Pakistani Marxists commemorate Ted Grant

History reflects the changes happening in society. A grip on ideologies and practice places individuals on an elated place. The people whose life and works assist history to change the course of its events, always find an immortal place in history.

On the evening of 20^th August 2006 a commemoration meeting was held in the memory of such a person. In his life spanning almost a century, he dedicated a big part of it in the struggle for the socialist revolution. He was the person who kept the unbroken thread alive after Marx, Engels, Lenin and Trotsky.

A noble man, a great teacher of Marxism and a caring comrade who quietly left this mortal world on 20^th July 2006. Tears did not mar his death, but sparked a determination to follow his teachings for a struggle of building a Marxist International that will transform this world of misery and sufferings.

This man can be none other than Ted Grant.

  Rauf Lund got the privilege of being Stage Secretary at the occasion. He invited Dr. Fayyaz Shah to present his poem written in the memory of Ted Grant. A few lines of the poem are (in English translation):

Your life long struggle bears such a fruit

The streets of Europe are waiting for a revolution

And an upsurge of Bolivar

We pledge to such a great person

We will glorify the world with a socialist revolution

After that the stage was set for a thoughtful speech by Marxist MP and President of PTUDC, comrade Manzoor Ahmed.

Manzoor paid a rich tribute to the life and struggle of Ted Grant. He explained how Ted gave the perspectives on China in 1947 and on Afghanistan in 1968, which shows his grip on the Marxist method. He also praised Ted on his marvellous book Reason in Revolt, which was a great addition to the application of dialectics in modern science, a rare effort after Engels wrote Anti- Dühring and Dialectics of Nature. He also mentioned Ted's article on the revolution of 1968-69 in Pakistan and his perspectives on the Pakistan People's Party.

Manzoor said that Ted has nurtured a new generation of revolutionaries and Marxists all over the world, who are obliged to take his struggle forward towards a socialist victory.

Comrade Khawar Naeem Hashmi in his short tribute said that after reading Ted Grant and having listened so much about him he could only say that the name of Ted Grant is synonymous to Complete Determination. The hall gave a thunderous applause to this tribute.

Veteran columnist Munno Bhai in his tribute referred to his column written after the death of Ted in the leading Urdu daily Jang. He remembered that Ted Grant is the name of political struggle, ideological commitment, and organisational and creative abilities. He told the audience that after the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the Soviet Union, Ted's masterpiece Russia-from revolution to counter-revolution not only exposes the degeneration of Stalinism but gives Trotskyists all over the world new dimensions to build a revolutionary party. He also remembered his meetings with Ted Grant.

The last speaker of the ceremony was Dr. Lal Khan. He was welcomed by a thunderous applause by a hall full to its capacity. He linked Ted with the unbroken thread of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Trotsky. He said that in his 26 years' comradeship with Ted he has never seen him dejected and pessimistic. Ted was always young at heart and was a lively personality. He also mentioned some incidents of Ted's humour and aesthetic sense. Lal Khan told the audience that Ted used to say in every speech that we are a happy organisation. Lal Khan interlinked the personal and political aspects of Ted. He mentioned the revolutionary discipline of Ted Grant and Jimmy Deaen living in a shabby quarter of Liverpool.

Lal Khan explained the theoretical advancements made by Ted Grant in Marxism. Ted Grant explained the phenomenon of Proletarian Bonapartism and put it on a firm Marxist basis. Ted explained how military coups in colonial countries have imparted Proletarian Bonapartism in various countries like Syria, Egypt, Mozambique, Angola, Laos and Vietnam.

Lal Khan told that after the Second World War in the peak of capitalism Ted presented the idea of entryism in traditional parties of workers to build a revolutionary party. He said that this idea of entryism is also a lesson for the people playing the game of making small parties here in Pakistan. Masses can be sympathetic towards these parties but never join them. Marxism negates the idea of dividing the proletariat into various factions.

Lal Khan said that "sectarians call us the pimp of the Pakistan Peoples Party while the leadership of the Peoples Party say that we are not a part of it. But we cannot leave the workers, peasants and poor classes of Pakistan to the mercy of the landlords and capitalists that form the leadership of PPP. We will work in the PPP as long as the workers are there. In the light of the theories of Ted Grant we will rescue the poor people of Pakistan from the shackles of capitalists and feudal landlords."

In the end he said that we would not honour Ted by making statues of stone and brass of him. We will pay tribute to Ted Grant by building an international revolutionary organisation that will bring a socialist revolution not only in the Indian subcontinent but also in the whole world.

Students, workers, intellectuals, journalists and women attended the ceremony that amounted to almost 200 people.

Report by Saqlain Shah