Arthur Deane

Arthur Deane, Jimmy Deane and Ted GrantArthur
Deane came from a long line of working class militants in the Labour
movement on Merseyside. He was one of at least three brothers who played
an outstanding role in the Trotskyist movement in Britain in its
formative years.

His mother, the redoubtable Gertie Deane was a well-known figure in
the Merseyside labour Movement, and was to be seen on picket lines well
into her seventies. It was Jim and his brothers Arthur and Brian who
recruited Gertie to the Trotskyist movement, although she was already
from a sound socialist tradition. Her father, who had been a member of
the old Social Democratic Federation, was one of the first Labour
councillors in Liverpool.

But by all accounts, her dedication to political activism was not
accompanied by a great interest in the mundane tasks of housework. The
boys apparently would come home from work and find the house in a
somewhat anarchic state, with unwashed dishes piled in the sink and
their mother reading Trotsky’s History of the Russian Revolution.

In fact, it was Arthur’s elder brother Jimmy who had to play the
leading role in the Deane household. Someone once told me that he used
to maintain firm order in the house and administered chastisement to his
younger brothers, occasionally of the physical kind!

The youngest of the Deane brothers, Brian, was also active in the
movement. But it was always Jimmy who played a leading role in the
Trotskyist movement. Therefore, I have always had the impression that
Arthur always felt a bit in his brother’s shadow. But if he resented it,
he never allowed it to show. We would always speak of Jimmy and Arthur
in the same breath.

All three brothers were active in the Revolutionary Communist Party in the 1940s, which is very well dealt with in Ted Grant’s History of British Trotskyism .
After the dissolution of the RCP in 1949, they also played a key role
in regrouping the small forces that remained loyal to the genuine ideas
of Trotskyism.

The Marxist tendency to which Arthur belonged in the early 1950s was
often known as "the Deane group", although it would be more correct to
refer to it as the Ted Grant group, for it was Ted who provided the
ideas and he was unquestionably its leading figure. However, there is no
denying the important role played by the Deane brothers in these
difficult years.

Later, in the 1960s, Arthur was active in the Militant Tendency when I
joined the movement. I well remember Arthur’s speeches in the 1960s in
what was then known as the National Committee of Militant, which used to
meet in the upstairs rooms of a pub in King’s Cross. As a young student
in Sussex University they made a great impression on me.

He became a trade union official of what was then the Chemical
Workers’ Union, which later fused with the T&GWU. As a conscientious
trade unionist this took up a lot of his time. But he still wrote for
the Militant, our newspaper. Thumbing through old issues of the paper I re-read articles such as ‘Labour Must keep prices down’ in Militant, issue 4, March 1965, and another in issue 6, May 1965, ‘TGWU gives the lead on incomes policy’, both signed by Arthur Deane.

Arthur Deane was an intelligent and capable comrade with a good feel
for the working class and strong roots in the Labour movement. As a man
he was friendly, down to earth and obviously good-natured with a healthy
proletarian sense of humour and a contagious laugh. Once in the ‘60s at
a social in London I remember him and Gertie singing (if that is the
right word) the English version of the Polish Red Flag: “Forward ye
workers, freedom awaits you!” What they lacked in musical talent they
more than made up by their revolutionary enthusiasm!

I last met Arthur (and his brother Brian) at the funeral of Ted Grant
in 2006. It was a sad occasion, but it was good to see these fine old
comrades once more. Alas, it was to be the last time.

After the deaths of Ted Grant and Jimmy Deane, Arthur was one of the
very few of the pioneers of Trotskyism in Britain still left. It is
therefore with great sadness and a sense of irreparable loss that I take
my leave from an unforgettable old friend and comrade.

On behalf of all the comrades of Socialist Appeal and In Defence of Marxism, I send heartfelt condolences to all his family and friends.

Note: Arthur Deane’s funeral is being held in Shrewsbury on April 25^th.