age of 38. He was a leading cadre of the Socialist Appeal in Britain and also of the International Marxist Tendency. He played a key role in building up the forces of the Socialist Appeal. We republish here an article by Rob Sewell written one year after his death,  Phil Mitchinson: “We will finish what he began”. We are also highlighting one of his major articles, Marxism and direct action, which is the best way of honouring the comrade and showing his calibre as a leading Marxist cadre.

News of the death of comrade Jean Lievens came as a most shocking and unwelcome surprise to all of us who knew him. Jean was always so full of life that to speak of his death seems to be unthinkable. But at the tragically early age of 59 he has been suddenly taken from us after a short fight against a serious illness.

Alan Woods recalls the role of Ted Grant, discussions he had with him and also provides excerpts from some of Ted’s speeches in the 1990s, that reveal a sharp mind still following world events and applying the Marxist method to explain them.

Rob Sewell examines the origins of Trotskyism in Britain.

This book by Ted Grant is a unique contribution to the history of British Trotskyism. It begins with the debate on Trotskyism in the British Communist Party in 1924 and ends with the break-up of the Revolutionary Communist Party in 1949 and the beginning of more than thirty years of work within the Labour Party. Ted Grant was the founder and political leader of the “Militant Tendency”, which haunted the Labour leadership, and was eventually expelled along with the Militant editorial board in 1983. A postscript by Rob Sewell, who was the national organiser for the Militant throughout the 1980s, brings this unique history up to date.