Today I attended the funeral of John Molyneux, activist on the Irish left and author of many Marxist texts. It was sad, moving and impressively enacted. The first part was in the Unitarian Church in Stephen’s Green. I wondered how this was going to work, John being an atheist. The minister, Bridget Spain, gave a welcome, encompassing a brief history of the church and explanation of unitarianism. Then the ceremony was chaired by Brid Smith TD and was totally secular. Most of the speakers, including Mary Smith, Kieran Allen, Memet Uladag, Eamonn McCann and Alex Callinicos, were from the SWN, SWP, IST tradition, as was John. I am not of this tradition, but have come to regard them as comrades in my many years of working with them on the broad left. Members of John’s family also spoke and I got the impression that they too were comrades. The speeches were excellent. Every one of them was warm, intelligent, appropriate, sometimes also funny (especially Mary). The unitarian minister came back at the end and spoke of bereavement. Interestingly, she noted that unitarianism had no position on an afterlife. Then there was the Internationale. The second part was at the Glasnevin crematorium. This ceremony was mainly musical. Among the songs were If They Come in the Morning and Waltzing Matilda. Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin sang a beautiful song as gaeilge (but I didn’t catch the name of it). We ended with all singing Power to the People. We milled around talking outside afterwards. Most are still carrying on in the Brian Boru pub, although I am back at work on my computer. It was a well-deserved tribute to John who gave so much to so many and will be much missed.

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