Godfrey Andries Cremer: Some of the many messages of condolences received from organisations and individuals across the world
ORGANISATIONS
The Embassy of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea
Dear Comrades of CPGB-ML
I express the profound
deepest condolences to the bereaved family and comrades for the loss of our
dear precious and irreplaceable comrade, Godfrey.
Comrade Godfrey was a
genuine comrade for the Korean People and his revolutionary spirits and his
contributions to the communist movement of Britain will live forever in the
hearts of the progressive British people and the Korean people.
My wife and children,
regarding him as a member of our family, also express the deepest condolence to
aunt Iris and the family.
I hope you will overcome the
greatest grief and sorrow and please let me know what can I do in this
difficult period.
Comradely yours, MUN Myong
Sin
The Cuban Embassy
The Political Counsellor
at the Cuban embassy, Carlos Camps Garcia, spoke to the CPGB-ML’s international
secretary, Ella Rule, expressing great sorrow on the death of Godfrey. He
attended Godfrey’s funeral service and afterwards attended the reception at
Saklatvala Hall, Southall.
Jacob Jugashvili, great grandson of Joseph Stalin
Dear Iris,
Please accept my sincere condolences.
Jacob Jugashvili
[Message received via the Stalin Society]
All Nepal Federation of Trade Unions
Dear Editor red salute,
We Nepalese workers are
repeating this slogan “A communist farewell and red salute to Comrade
Godfrey Cremer.”
A very special tribute to
eternal internationalist comrade Godfrey Cremer.
Jaya Karki, All Nepal Federation of Trade Unions (ANTUF)
[Message received via Proletarian,
journal of the CPGB-ML]
Workers Party of Belgium
To the
Central Committee of the Communist Party of Great Britain – Marxist-Leninist
Dear Comrades,
Please accept our sincere
sorrow for the loss of comrade Godfrey Andries Cremer. We would like to
transfer our condolences to all the comrades of the CPGB-ML and to his family.
We share the feelings of
Comrades Jean Pestieau and Maria McGavigan in their letter of condolences,
dated April 4 [see below].
To honour Comrade Godfrey,
we can use the same words as the ones used “In memory of Norman Bethune”:
We must all learn the spirit of absolute selflessness from him. With this
spirit everyone can be very useful to the people. A man’s ability may be great
or small, but if he has this spirit, he is already noble minded and pure, a man
of moral integrity and above vulgar interests, a man who is of value to the people.
With comradely greetings,
The
Department of International Relations, Workers’ Party of Belgium
From Maria McGavigan/John Pestieau, April 4.
Dear Iris,
Dear comrades of the CPGB-ML
We have just heard the sad
news about the passing away of Godfrey. Please accept our sincerest condolences
and our deepest sympathy.
It has been some years since
we last met Godfrey, but we have been able to follow, in part at least, his
work for the communist cause in the UK and the world by reading Lalkar
and Proletarian. His contribution was not only on the level of ideas but
also in the practical realisation of the papers.
We shall remember Godfrey as
a communist who combined kindness, anti-imperialist militancy and a passion for
Marxism-Leninism.
We shall be thinking of
Godfrey, Iris and all the British comrades tomorrow at the time of the funeral.
Our warmest greetings to you
all
Maria McGavigan,
Jean Pestieau. Workers’ Party of Belgium
Pavel
Degtar, Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSCM)
Dear Iris,
At this sad time, please
accept our deepest condolences at the loss of your husband, of a good man
Godfrey.
Yours sincerely,
Pavel and Vera
Mario Sousa, Communist Party of Sweden
Very sad news that our
beloved Comrade Godfrey is not with us anymore. He was a nice and good person,
I send my sympathies to the family and all comrades in the political life.
Mario Sousa,
Uppsala, Sweden.
Taimur Rahman, Communist
Workers and Peasants Party, Pakistan (cmkp)
RIP comrade Godfrey.
What a wonderful
friend and comrade of the working and oppressed people from all over the world.
Will always cherish the love and support he gave us when we came to London.
Marxist
Leninist Communist Party Turkey / Northern Kurdistan (MLKP)
Today we have gathered to remember the lifelong
revolutionary, comrade Godfrey. It is a great honour to have met comrade
Godfrey and to have worked together.
We salute the Communist Party of Great
Britain (Marxist-Leninist) and everyone in paying their respects to comrade
Godfrey’s memory, in the forward looking spirit which he infused all his
immense activities, his outstanding life and work. As his comrades, we are
proud of his invaluable contribution to the cause of communism and the national
and social liberation of the working class and peoples, and of the great legacy
which he has left in Britain for the whole movement of progressive humanity. He
became an inspiration for all of us through his honesty and modesty, and
especially to our young comrades with his actions and ideas.
His proletarian internationalist support
and guidance since our meeting with him has been invaluable, with his selfless
assistance, modesty, and encouragement. Today even in our grief, his memory
inspires us to carry on the work with greater strength. Because the dawn for
humanity is about to break, the retreat of revolution will turn into the flow
of revolution sooner rather than later.
Comrades, our best tribute to comrade
Godfrey’s memory will be to carry on fighting for those great causes, for the
future of progressive humanity, to which he devoted his entire life.
All glory to the memory of comrade Godfrey
Cremer!
Our thoughts are together with his family
and comrades!
Long live revolution and socialism!
Long live proletarian internationalism!
Communist Party
(USA), Houston branch
Dear Comrades of the CPGB-ML
This is Fabian, from the Houston branch of the Communist Party, USA; I’m sure you remember me. I was in London over the summer and went on a few marches with the CPGB-ML while I was there. I
would like to express my deepest sadness at the death of Comrade Godfrey; this
is a great loss for the working class (and especially, the British working
class).
While I was in London, Comrade Godfrey was extremely kind to me and was one of the reasons that I came to
a few meetings. He made me feel extremely welcome and included me into the
activities at the June 30 march in London. He was the first person that I met
in the CPGB-ML and was one of the reasons I developed instantly a good opinion
of the Party. I had the opportunity of having lunch with Godfrey while I was in
London and learned a lot from his wisdom during our conversation.
While I was in London, I went to a meeting of the Stalin Society. I was extremely impressed with
Godfrey’s defense of Stalin and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. He calmly explained many facts to me about the USSR and the DPRK that I had never known
before. In the two weeks that I got to know Godfrey, I was extremely impressed
with his commitment to Marxism-Leninism and the struggles of the proletariat.
He was a good comrade and I
am sad to hear that he has passed away.
In Solidarity,
Fabian
Marxist Workers School of South Africa
Letter of condolence from South African
comrades
On behalf of the Marxist
Workers School of South Africa and on behalf of all Marxist-Leninist and
revolutionary working-class fighters of our country, we send our deepest
condolences to Iris Cremer, wife and lifelong comrade of Comrade Godfrey, to
the Chairman of the CPGB-ML Comrade Harpal Brar and the General Secretary Zane Carpenter, to the Central Committee and all friends and comrades of the CPGB-ML.
When I had the honour to
address your party meetings in February of this year I met Comrade Godfrey for
the first time. From the first moment, we talked as if we had known each other
for years. He was concerned about my well-being and my accommodation. We
discussed the political situation of the working-class struggle in Britain. He wanted to know about the working and living conditions of the working class in South Africa. We discussed the gains of the liberation struggle in Zimbabwe and the Nato-led counter-revolution in Libya; we discussed the imperialist aggression
against Syria and the national-liberation struggle in Iraq. Although already suffering from his illness, he put his party work first. Though I
only spent a few days with him, one could always feel the unwavering commitment
of a sincere, dedicated and disciplined comrade, a true Leninist and
internationalist.
I will never forget the
moment when Comrade Godfrey, immediately after my speech at Saklatvala Hall in
Southall/London, stood up and recited a poem, Pamberi Ne Chimurenga,
which he had written during the struggle of our brothers and sisters in Zimbabwe against Ian Smith settler colonialism and British imperialism and in support of
the armed struggle of ZANLA. Comrade Godfrey, clearly weakened by his illness,
recited this poem with such passion and energy – there was not one person in
the hall who had the slightest doubt about the commitment of this
internationalist and revolutionary, his love for the downtrodden and exploited
and his hatred for colonialism and imperialism.
Needless to say that when
the poem ended with the words:
ZANU, steer true the course of Chimurenga,
Hold fast the helm,
Hold firm the line that leads to victory!
By People’s War Zimbabwe shall be free!
and Comrade Godfrey saluted
with his fist raised, the entire hall erupted in cheers and jubilation. Indeed
a fighter he was and an inspiration to all!
Comrade Godfrey embodies the
essence of our common struggle – the unity of the struggle of the modern
proletariat and the struggle of the oppressed of the world. His whole life he
has upheld the principle that the working class of the imperialist countries
must unite and be one with the oppressed and exploited in the so-called ‘third
world’; that the workers’ struggle must support and call for the victory of the
anti-imperialist forces around the world in a common struggle to defeat
imperialism.
The British proletariat has lost
one of its finest; the South African proletariat has lost a friend.
May his life be an example
to the young generation of your party, may his commitment and dedication in his
life-long struggle against colonialism and imperialism be an example and an
inspiration to the anti-war movement and other progressive movements in
Britain, and may his loyalty to Marxism Leninism be an example to the
proletarian struggle in your country for the overthrow of the capitalist system
of exploitation and the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat.
We dip our revolutionary
banner in honour of your fallen Comrade Godfrey Cremer!
Let the living close the
eyes of the dead, let the dead open the eyes of the living
Khwezi Kadalie, Chairman of
the Marxist Workers School of South Africa
Indian Workers Association (GB)
Along with a condolence card signed
by 30 Birmingham members of the Birmingham branch, the following letter was
received from Avtar Jouhl, General Secretary of the IWA(GB):
Dear
Comrade Iris, Katt and family,
Comrade Godfrey’s untimely
death is very sad. He was not only a Marxist-Leninist dedicated to the cause
of achieving socialism but also a very close fiend of my family for over forty
years. He was very kind, and a friend in deed, during the seventies, eighties,
nineties and current 21st century. My personal experiences of friendship and
comradeship with comrade Godfrey are unforgettable. His contribution to Lalkar
is immense. Without him, you and young Katt we were unable to afford commercial
printing of Lalkar. His contributions to anti-racism particularly as
the treasurer of Campaign Against Racist Laws (CARL) demonstrated his grasp of
broad front work and even working with Revisionists and Trots. In the late 70s
and early 80s working in CARL he demonstrated his understanding of Marxism
Leninism in broad front in practice.
Godfrey’s departure is big
loss to CPGB-ML, IWA(GB) and to me and my family.
My son Paul and
daughter-in-law Parmind Kaur will participate in Comrade Godfrey’s sad funeral.
Due to my unstable cardiac
conditions I am unable to be at the funeral personally, but my thoughts are
with you and your family and the Party.
Enclosed is a small donation
to CPGB-ML in memory of Comrade Godfrey.
Long Live Comrade Godfrey
Avtar Singh Jouhl and
family.
Revolutionary Communist Group (RCG)
The Revolutionary Communist
Group sends its sincerest condolences to our comrades in the Communist Party of
Great Britain (Marxist-Leninist) on the death of your comrade Godfrey Cremer.
We knew Godfrey for many
years and respected and valued him as a principled, committed, non-sectarian
fighter for socialism. His loss will be felt by all who knew and worked with
him.
Your in solidarity, London
RCG
INDIVIDUALS
Mark Window, Australia
My sincere
condolences to the CPGB-ML on the sad passing of Comrade Godfrey Cremer.
Flo and Ivor Kenna
Dear
Iris and Kathy
We were shocked and saddened
to learn of Godfrey’s death. Please accept our deepest comradely sympathy.
Godfrey was a thoroughly
good chap. Considerate of others, he was always willing to do whatever needed
to be done, whether large or small.
Whenever he spoke, he did so
with heartfelt enthusiasm. What he had to say was always significant, adding
something to the discussion
Godfrey had a deep knowledge
of many aspects of Marxism-Leninism, not least in its relation to biological
science. He was always keen to learn more.
It is at times like these
that we recall the final words of the finest tribute paid to Comrade Stalin,
that of Comrade Wanda Wasilewska: “Love, deep, true and everlasting, love
for the dearest man on earth, who is gone, but shall remain with us for ever”.
Flo and Ivor
Kenna
Irina Malenko
Dear Iris, dear Katt,
Please accept my deepest
sincere condolences on this sad day.
I only met Godfrey once, but
he made a deep impression on me as a very dedicated communist and comrade.
I am not very good at
expressing my feelings on such tragic occasion; I just want to let you know
that I know well how you feel (I lost my daughter last August).
Wishing you strength &
courage,
A big hug from
Irina.
Nell Myers
Dear Iris,
Please forgive this belated note of
deepest sympathy, having learned that our struggle in all its forms has lost
Godfrey, and sympathy especially for your personal loss. He was so impressive and
inspiring by his gentleness and kindness as well as his campaigning. Arthur
(Scargill) is away just now, but I know he will be so sorry to hear of this
great loss.
With love, Nell Myers
Mervyn Drage & Kenneth Barr
Dear Iris, Katherine and the Cremer family,
We were very sad to hear of Godfrey’s
death at the relatively young age of 68.
Godfrey was a mild mannered, nice, loving,
kind and resourceful comrade and gentleman; he was also a talented biologist,
scientist and highly experienced and committed Marxist Leninist and communist.
He will be sorely missed by comrades in
the CPGBML, the Stalin Society, international friendship bodies and other
revolutionary groups.
He played, with comrade Iris, a prominent
roe lint he production and distribution of Lalkar for over 25 years, and
of Proletarian for 8 years.
We always marvelled Godfrey and Iris for
the enormous, self sacrificing contribution they made, year in and year out, to
the communist cause.
Sincere condolences to Iris, Katherine and
the Cremer family.
The best way to cherish Godfrey’s memory
is for us all to continue his communist work for the liberation of the working
class and human kind and to establish socialism and working class state power.
Yours in comradeship,
Mervyn Drage and Kenneth Barr, Stalin Society members in
Manchester
Dermot Hudson
Dear comrades
In spite of the differences
that have arisen between myself and the CPGBML/Lalkar may I say how
shocked I am to hear of the demise of comrade Godfrey Cremer, Please accept my
sincere condolences on this occasion.
I will remember comrade
Godfrey is the hardest working person in the progressive movement who I ever
met. I remember he was a stalwart of many meetings on the DPRK. I also remember
him taking the trouble to give me and my little daughter a lift back to Kilburn
in 2002 .
May comrade Godfrey rest in
peace. My thoughts are with his family.
fraternally, Dermot Hudson
Asari St Hill
My
apologies for not replying sooner. I have only just picked up the e-mail.
Please pass on our sincere condolences to Godfrey’s family and all the comrades
in the party. He was a real soldier of the struggle.
Asari