For
me, like many others, I think it has only just begun to sink in just
how Nina was woven into the texture of my life. I think that the warmth
and deep humanity of her spirit had a particular aspect, which
expressed itself in very vigorous and generous engagement with other
people. She possessed an organizing and connecting impulse which meant
that she infused herself into our lives and the connections between our
lives; many of which,of course, she had created. I'll
come back to this, but I think it would not be right to leave Nina in a
sort of warm, cosy haze. She was often not a comfortable person for
those around her. Her originality and vitality meant that she was often
challenging and disturbing; literally so when she wanted to get you out
doing something! Nina was a true radical. I don't mean the adoption of
a vague political position, but a total approach to life, to history,
to the world of ideas. She was a radical in the true sense: going to
the root of things and arriving at often surprising and provocative
positions. She was also not satisfied with the world of ideas; her
radicalism was deeply pragmatic, looking for applications of her ideas
and then setting out to apply them; and to organize others into helping
her. I
want to give two examples. Both had a major influence on me, but much
more importantly they had a deep significance in UK politics at the
time. They are both from the 1970s. Like
many in the mid-'70s I was confused and in something of a political
limbo. After the extremism and craziness of the late '60s I had been
given a crash course in real life by becoming involved in the Trade
union movement, but could find no political framework to make sense of
the clearly momentous political events taking place at the time. I had
included here some comments about the sort of political ideas that were
available then...but on an occasion like this I don't want to be too
negative! I can't remember how I stumbled on a cheaply-produced booklet
issued by the British & Irish Communist Organisation called ' The
case for industrial democracy' - a booklet written by Nina it turned
out. It was as if someone had turned on the light! Here was writing
from a left perspective, using concepts of class, of power, of social
and political development, but expressed clearly and eloquently. Above
all it showed a firm grip on the practical possibilities in the current
world, gave them a pithy theoretical context AND made concrete
proposals for their realisation. Here's an odd thing. I think Nina's
major contribution to the politics of her time was to strengthen and
develop the tradition of radical reformism: but these writings were
truly revolutionary. My
second example finds a good few of us in despair in those same 1970's:
in despair at the deeply reactionary and chauvinist position of the UK
left on Europe and membership of the then-European Community. Nina's
response was a classic piece of ' Don't weep, organize!'. She organised
a group of us into the 'Campaign for a Socialist Europe' to engage in
the battle of ideas over this key issue. I believe that Nina's
organizing skills and her energy - which she went on to pour into other
organizations focused on Europe - made a real contribution to the long,
slow shift in the position of the left that took place in the 80s.
Radical pragmatism again. I'll end where I began. Nina's
promotion of friendships and working relationships was legendary. There
are very many people who would not have worked together, campaigned
together, discussed and argued together, eaten and drunk together, gone
to the opera together, if it had not been for Nina. I think that it is
in the relationships between us all that we find Nina's memorial. They
will last as long as we do and always remind us of Nina; which will at
the same time make her death easier to bear and much, much harder. |