2005

Vince Rutterford (1960-2005)

Published in Socialist Worker, 10 September 2005.

                                             

Vince Rutterford, who died recently, joined the SWP at the beginning of the miners’ strike in 1984, and was very active in support work, participating in delegations to mining communities.  He also took part in many of the demonstrations at Wapping, when Rupert Murdoch sought to smash the print unions (on one occasion he head-butted a police horse). When a student at Middlesex Poly he was involved in a long occupation against a site closure.

Vince developed disagreements with the SWP and left the Party, rejoining briefly at the time of the campaign against pit closures in 1992. He continued to participate in demonstrations and meetings, and we could always count on him to oppose racism and war, and in defence of workers’ rights. His deep anger at the whole capitalist system never diminished. His health had been in decline for some years, but until quite recently I took him Socialist Worker every week. The last meeting we saw him at was, fittingly, a commemoration of the miners’ strike, where he spoke movingly of his recollections of the struggle. We send our deepest sympathy to his parents and to his partner, Janet.