Tucker, the organizer of the Political Committee of the Communist League, chaired the meeting alongside Annalucia Vermunt, organizer of the Communist League's Christchurch branch. The Communist League, and its forerunner, the Socialist Action League, was John Martin's party for 17 years, until his death on May 25 at the age of 58.

John, who was also known by his second name, Moki, grew up in a rural area of the North Island with a predominantly Maori population.

John Martin spent most of his adult life as a meat worker, in his younger years moving around cities and towns in both Australia and New Zealand. At times he also worked other jobs, from fishing, to sheep shearing, to casual work on construction sites. Through this he gained a deep appreciation of the importance of unions. "John became a rank-and-file union organizer and leader," Tucker explained.

For a number of years, John worked at the Makarewa freezing works in Invercargill. One of those who worked with him there was Dave Eastlake, currently national president of the Meat Workers Union (MWU). In a message to the meeting, Eastlake wrote of John, "I can assure you from my involvement with him he was indeed a true fighter for unions and what they stand for."

John began to develop a revolutionary, anticapitalist outlook, and was on the lookout for a vehicle that would enable him to act politically on these conclusions. In 1983, already in his forties, he met the Socialist Action League when he got involved in protests against the U.S. government's invasion of Grenada. The following year John joined the League.

Since 1978 the Socialist Action League had been carrying through a turn to the industrial unions, building a fraction in the MWU and other unions, and centering its political campaigns there.

In a message, Tony Lane explained that "to meet John and get him to rapidly join the movement was a big boost" to this effort to proletarianize the party. Lane was part of an effort to rebuild a branch of the League in Christchurch at that time in response to a strike by meat workers in the city. "So to meet up with and win John--who had been a meat worker all his life--helped steer us in the right direction," he wrote.  
 
Trip to Nicaragua
After joining the League, John continued working in Invercargill for a number of years, becoming part of a branch in the off-season. Bob Aiken, a textile worker and member of the Communist League in Australia, described a visit to Invercargill in 1987 during a nationwide strike by meat workers. "The bosses were sponsoring a return-to-work movement in Southland where John was working. John was among the union militants who helped keep the strike solid," Aiken told the meeting, describing how John toured the pubs talking to workers and "shoring up support for the strike."

Aiken participated with John in an 11-member Workers Fact-Finding Tour from New Zealand to Nicaragua in 1985, at the time of the revolution there.

The tour included a visit to the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua, where the leadership of the revolution was carrying out an autonomy plan in response to the demands of the Indian and Black communities in the fight against national oppression. John accompanied one of the tour's leaders, veteran Maori rights activist Eva Rickard, "discussing through with her what could be learnt from the autonomy plan to advance the fight for Maori rights," Aiken said.

Prior to going to Nicaragua John was able to attend his first international gathering of the communist movement in the United States and to gain a deeper appreciation of the international character of the working-class struggle and of the communist vanguard of which he was a part.

Aiken told how in Los Angeles John Martin was a guest of Fred Halstead, a veteran leader of the Socialist Workers Party, "and enthusiastically soaked up the opportunity to learn about the decades of struggle that Fred had been involved in." His internationalism remained an integral feature of his character.

He also had an impact on many of the fighters he met at this and subsequent conferences, or in New Zealand. This was reflected in the range of messages sent to the meeting from Australia, Britain, Canada, Sweden, and the United States. Messages were also read from representatives of sister organizations of the League: Ron Poulsen for the Communist League in Australia and Jack Barnes and Mary-Alice Waters on behalf of the SWP National Committee (see accompanying message).

Many speakers and messages highlighted John's self-discipline, reliability, and commitment. George Fyson and Pat Starkey, who were part of the Christchurch branch when John joined, wrote, "Typical of his seriousness, one of the first tasks he took upon himself was to sign up for some remedial reading classes, so he could adequately keep up with the magazines, books, and newspapers that he knew were necessary for his life as a communist."

Many also pointed to how John remained footloose his whole life, ready to take on any assignment. "I was struck by how few material possessions he had," wrote Diane Rainey, today a volunteer in the Pathfinder Reprint Project, "and how little desire he had for material things and home comforts.  
 
Eyes on new generations of fighters
Vermunt told the audience at the meeting how John always welcomed and kept his eyes on new generations of fighters beginning to take up the fight for Maori rights or get involved in union and social struggles. "John told me about some young guys who started on the chain at the meat works. He liked their energy and the way they figured out who the us and them are on the job pretty quickly. But they were getting themselves into a bit of strife with the bosses, so John gave them a bit of advice on how to be a fighter and keep your job."

Stuart Needham, a member of the Communist League, worked with John for the last five years at the PPCS Canterbury meat works at Belfast, near Christchurch.

When John got the job, Needham explained, "he was hired with a layer of very young workers, many of whom were in their teens, and for most of them the works was their first job. John spent a lot of time with these young workers, talking politics and showing them the Militant."

He didn't differentiate between them and workers his own age, Needham said. "John treated the new workers as equals and saw them as the future of the union."

Needham described some of the recent struggles waged by meat workers in the South Island. "After more than a decade in which the meat companies have wrested significant concessions from workers, the bosses are now less able to get their own way. There is a growing mood of confidence among workers."

Needham pointed out that John was delighted to be part of this new resistance, especially when workers at the Lorneville

works in Invercargill went on strike in December and January. "We set out to talk about this strike to as many workmates as possible. At that time there was little news about it. Here were 2,000 workers who had been out for six weeks and forced the company to backtrack on many of its demands, and most of our workmates knew little about it." Campaigning for solidarity with workers in struggle "was second nature to John," Needham said.

John was not a union fighter alone, Needham stressed. "He realized the importance of workers not only resisting what was dished out to them by the bosses, but the necessity of building a movement to put an end to the capitalist system and all its brutality. It was necessary to build a communist party among workers to accomplish this task.

"Over the years, John was extremely successful in getting these ideas around among workmates. He sold a considerable number of New Internationals, Militants, Pathfinder books, and bulletins to workmates. He always knew how to follow up a discussion with a relevant piece of literature."

Needham recalled that John Martin was respected by his workmates. "They may not necessarily have agreed with all of what he said at times, but they respected him for the serious way he presented communist politics." A dozen co-workers attended a service in Christchurch for John that was held here the day after he died, and on the day of his funeral "the union at work stopped the chain and there was a minute's silence on the slaughterboard as a mark of respect."

Vermunt described John's recent activities as part of the Christchurch branch of the Communist League. He was diagnosed to go into hospital for an operation at the start of the international circulation campaign to win new readers to the Militant, Perspectiva Mundial, and New International.

This prevented him from going out on street sales. So, Vermunt said, "he offered to do more than his share of the bookshop roster in order that others could go out with the socialist press."

He did, however, sell a Militant subscription to one of the butchers at work, "which was a real boost to the branch's campaign to reach its target," Vermunt noted. "A tribute the branch paid to John's example was not only making our target in the circulation drive, but going over the top!"  
 
Instability that marks capitalism
Tucker concluded the meeting by pointing to the instability that marks capitalism today. "We have our eyes on the working-class resistance that is emerging in response to this," he said. "This is why the Communist League is carrying out an effort to build union fractions and branches of the communist movement that are rooted in this resistance.

"Tomorrow there will be the first national meeting of communists working in clothing and textile, where we are building a new union fraction of the League. At the same time, we're organizing to get out to struggles wherever they occur."

Tucker invited everyone to join in the effort to build the international communist movement, adding, "That is the best way to pay tribute to John Martin and the example he set." In honor of John, the 19 people at the meeting donated more than $NZ700 (US$329) to the Books for Cuba Fund.

Janet Roth is a garment worker in Auckland, New Zealand.  
 
 
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