Active Alf dies

Alf Salisbury, 91, of Chingford, had a colourful life which saw him fighting against Franco's forces in Spain, arrested in Guatemala for spying and battling locally with Chingford MP Norman Tebbit over trade union issues.

He campaigned on many issues in Walthamstow and Chingford, particularly in his role as secretary of Waltham Forest Pensioners Association.

Mr Salisbury was born into an East End community of Jewish immigrants, his family fleeing pogroms in Latvia. Alf was born to a family of ten children and he left school at 14 to go to sea with the merchant marine.

Immediately, he was involved in the National Union of Seamen and in 1926, with the General Strike, he jumped ship in New York and began a three-year journey across the states with the IWW, or Wobblies.

He returned to sea in 1929 and was arrested as a spy in Guatemala, where he spent seven weeks in prison. Soon after, he joined the Communist Party.

In 1933 he and other sailors were provoked into a fight with Brownshirts in Germany, resulting in six sailors being arrested before the British government intervened.

He was blacklisted from the merchant navy for his union activity and became involved in the National Unemployed Workers Movement.

Mr Salisbury was also involved in the Battle of Cable Street and had endless stories of battles with police to stop Oswald Mosley and his Blackshirt fascists.

Friends say he was beaten up and thrown into jail by the police many times and in 1937 he left for Spain to join the International Brigade.

He passed secretly through France in a group of seven, guided by the French Communist Party, with a night-time crossing of the Pyrenees.

Mr Salisbury saw the reality of the executions carried out by Franco and fought against his forces in defence of the Spanish republic.

Colleagues said he vividly recalled those who died alongside him, including a young woman whom he said he might have married had she lived. He was not there when she was killed.

Alf returned to Britain in 1938 and became secretary of the Stepney branch of the NUWM.

Because of his work with the International Brigade, he was turned down by the forces when war broke out technically for medical reasons, friends say.

In 1940, he married Lilly Nicklansky, with whom he had a son, Eric, and daughter, Sandra. He then went to Maryport, where he took up work in a munitions factory and recruited for the Communist Party.

He came back to London via Leicester and was soon fully involved in tenants' struggles in the East End over housing repairs and rents.

He worked in the textile and clothing industry and was active in the NUTGW. In 1949 he supported the striking Savoy workers and famously threw himself in front of a truck trying to break a picket.

Mr Salisbury also worked for British Rail, a furniture factory, a chemical factory and, finally, the London Co-op. At each place he was a shop steward.

He helped set up the Waltham Forest branch of the Greater London Pensioners and Trade Union Association, where he became secretary, campaigning for many issues such as the continuation of the pensioners' bus pass.

Mr Salisbury has been described as a shy man, known for his quiet, tenacious hard work and his involvement in peace campaigning at Greenham and the miners' strikes.

He single-handedly collected massive amounts of food that went down in convoys from Westminster Trades Council to the Kent coalfields.

He was also involved in the print dispute at Wapping, pensioners' demos during the 1990s, at labour exchanges in the 1930s as well as fighting cuts in the health service and women's rights.

His correspondence with MP Norman Tebbit became famous locally and, until his final years, Mr Salisbury was still more active than most of his, often younger contemporaries.

One of his most surprising claims to fame came in the last quarter of his life.

He used umbrage at the way the term Mongol was applied to Downs Syndrome sufferers, regarding it as an insult to both Mongolians and sufferers of the condition.

He battled against Fleet Street papers and built up support, despite complaints from members of the police. He finally won the case and was thanked personally by the Mongolian Ambassador for his fight.

Roger Sutton, of the trades council, said: "It would be impossible to do justice to such a life with so many rich chapters, but he was essentially someone eschewing the limelight for himself but prepared to stick out if that was what it took.

"He had a quiet charm, unfailingly courteous to those around him, but a steely core, which did not crush his human warmth."Alf Salisbury (right) in 1995 with the then chairman of the Waltham Forest Pensioners' Association, Cllr Bill Anstey, who died a couple of years agoThe sad loss of a man of principle and convictions=10ONE of the leading rank-and-file activists in the trade union and labour movement has died.o

Alf Salisbury, 91, of Chingford, had a colourful life which saw him fighting against Franco's forces in Spain, arrested in Guatemala for spying, and battling locally with Chingford MP Norman Tebbit over trade union issues.

He campaigned on many issues in Walthamstow and Chingford, particularly in his role as secretary of Waltham Forest Pensioners Association.

Mr Salisbury was born into an East End community of Jewish immigrants, his family fleeing pogroms in Latvia. Alf was born to a family of ten children and he left school at 14 to go to sea with the merchant marine.

Immediately, he was involved in the National Union of Seamen and in 1926, with the General Strike, he jumped ship in New York and began a three-year journey across the states with the IWW, or Wobblies.

He returned to sea in 1929 and was arrested as a spy in Guatemala, where he spent seven weeks in prison. Soon after, he joined the Communist Party.

In 1933 he and other sailors were provoked into a fight with Brownshirts in Germany, resulting in six sailors being arrested before the British government intervened.

He was blacklisted from the merchant navy for his union activity and became involved in the National Unemployed Workers Movement (NUWM).

Mr Salisbury was also involved in the Battle of Cable Street and had endless stories of battles with police to stop Oswald Mosley and his Blackshirt fascists.

Friends say he was beaten up and thrown into jail by the police many times and in 1937 he left for Spain to join the International Brigade.

He passed secretly through France in a group of seven, guided by the French Communist Party, with a night-time crossing of the Pyrenees.

Mr Salisbury saw the reality of the executions carried out by Franco and fought against his forces in defence of the Spanish republic.

Colleagues said he vividly recalled those who died alongside him, including a young woman whom he said he might have married had she lived. He was not there when she was killed.

Alf returned to Britain in 1938 and became secretary of the Stepney branch of the NUWM.

Because of his work with the International Brigade, he was turned down by the forces when war broke out technically for medical reasons, friends say.

In 1940, he married Lilly Nicklansky, with whom he had a son, Eric, and daughter, Sandra. He then went to Maryport, where he took up work in a munitions factory and recruited for the Communist Party.

He came back to London via Leicester and was soon fully involved in tenants' struggles in the East End over housing repairs and rents.

He worked in the textile and clothing industry and was active in the NUTGW. In 1949 he supported the striking Savoy workers and famously threw himself in front of a truck trying to break a picket.

Mr Salisbury also worked for British Rail, a furniture factory, a chemical factory and, finally, the London Co-op. At each place he was a shop steward.

He helped set up the Waltham Forest branch of the Greater London Pensioners and Trade Union Association, where he became secretary, campaigning for many issues such as the continuation of the pensioners' bus pass.

Mr Salisbury has been described as a shy man, known for his quiet, tenacious hard work and his involvement in peace campaigning at Greenham and the miners' strikes.

He single-handedly collected massive amounts of food that was sent in convoys from Westminster Trades Council to the Kent coalfields.

He was also involved in the print dispute at Wapping, pensioners' demos during the 1990s, at labour exchanges in the 1930s as well as fighting cuts in the health service and for women's rights.

His correspondence with MP Norman Tebbit became famous locally and, until his final years, Mr Salisbury was still more active than many of his younger colleagues.

One of his most surprising claims to fame came in the last quarter of his life.

He used umbrage at the way the term Mongol was applied to Down's syndrome sufferers, regarding it as an insult to both Mongolians and sufferers of the condition.

He battled against Fleet Street papers and built up support, despite complaints from members of the police. He finally won the case and was thanked personally by the Mongolian Ambassador for his fight.

Roger Sutton, of the Cities of London and Westminster Trades Council, said: "It would be impossible to do justice to such a life with so many rich chapters, but he was essentially someone eschewing the limelight for himself but prepared to stick out if that was what it took.

"He had a quiet charm, was unfailingly courteous to those around him, but had a steely core, which did not crush his human warmth."

A funeral for Alf was held in November. It was kept quiet at his own request.