Phil Mitichinson's funeral will take place on Friday 1st December at 11.30am at Hillview Cemetery, Wickham Street, Welling, Kent. Assemble outside the Green Man pub, 168 Wickham Street, Welling at 11.15am. There will be some words at the graveside and then a room is available in the pub for a short meeting.
Please let us know if you are intending to come by contacting contact [at] socialist.net
My old friend Phil
I had a call on Friday morning telling me of Phil's death. At first it was impossible to take in. I couldn't believe what I had just heard: that Phil had died only four days after my fiancée and I had spent the evening with him and Mandy at their home, eating a meal he had spent hours preparing and chatting over a few bottles of wine, hardly aware of the time until we finally decided just after 2am that we should probably all get some sleep. He was slow to rise in the morning, the last one at the breakfast table, and just the tiniest bit grumpy until he'd rolled and smoked his first cigarette. When we said goodbye I couldn't have imagined that it would be the last time I would see my old friend.
Phil was a comrade first, but a great friend to the last. We first met when I moved to South Wales in 1990. We were at the same meetings, and took part in the same activities from the campaign against the poll tax, work in the Labour Party, intervention in trade union conferences, the fight against pit closures, to discussion groups and meetings. Phil was always there, leading the way. We worked together in the campaign of the Opposition until our expulsion from Militant in 1992, and through the earliest days of the work to establish Socialist Appeal. Without exception his were the clearest, most coherent, most interesting and enjoyable contributions to any discussion. He had a way with words that could make the driest theory come alive, and a depth of understanding (and a hairline) that belied his youth.
Phil was a perfect example of selfless sacrifice for what he believed in. He gave over the whole of his life to the fight for a fairer, better world. He has been an inspiration to many people that he met, and many that he didn't but who read something he had written, or heard a second-hand report of something he said.
Most of all I will miss Phil as my best friend through all those years. We lived close to each other, our children were of similar ages, and we spent many days and hours together socially. He was fun to be around, had a wide range of interests and was knowledgeable about much more than politics, and had a great sense of humour. He was tough and uncompromising where it mattered, but anyone who knew him well would recognise a genuinely caring, sensitive person with enormous patience and a big heart that finally let him down last Thursday night.
My deepest condolences to Phil's friends and comrades, and most especially to Mandy, Jack and Sam. We all share your sadness and loss. Life will never be the same without him, but I am proud and glad to have known him and been able to call him my friend.
Jon Rubidge
London, 20 November 2006
From Belgium
It seems so unreal, the death of a friend and comrade. We still have difficulty to recognise it. But we know he lives on in our memory and in the work of his fellow comrades in Britain, in Ireland and around the world. This way he continues to live and will never die. Nevertheless we know he isn't there anymore. And we miss him. It is so unjust, so terrible.
Dear Phil, your Belgian comrades, will continue your struggle and will transmit the memory of your activity, your joyfulness, your skills and talents.
In the name of all the Belgian Marxists we extend our condolences to his family and his friends.
Your Belgian comrades,
Erik Demeester, for Vonk
Comrades,
Condolences on the death of Phil Mitchinson.
Vanderbeke Roland,
Executive Member ACOD (Socialist Union, Public Sector Workers, Belgium) Ostend Branch and Member of the International Marxist Tendency
So sad to hear that we have lost a comrade.
Jo Benda
From Israel
Dear Comrades,
I learned of Phil's death several days ago from Ewan. I was shocked. Phil was older than me but he was still very young. Ever since I started reading Marxist.com several years back, I have been a fan of his writing style, always very clever and informative and full of wit. When I met him in person in the congress I found that the writer that I had respected so much is a very down to earth kind of person, with a great sense of humour, which I especially got to know during a night out in Barcelona with him and other British comrades.
I did not know Phil well as a person, but my impression is that he was a great man and a great father. I personally will miss his articles very much, which always managed to be very clear and at the same time very sophisticated, very serious but also humorous where this was justified.
We Israeli Marxists send our condolences to Phil's family and friends and promise to honour his memory in the best way possible: keep building the Israeli section of the International Marxist Tendency.
Alon Lessel
From Greece
Dear Comrades
It is with great sadness that we heard of the untimely death of comrade Phil Mithinson. It is a big shock to us all and he will be greatly missed both in the British section and the international. We send our deepest condolences to the British comrades and to Phil's family.
The EE of Sosialistiki Ekfrasi