Charles Patrick Wall (6 May 1933 – 6 August 1990) was an English
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 ...
political activist who was the
Labour Party Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...
(MP) for
Bradford North from 1987 until his death. Wall was a long-standing member of the
Militant group.
Early years
Born into a
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
working class family on 6 May 1933, he began
political activity when he was picked up on a
canvass by a local activist in 1950. Wall adopted a
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 ...
outlook and joined the
Deane-
Grant
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Places
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Australia
* Grant, Queensland, a locality in the Barcaldine Region, Queensland, Australia
United Kingdom
* Castle Grant
United States
* Grant, Alabama
* Grant, Inyo County, ...
group, the remnant of the
Revolutionary Communist Party, which later became the
Militant group. Wall became
Garston Constituency Labour Party
__NOTOC__
A constituency Labour Party (CLP) is an organisation of members of the British Labour Party who live in a particular parliamentary constituency.
In England and Wales, CLP boundaries coincide with those for UK parliamentary constituenc ...
Secretary in 1952.
Wall played a role in moving the Liverpool Labour Party to the left in the late 1950s as a member of the (then) joint Liverpool Trades Council and Labour Party Executive. He was also one of the youngest
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
councillors in the 1950s.
Involvement with revolutionary journals
Wall was associated with a series of journals aimed at leading and widening the influence of
Trotskyism
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 ...
, and popularising it without compromising or diluting it. After National Service in the Army he returned to Liverpool and helped to produce the youth journal ''Rally'', organ of the
Walton Walton may refer to:
People
* Walton (given name)
* Walton (surname)
* Susana, Lady Walton (1926–2010), Argentine writer
Places
Canada
* Walton, Nova Scotia, a community
** Walton River (Nova Scotia)
*Walton, Ontario, a hamlet
United Kingdo ...
Labour Youth League. Terry Harrison has described how when he joined the Labour Party
Young Socialists in 1958, it was Wall and ''Rally'' that "invited me to make a real commitment to the ideas of Marxism, and made me realise what this meant". Wall was then on the editorial board of ''
Socialist Fight'' (1958-1963), and played a leading role in launching and editing the newspaper ''
Militant''.
Wall's job as a
mail-order company buyer eventually took him away from Liverpool to
Market Harborough
Market Harborough is a market town in the Harborough district of Leicestershire, England, in the far southeast of the county, forming part of the border with Northamptonshire.
Market Harborough's population was 25,143 in 2020. It is the adm ...
, and then to
Bingley
Bingley is a market town and civil parish in the metropolitan borough of the City of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, on the River Aire and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, which had a population of 18,294 at the 2011 Census.
Bingley railwa ...
in Bradford, where he worked for the local
council. It also took him abroad, and he established political contacts on his foreign travels in
Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, South Korea and the United States. His assistance to Trotskyists in Sri Lanka in 1979 was still remembered in tributes sent ''in memoriam''.
[Revolutionary History, Vol. 3 Iss. 3]
Labour Party
Wall was a delegate from
Shipley constituency to the Labour Party's annual conference in 1972. With Ray Apps, a fellow member of the Militant tendency, he proposed a composite motion calling for "an enabling Bill to secure the public ownership of major monopolies," which was passed by 3,501,000 votes to 2,497,000.
Wall stood for the
Labour Party National Executive seven years in a row, from 1977 to 1983, achieving 103,000 votes in 1982, his highest vote and also the highest vote for someone who was neither an MP nor a former MP.
Bradford North
Wall became President of
Bradford Trades Council in 1973, and in 1981 he won a reselection battle against the sitting MP for
Bradford North,
Ben Ford, by 35 votes to 28. Ford alleged irregularities in the selection procedure and it was re-run, but Wall won again, this time by 49 votes to 12, and replaced Ford as the Labour candidate.
During the general election in 1983 Wall faced press criticism for his
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 ...
views, particularly in ''
The Sunday Times
''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, w ...
'', which portrayed Wall as wanting "civil war" and "bloodshed",; in response a ''Militant'' editorial statement claimed that"''Militant'' was in favour of a peaceful transformation of society. No supporter of ''Militant'' would ever advocate or encourage 'bloodshed' or 'civil war'. ... Pat was explaining that if there was any threat to a peaceful transformation of society, that threat would come from the capitalist class itself." Labour Party leader
Michael Foot
Michael Mackintosh Foot (23 July 19133 March 2010) was a British Labour Party politician who served as Labour Leader from 1980 to 1983. Foot began his career as a journalist on ''Tribune'' and the ''Evening Standard''. He co-wrote the 1940 p ...
publicly denounced his candidacy during the 1983 campaign.
Wall won 14,492 votes (30.3 per cent), coming in second place, less than 2,000 votes behind the winning Conservative candidate
Geoffrey Lawler, and ahead of the former Labour
agent
Agent may refer to:
Espionage, investigation, and law
*, spies or intelligence officers
* Law of agency, laws involving a person authorized to act on behalf of another
** Agent of record, a person with a contractual agreement with an insuranc ...
, Peter Birkby, standing for the
SDP, and Ben Ford, standing as "Independent Labour".
Wall stood again in the same constituency in 1987 and was featured in the
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
election broadcast of 27 May 1987, which attacked his candidacy because he was a
Marxist. He was quoted as saying: "A Marxist Labour government would mean the
abolition of the monarchy, the
House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...
, the sacking of the generals, the admirals, the air marshals, the senior civil servants, the police chiefs and in particular the judges." ''
The Sun'' also featured a demand that Wall be defeated on the day of the election.
[''Militant'', 26 June 1987] Wall held public meetings and 17 workplace meetings in the constituency
and won the seat, recording a 9.9 per cent swing from the SDP.
Death
After a long illness, Wall died in the intensive care unit at
Bradford Royal Infirmary
Bradford Royal Infirmary is a large teaching hospital in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, and is operated by the Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. The infirmary is affiliated with the Leeds School of Medicine
The School ...
on 6 August 1990, aged 57. More than 700 people attended a memorial meeting held after his funeral, the speakers including
Arthur Scargill
Arthur Scargill (born 11 January 1938) is a British trade unionist who was President of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) from 1982 to 2002. He is best known for leading the UK miners' strike (1984–85), a major event in the history of ...
,
Max Madden MP,
Dennis Skinner MP,
Dave Nellist MP,
Bob Cryer MP and
Terry Fields MP.
["Pat Wall Memorial Meeting" ''Militant'', 24 August 1990]
References
External links
*
Pat Wall Internet ArchiveMilitant - official Militant tendency websiteThe Rise of Militant - the official historyCatalogue of Wall's papers held at the
Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wall, Pat
1933 births
1990 deaths
English trade unionists
English Trotskyists
Committee for a Workers' International
Councillors in Liverpool
Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Militant tendency supporters
Politicians from Bradford
UK MPs 1987–1992