Pat Jordan (17 July 1928 – 1 September 2001) was a British

Trotskyist Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International. Trotsky self-identified as an orthodox Marxist, a rev ...

who was central to founding the

International Marxist Group :''See also the International Marxist Group (Germany). The International Marxist Group (IMG) was a Trotskyist group in Britain between 1968 and 1982. It was the British Section of the Fourth International. It had around 1,000 members and supporte ...

. Jordan was born in

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

,Cohen, S. 'Pat Jordan (1928-2001) in ''Revolutionary History'' Vol.8 No.3 pg.276 the son of an electrical engineer.Cohen, S. 'Pat Jordan (1928-2001) in ''Revolutionary History'' Vol.8 No.3 pg.276-7 On 21 October 1950 he married Leonora May Comrie, but the marriage was annulled in 1958 and she went on to marry Rodney Kay-Kreizman. Jordan was a full-time organiser in the

Communist Party of Great Britain The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist organisation in Britain and was founded in 1920 through a merger of several smaller Marxist groups. Many miners joined the CPGB in the 1926 general strike. In 1930, the CPG ...

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

, but he left the party with

Ken Coates Kenneth Sidney Coates (16 September 1930 – 27 June 2010) was a British politician and writer. He chaired the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation and edited ''The Spokesman'', the BRPF magazine launched in March 1970. He was a Labour Party Mem ...

after the

Soviet invasion of Hungary The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 10 November 1956; hu, 1956-os forradalom), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was a countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the Hunga ...

in 1956. After a brief period working with the

Socialist Review Group The Socialist Workers Party (SWP) is a far-left political party in the United Kingdom. Founded as the Socialist Review Group by supporters of Tony Cliff in 1950, it became the International Socialists in 1962 and the SWP in 1977. The party con ...

in 1956, they joined the Revolutionary Socialist League (RSL) in 1957. Jordan edited the RSL's paper ''Socialist Fight''Cohen, S. 'Pat Jordan (1928-2001) in ''Revolutionary History'' Vol.8 No.3 pg.278 before leaving to form the

International Group :''See also the International Marxist Group (Germany). The International Marxist Group (IMG) was a Trotskyist group in Britain between 1968 and 1982. It was the British Section of the Fourth International. It had around 1,000 members and support ...

in 1961. From 1964 to 1968 he edited and printed a weekly duplicated magazine, ''

The Week ''The Week'' is a weekly news magazine with editions in the United Kingdom and United States. The British publication was founded in 1995 and the American edition in 2001. An Australian edition was published from 2008 to 2012. A children's edi ...

'', at his tiny

bookshop Bookselling is the commercial trading of books which is the retail and distribution end of the publishing process. People who engage in bookselling are called booksellers, bookdealers, bookpeople, bookmen, or bookwomen. The founding of librar ...

at 4 Dane Street, Nottingham. It was largely financed by his skill in retailing second-hand books and comics. A short-lived reunification of Jordan's International Group with the RSL in 1964 ended early in 1965, partly in protest at the RSL's support for the expulsion of members of the

Socialist Labour League The Workers Revolutionary Party is a Trotskyist group in Britain once led by Gerry Healy. In the mid-1980s, it split into several smaller groups, one of which retains possession of the name. The Club The WRP grew out of the faction Gerry Healy ...

from the Wandsworth Labour Party. Working with Tony Southall,

Charlie van Gelderen Charlie van Gelderen (14 August 1913 – 26 October 2001) was a South African Trotskyist active in the British Labour movement from the 1930s. He attended the founding conference of the Fourth International in 1938, and towards the end of his ...

, Ken Coates and a group students from the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public university, public research university in Nottingham, United Kingdom. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. The University of Nottingham belongs t ...

, Jordan relaunched the International Group, which became the

in 1968. In the 1970s Jordan worked full-time for the International Marxist Group as its national secretary and then for the

Fourth International The Fourth International (FI) is a revolutionary socialist international organization consisting of followers of Leon Trotsky, also known as Trotskyists, whose declared goal is the overthrowing of global capitalism and the establishment of wor ...

, when he helped in the work of the Africa Commission. In 1985 he was struck by a chronically disabling

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

and removed from active political involvement. He died in August 2001.

References

External links

Obituary by Steve Cohen
* Tony Southall

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jordan, Pat British Trotskyists International Marxist Group members British Marxists 2001 deaths 1928 births British political party founders