It was with deep sadness that I heard the recent news of the death of Lee Waker, following a long illness. I knew he was very ill, but having known him for so long, his passing was still a real shock.
Lee was, without doubt, a great bloke – a real Dagenham man, as well as a longstanding Marxist.
I have many fond memories of Lee, going back to the mid-1970s, when he joined the Labour Party Young Socialists and Ted Grant’s Militant, not long after Phil, his brother.
Born in working-class Dagenham, Lee came from a staunch Labour background. He was very fond of these traditions. His father worked on the docks. And Lee, hoping to follow in his father’s footsteps, became a member of the TGWU dockers’ branch.
But with the decline of the industry, that didn’t happen. He instead ended up as a dental technician, fixing false teeth.
You could say he and Phil had been ‘brought up’ in the labour movement. Both were very active in the Young Socialists, where they were won over to Marxism.
Life and soul
As a boy, Lee had difficulty in reading, which affected his schooling. “I walked out in the same way as I walked in,” he would say. In fact, it was his deep involvement in revolutionary politics – as well as his love of maps and the countryside – that eventually taught him to read.
I remember Lee attending our Militant summer camps in the Gower in the 1970s, starting with the first in 1976, along with a contingent from Dagenham.
He was very much the life and soul of the group; a larger-than-life figure, who often liked to crack jokes. I always remember them taking a dingy down to the beach in Portynon, and getting swept out to sea. To their embarrassment, it took a rescue helicopter to bail them out.
Lee developed a very down-to-earth style of speaking, with his distinct East London accent, which was very effective. He was well tutored in the LPYS and Militant, to which he dedicated his life.
I used to see him quite often after I moved from Swansea to Barking – and then Dagenham – in the early 80s.
He went full-time for Militant in the print shop, first in Mentmore, then in Hepscott Road, learning the skills of running a web offset printing press. Again, he was a key player in producing the weekly Militant, as regular as clockwork, engaged in the essential ‘galley’ labour.
He eventually gave up this work a few years before the 1992 split in Militant, where the group was dragged in an ultra-left adventure. Although he did not join Ted Grant’s opposition, he was very sympathetic to us.
Labour movement
Lee eventually got a job as a postman. He played an active part in the union, where he became the political officer.
He later became a Labour councillor for Village ward in Dagenham, acting as its secretary. As always, this took him into battles with the right wing in the local Labour Party. We kept in touch during these years, and he took some Socialist Appeal papers to sell locally.
He was in regular contact – particularly with Steve Jones – about developments within Royal Mail and the union, which we reported on in the paper.
I remember him speaking at a large meeting in Dagenham, when Ford proposed closing the car plant. He spoke alongside Paul Foot, but stole the show with his direct, working-class message of defiance. As always, he spoke from the heart.
Lee was encouraged by the victory of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader. He helped us with the Labour4Clause4 campaign, raising money and speaking.
He was elected as delegate to the Labour Party Conference in 2018, at which he spoke at our fringe meeting, along with his son. He was certainly on form, forcefully arguing for nationalisation and public ownership, which was loudly applauded.
In August 2019, he wrote to remind me that I was due to speak at his ward meeting:
“Rob, I have you down to speak at our meeting on Clause 4 on 19 September.
I was also hoping you can expand on the right-wing call for a national coalition with the liberals, by the Blairite media.
This is just another tactic to break the left and bring Labour back to a liberal-Tory party.
Can you let me know on this?
We may well have some big fish to fry in Royal Mail. Things will start to get clearer at the end of the summer. It could well be a big punch up, and not a day here and there.”
Never forgotten
Lee was always a fighter for his class. He was a salt-of-the-earth kind of comrade. We owe a lot to him. He will be missed by many. I, like many others, will never forget him.
There is much, much more you could say about Lee. In fact you could probably write a book. But for now, our message is simple.
We will keep up the fight, as you would have wanted. Lee, you will remain in our hearts. And believe me, we will finish the job you and others started so long ago, and put an end to this rotten capitalist system.
We would like to extend our condolences to his family – especially to his mum, his brother Phil, his sister Alison, his sons Glen and Ewan, and his young daughter Ava.
