Caspar London laid to rest

One of the titans of the labour movement here in St Vincent and the Grenadines, Caspar London, was taken to his final resting place, the Kingstown cemetery last Saturday.{{more}}

He had died at the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital on Thursday, April 11, following a period of illness.

His funeral service took place at the Kingstown Evangelical Church, at Victoria Park and was attended by scores of well-wishers, comrades and friends. Among them was London’s closest friend and comrade, Hugh Ragguette, co-founder with London of the Young Socialist Group, who delivered the eulogy to this remarkable man.

Ragguette, in a brilliant delivery, put Caspar’s life in its historical and social context, beginning with his birth just as the Second World War was about to end in 1945, and the subsequent emergence of the world socialist system and the Cold War. This was to have a fundamental influence on Caspar’s life and times, Ragguette pointed out. He extolled Caspar’s avid search for reading, his emergence as a self-taught Marxist, who never lost his grounding in local conditions and his complete devotion towards the betterment of the working class.

Tributes were also paid by one of Caspar’s comrades, Renwick Rose, and by local cultural icon, Cecil “Blazer” Williams, in poetry, while Gamal “Skinny Fabulous” Doyle read a moving poem on “Dad”, written by Caspar’s son, Atiba Providence.

Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves, another long-standing comrade of Caspar, also paid tribute to the outstanding trade unionist. He concluded his remarks by not only vowing to keep the memory of Caspar London alive, but also to establish a scholarship fund for local trade unionists in his name.