https://themilitant.com/2019/08/03/joyce-meissenheimer-was-on-right-side-of-history/
Joyce Meissenheimer was ???on right side of history???
By John Steele
??and Joe Young
Vol. 83/No. 29
August 12, 2019
Joyce Meissenheimer speaks at 1980 British Columbia New Democratic Party
convention, wearing button defending Pratt Three, three women workers
fired by Pratt & Whitney aerospace factory after Canadian rulers???
political police told bosses they were communists. Joyce Meissenheimer
speaks at 1980 British Columbia New Democratic Party convention, wearing
button defending Pratt Three, three women workers fired by Pratt &
Whitney aerospace factory after Canadian rulers??? political police told
bosses they were communists.
MONTREAL ??? ???Joyce Meissenheimer had so much confidence that she and
those she fought alongside were on the right side of history,??? explained
Communist League leader Beverly Bernardo at a July 20 celebration of the
life of Meissenheimer, a 54-year cadre of the Communist League in Canada
and a fighter for over two decades against the apartheid regime in South
Africa.
Born in Cape Town, South Africa, in 1922, Meissenheimer died on June 7
at the age of 96 in Calgary, Alberta. The celebration was attended by
over 40 people.
???Meissenheimer???s political activity began when her father took her to a
rally against racial segregation in 1937 when she was 15 and to meetings
where she began to study Marxist books,??? Bernardo explained.
Meissenheimer grew up under the authority of the Colored Affairs
Department, one of the bodies used by the government to deprive
non-Caucasians of political rights.
Bernardo described how in 1948 at the age of 26, Meissenheimer became
the editor of the Torch, the weekly newsletter of the Non-European Unity
Movement, which exposed the injustices of the apartheid regime.
The Torch campaigned against the banning of members of the African
National Congress. Meissenheimer herself was ???banned??? in 1961 ??? meaning
she could not legally meet with more than two people, other than family
members.
Facing these restrictions, she moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, in
1965 with her husband and four children where she joined the League for
Socialist Action, a forerunner of the Communist League.
Party building in Canada
As a cadre of the LSA, Meissenheimer helped advance the party???s work in
defense of the Cuban Revolution, its participation in the movement
against the war in Vietnam, the struggle to repeal Canada???s restrictive
abortion law and the fight against the use of the War Measures Act by
the federal government in 1970 to try to crush the mass movement for
Quebecois national rights.
Meissenheimer helped lead the 1977 fusion of the LSA with the
Revolutionary Marxist Group and Groupe marxiste r??volutionnaire to form
the Revolutionary Workers League, ???a qualitative strengthening of
communist forces in Canada,??? Bernardo explained.
???The struggle Joyce was a part of in South Africa was a cause very
important to both of our parties,??? explained Joel Britton, Socialist
Workers Party candidate for mayor of San Francisco, who addressed the
meeting on behalf of the SWP.
???The solidarity we extended to that fight was part of our duty as
internationalists, and the support we enjoyed from South African
revolutionists who were leading that struggle was a welcome contribution
to the class struggle in North America,??? he added.
???In the late 1970s, communists in the U.S. and Canada took steps to get
the big majority of our parties??? members into jobs in basic industry
where we could be members of industrial unions,??? said Britton.
???Together with others we organized solidarity with revolutionary
struggles in Iran, Grenada and Nicaragua,??? he told the meeting. ???And we
helped mobilize support for the South African freedom fight from within
our unions.???
Meissenheimer was fully supportive of the party???s turn to industry.
???Joyce was a member of the Communist League branch in Montreal until
2001,??? said Bernardo, when deteriorating health forced her to move to
British Columbia.
???A life worth living???
???Joyce embraced the life of a communist fighter to the fullest. It was
her way to have a life worth living. I invite you to follow Joyce???s path
and join the Communist League,??? Bernardo concluded.
Pierre-Luc Filion, the Communist League candidate for the October
federal election in the constituency of Longueuil-St.-Hubert, said that
he never met Meissenheimer but he valued ???the political legacy she left,
that shows the kind of leadership needed to build the Communist League
today.???
Filion described his campaign???s activities from extending the interest
in the party and its program by campaigning door to door and introducing
the Militant and revolutionary books to working people, to building
solidarity with ongoing union struggles, like the weeklong strike for
$15 an hour by workers at residences for seniors.
Primary school teacher and union activist Jennifer Alves Nadeau attended
the meeting and told the Militant that ???what Joyce did with her whole
life is very impressive and encourages us to keep fighting today.???
A collection to help fund the work of the Communist League raised $1,740.
Messages from those who knew and worked with Meissenheimer from
different countries were available to read in a bound volume at the meeting.
After the event many participants continued the celebration at a nearby
restaurant in the spirit of Meissenheimer who often invited others to
her place for a good meal, something to drink and a lively political
exchange.
In This Issue
Front Page Articles ???Colonial rule, capitalist crisis fueled Puerto Rico
protests
???Airline, auto bosses target workers to boost profits
??????Amnesty for immigrants is in interest of all workers???
??????Cuban people will resist US embargo and violations of our sovereignty???
???Democrats??? Mueller expos?? falls flat as clashes in party sharpen
???Florida prison officials??? ban on ???Militant??? attacks Bill of Rights
Feature Articles ???Yazidis in Iraq still displaced two years after
Islamic State???s defeat
Also In This Issue ???Joyce Meissenheimer was ???on right side of history???
???US gov???t plans to restart death penalty, target workers
???Black lung at highest rate in decades among miners
???Ohio college posts bond over ???racism??? smear of bakery owners
Editorials ???Cuban Revolution shows workers can win
Books of the Month ???How capitalism is revolutionizing parts of Africa
25, 50 and 75 years ago
?? Copyright 2019 The Militant?? -?? 306 W. 37th Street, 13th floor -?? New
York, NY 10018?? -?? themilitant@xxxxxxx
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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