This tribute to the memory of Jim Percy was written by Peter Camejo, a long-time social and environmental activist in the United States who is now a member of the national executive of the Committees of Correspondence.
Jim Percy lives in the hearts and minds of all those touched by his total commitment to fight for social justice and egalitarianism, in Australia and internationally.
Long after the names of the present "leaders" of Australian society are forgotten, Jim's name will be remembered for his pioneering work to build an effective socialist movement.
Jim was a product of the 1960s. A generation arose in that decade worldwide, inspired by the struggles of the people of Vietnam, Cuba, South Africa, by Ché Guevara, the French general strike of '68 and the uprising of the people in Czechoslovakia against Stalinism.
Jim Percy stands out for his ability to consolidate a serious organisation around a long-term commitment to the ideals that inspired that generation. Unlike many others, Jim refused to fall into cult or sect building. As sectarianism overcame much of the left created in the '60s, Jim fought effectively against it.
He was almost alone among people of that political background to quickly grasp the full meaning of the environmental disaster now under way and to try to turn the socialist movement towards support for the green movement.
Jim never lost the spirit of being a youth. He understood that social revolutions are always the work of youth. As he grew older, he always listened to younger people. Nothing was more important to Jim than bringing new youth to our movement. Every time we met, he would tell me proudly of the achievements specific young people had made that year in Resistance. I think Jim secretly considered himself first a member of Resistance and only secondly of the Democratic Socialist Party.
What was exceptional about Jim was how he tried not take himself too seriously. He never married his own ideas. He was always ready to change his mind and admit an error. He listened to others, a rare quality for so many left leaders.
Now, Jim was not alone in what he achieved. He represents a whole team which developed with him. Jim was always aware of this. He confided in me privately, several times, that it worried him that he stood too much above the rest of the team. He recognised that
was a weakness. A collective team of self-confident and thinking people is much stronger than followers of a strong leader.
There is no better example than Jim's own brother, John, who stood by him throughout Jim's life with the kind of teamwork and support that make success possible. There are many others that I could mention, but I fear to try lest I leave out people who deserve equal credit.
But there is one other person I must mention. Anne O'Callaghan was Jim's companion, and one would expect in a situation like this that Anne would pitch in. It is difficult for me to explain what Anne meant to Jim, especially in this last year, and how grateful all of us who cared for Jim are to Anne. Anne is a political leader in her own right, and we all, like Jim, are so aware of the stereotype roles that sexism in our society has created for women.
Anne knew that a moment had come when she could make a difference that no-one else could for Jim. She has been so selfless and kind, joining Jim's last struggle to live as though it were her own life.
Jim and I became close political and personal friends at the beginning of the 1980s, although we had known of each other and met on many occasions since 1969, when Barry Sheppard, a leader in the socialist movement of the United States, had met Jim in Australia. What brought us together was our agreement on the dangers of sectarianism, which we felt dominated much of the left.
Jim was always concerned about the left in other countries and particularly the United States. He recognised that Australia will inevitably reflect what is happening internationally and that the growth of progressive forces anywhere in the world will help Australia.
Fortunately, the Committees of Correspondence appeared just prior to Jim's death, and he could finally see the beginning of a movement in the United States with the potential to begin to overcome the utter crisis of the US left.
Some of the ideas embodied in the Committees of Correspondence had been raised by a small group in the mid-1980s called the North Star Network, which Jim had selflessly helped. In fact, the North Star newsletter was actually printed in Australia for a couple of issues to help the group get started.
The North Star current eventually merged with larger forces, which published a paper call Front Line, to publish the magazine CrossRoads. Jim had many discussions with
CrossRoads leaders and had been very hopeful that this current could grow. The appearance of the Committees of Correspondence has taken this process far beyond what anyone had expected. In Jim's last visit to the United States, he and Anne were overjoyed to hear of these new developments.
Why did Jim die at the age of 43? Cancer. Why cancer? A century ago, cancer as we know it now hardly existed. You can argue that people live longer now and so on, but the truth is that pollution is the main cause of the increase in cancer. Our food is polluted. An average mother's milk in the United States is contaminated at a level three times above what is legal for cow's milk.
To some extent pollution exists because of ignorance. As industry developed so did pollution. But well over 90% of all pollution has been caused since the second world war, and there is now full scientific knowledge about what we are doing. Now it is greed that is causing pollution. It is capitalism that is killing people with pollution.
Who knows when and how the poisoning of Jim's body which started the cancer occurred. Those responsible for deaths like Jim's are well hidden. Even when society discovers who the people behind the crime are, under capitalism, little or nothing is done about it.
One thousand people die each day in the United States from smoking-related illness, and yet billions of profits are made each year by these marketers of death, with the full blessings of the law and government. At both the Republican and Democratic Party conventions this year, the tobacco companies were major sponsors of events; they have great influence over these two parties' leading figures.
The best tribute we can give Jim is to continue his lead in learning about the importance of our ecology and integrating the struggle in defence of the environment with the struggle for social justice. The two are totally intertwined.
Building the Democratic Socialist Party, Resistance and Green Left is the best memorial we can give Jim. For those of you who are youth just joining the struggle for social justice in Australia, Jim Percy is about as good a model as you'll find.
He was a person of total commitment, honesty and fairness. He was an internationalist who felt the suffering of working people, the poor and oppressed regardless of where they lived. Jim was always deeply personally disgusted by the racism which surrounds all predominantly Anglo-Saxon countries.
Jim's life was not in vain. One day his dream of a just society in Australia and the world will be taken for granted. Out task is to find our way to the people of our countries, to change our course to a genuinely democratic society based on ecologically sound production for human needs. Helping build the organisational instruments to achieve those goals was Jim Percy's life work. Let us all continue in his footsteps.