Obituary: Syd Wilcox

OBITUARY:  SYD WILCOX

Syd, a long-standing member, died in April. He was born in Pimlico in west central London in 1925 and joined the old Paddington branch in December 1943 while still a teenager. After the war (in which he was a conscientious objector) he was active in the Fulham branch. Latterly he was a member and regular attender of West London branch and had only just been re-elected as one of the Party’s trustees. He had worked in various jobs, including as a professional  jazz musician, but ended running a successful antiques business in Fulham. When the ‘Ban the Bomb’ movement started in 1958 with the first Aldermaston March Syd took a minority position within the Party. While most members criticised CND for implicitly supporting ‘conventional’ weapons of war, Syd saw banning nuclear weapons as a step (of sorts) in the right direction. He was also moved by the plight of the Palestinians at the hands of the Israeli state.  A staunch socialist to the end, it was Syd who came up with ’everything free’ as a definition of socialism in as few words as possible. We extend our condolences to his family.