https://themilitant.com/2019/08/24/bob-redrup-communist-fighter-for-seven-decades/
Bob Redrup, communist fighter for seven decades
??By Norton Sandler
Vol. 83/ No. 32
September 2, 2019
LOS ANGELES ??? Bob Redrup, a seven-decade member of the Socialist Workers
Party, died on Aug. 15 after a short illness. Redrup was 92.
Born in New Jersey in 1927 to a working-class family, Redrup joined the
Merchant Marine in 1944 at the age of 16. He worked on the Liberty Ships
until the end of World War II. Fatality rates on these ships were high.
They not only came under attack by German submarines but also came apart
and sank having been shoddily built during speedup imposed across
industry as part of the rulers??? war efforts.
Meeting to celebrate life of Bob Redrup, above, will be held in Los
Angeles Sept. 1.
While working on freighters for United Fruit Company in 1950, Redrup met
members of the SWP who were in the party???s trade union fraction in the
National Maritime Union. They gave him the books In Defense of Marxism,
The Revolution Betrayed and The Stalin School of Falsification. He
eventually joined the party during the early 1950s.
Previously he worked on the ships with members of the Communist Party
who tried to recruit him. But Redrup said the CP supported the
???no-strike policy??? the government imposed on the unions during the war
and its members didn???t answer questions he had about the course of the
Stalinist leadership of the Soviet Union in the postwar years.
During the witch hunt, which targeted communists and other working-class
militants, his seaman???s papers were pulled and Redrup was informed he
could no longer work as a Merchant Marine. At that time in 1953 he was
recuperating from tuberculosis.
Redrup then went to work at the General Motors plant in Linden, New
Jersey, and was an active member of the United Auto Workers union there.
He was eventually fired by GM in 1960.
Redrup and his wife Ann, also a longtime party member, transferred from
the New York to the Los Angeles branch in 1976. She returned to New York
in the early 1980s. He moved to Washington state in the spring of this
year due to failing health.
While in Los Angeles, Redrup, a factory electrician, worked many years
at Continental Can, organized by the United Steelworkers, and at
Entenmann???s bakery, organized by the International Association of
Machinists.
Redrup regularly staffed the party bookstore here in the 1980s. Under
the impact of the 1979 Nicaraguan Revolution, where working people had
established their own government, and of the war in El Salvador, the
party branch headquarters near Pico Boulevard and Vermont Avenue was a
center of activity and discussion for those looking for a working-class
road forward. It was destroyed by fire in the riots in the aftermath of
the 1992 verdict that acquitted Los Angeles cops for the beating
administered to Rodney King. Redrup and many others responded rapidly,
rebuilding the headquarters and book center.
Redrup volunteered to help maintain, build or improve party headquarters
over the years, including national party offices in New York City and
the party???s leadership school in upstate New York.
A meeting to celebrate Redrup???s political contributions to building the
SWP will be held in Los Angeles on Sunday, Sept. 1, 1:30 p.m. at 5828
Wilshire Blvd., 3rd floor. Messages?? from those who knew and worked with
Redrup can be sent to the SWP branch in Los Angeles, swpla@xxxxxxx.
In This Issue
Front Page Articles ???Miners fight for pay, jobs in Blackjewel bankruptcy
???Mass Hong Kong protest demands political rights
???Oberlin College demands judge overturn victory won by bakery
???New York cops fire officer who killed Eric Garner
??????Bosses have two parties ??? Democrats and Republicans, we need our own???
???Join fight against Florida prison officials??? efforts to ban the
???Militant???
Feature Articles ???Nepal event discusses Cuban Revolution, way forward
for workers
Also In This Issue ???SWP delegation brings solidarity to Puerto Rico
???Bob Redrup, communist fighter for seven decades
???Moscow covers up nuclear blast at White Sea site
???Debts, bankruptcies are soaring for older workers
???Protests in Kashmir oppose Indian rulers??? crackdown
???Thousands defend Maori land in New Zealand
???Back fight by Blackjewel miners!
On the Picket Line ???Philippine beverage workers strike backs contract
workers
???British Columbia aerospace workers fight concessions
Books of the Month ??????Men and women from nowhere??? changed Cuba???s history
25, 50 and 75 years ago
?? Copyright 2019 The Militant?? -?? 306 W. 37th Street, 13th floor -?? New
York, NY 10018?? -?? themilitant@xxxxxxx
Cookies
This site uses cookies to improve your experience. Learn more.Okay, thank
--
---
George Carlin
??? Tell people there's an invisible man in the sky who created the universe,
and the vast majority will believe you. Tell them the paint is wet, and they
have to touch it to be sure. ???
??? George Carlin