Don Smith, presente!
By Bill Massey
Chicago
Comrade Don Smith died in his sleep of a heart attack on
Feb. 25. He was 71 years old. Don had spent more than 44 years
in the progressive movement, and 28 of those years as a member
of the Chicago branch of Workers World Party.
As a young man, Smith had visited the Soviet Union and
learned that the things he had been taught about it in the
United States were untrue.
A university student at the time, he was concerned about
nuclear war. He asked a bus driver in Moscow why the Soviet
Union was producing nuclear weapons. The bus driver stopped the
bus and proceeded to explain that the United States had
surrounded his country with ballistic missiles and that the
Soviet Union was forced to defend itself.
This, and other things he observed, made Smith curious for
more information about the Soviet Union and socialism.
During the "Cuban Missile Crisis," Smith and 13 other
students at Indiana University in Bloomington organized a
demonstration to call for an end to the U.S. blockade. At that
time Indiana was just emerging from the McCarthy period; over
4,000 raving, right-wing students attacked the
demonstration.
That was one of the first political protests Smith
participated in. His last demonstration, 10 days before his
death, was on Feb.15, when he was one of millions worldwide
demanding "No U.S. war on Iraq."
Smith taught for more than 23 years in the Chicago Public
School system. But he was not only a teacher--he was a student
all of his life. He had an unquenchable thirst for knowledge.
His curiosity led him on a lifelong journey to find truth.
Smith was no mere collector of data; he had a very definite
purpose in mind. Smith had answered the question "Which side
are you on?" by rejecting the side of the rich and powerful. It
was not simply that they were rich and powerful but that they
became so at the expense of the overwhelming mass of
humanity.
Smith put all of his vast knowledge to use in the struggles
of the workers and oppressed of the world, absolutely convinced
that they could run it much better than the capitalist
class.
Most of all Smith was an activist--from his school days
right up to the day of his death. During the Vietnam War, he
played a leading role in the Chicago anti-war movement and the
Veterans for Peace. Most recently Smith was very active in the
Colombia Solidarity Committee. He was extremely helpful in
building the mobilizations to take people from Chicago to
Washington, D.C., in April and October of last year to stop the
war on Iraq and support the struggles of the people of
Palestine.
Don Smith had a wide range of friends in Chicago's
progressive milieu. He was a source of knowledge and he had
clear, cogent and firm positions reflecting the positions of
Workers World Party and revolutionary Marxism. In addition,
Smith was a very sweet person who could patiently explain in a
friendly manner that allowed even those who disagreed to come
back to discuss the questions again and again.
He will be missed, but his memory will inspire us to
continue the struggle in which he spent his life.
Reprinted from the March 13, 2003, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyrighted
under a Creative
Commons License.
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