Four MPs have signed an Early Day Motion in the House of Commons to recognise Barry Winter for his “pioneering political and intellectual work over seven decades as a writer and organiser” with the ILP.
Barry, who died on 16 August, was the ILP’s political secretary and editor for many years, and – in the words of the EDM – “a leading light in the Independent Labour Party and from 1975 Independent Labour Publications”.
It notes “that he contributed to increased understanding of issues as varied as the importance of the Italian theorist, Antonio Gramsci, the murderous nature of Stalinism in the Spanish civil war, the iniquities of the poll tax, and the diminishing authority of local government”, as well as helping to “improve left-wing understanding of the complexities of the Troubles in Northern Ireland that added to the power of grassroots organisations to help advance the Good Friday Agreement in 1998”.
The EDM is sponsored by Leeds Labour MPs Alex Sobel and Richard Burgon, as well as Euan Stainbank, Labour MP for Falkirk, and Chris Hinchliff, Independent MP for North East Hertfordshire.
The tabling of the EDM on 15 September also recognises Barry’s university work in Leeds and his “widely respected kindness, decency, and openness”. “His life well spent deserves wider appreciation,” it says.
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You can read Barry’s obituary here.
