Rembrandt and revolution

It’s with great sadness that we learned of the passing away of John Molyneux. John was a great thinker and populariser of revolutionary socialist ideas. In the Netherlands, a lot of comrades over several decades were introduced to socialism through John’s books and articles.

He visited our Marxism Festival several times, the last time in 2018, often combining it with his interest in art. After finishing his book Rembrandt and Revolution, he took comrades for a tour of the Rijksmuseum, where many of Rembrandt’s paintings are located.

John was always very approachable and eager to talk with comrades about the environment they were organizing in and the debates they conducted. On political differences he could be hard, but always with a softness for the people.

We thank John for starting the Global Ecosocialist Network (Gen), that initially was meant as a revolutionary pole within the climate movement towards Cop26. Gen later kept on evolving in a broad network to connect ecosocialists across the globe. Gen is one of the great legacies that John left behind.

We would like to express our solidarity with John’s family and partner, Mary, and everybody who has come to know John over the decades.

Internationale Socialisten in the Netherlands