Obituary – Barry Malone

With regret I must inform members of the Socialist Party of the death of Barry Malone, Shropshire branch, on 12 January. Barry was just 60 but was battling with illness.

Barry was a long-term member of the Socialist Party and its forerunners, Militant Labour and Militant. During the 1980s, at a time when there was a fight from the left to be had within the Labour Party, Barry and other Militant supporters in Telford became Labour councillors on a socialist programme.

In later years he ran a very successful real ale pub in Telford which became a venue for the early meetings of Shropshire Socialist Party. Comrades enjoyed a beer in his friendly rural pub and looked forward to his famous cider festival every July. This year’s event will be held in his memory.

Ill health recently prevented Barry from being as active as he would have liked but he always maintained his Party membership and generously contributed financially to the Socialist Party and our campaigns.

Barry was a very pleasant and kind man who sought, like the rest of us, a very different world – one free of exploitation, injustice, war and racism. Real democratic socialism was his answer.