Tribute to Tony Southall

Tony Southall, the Joint Secretary of Scottish CND died in hospital on Monday 27 May. His funeral will take place in Glasgow on 31 May.

Tony played a key role in the early days of the campaign against nuclear weapons in Britain. He was a founder member of Youth CND after the 1959 Aldermaston march. The involvement of young people in the campaign at this point played a crucial part in building a popular movement against the bomb. He was then Chairman of Cambridge University CND. At this time the Committee of 100 led by Betrand Russell was organising sit down protests against the bomb which resulted in many arrests. Tony became active in the Committee and was its full time Acting Secretary in 1961 and 62.

In 1964 he was a founding member of the International Marxist Group. He moved to Glasgow as a lecturer at Glasgow University. While there he organised protests against the Vietnam War in Scotland and helped to establish the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign. He was also a core figure in the Labour movement in Glasgow at this time.

Tony spent much of the 1970s teaching in Africa. Soon after his return he was diagnosed with Multiple Schlerosis while working in York. The disease increasingly limited his physical capabilities but did not reduce his energy or commitment to the peace movement and socialism. He continued to work as a lecturer at the Glasgow College of Building and Printing until 1993.

In 1983 Tony founded Scottish Labour CND, an organisation in which he played a central role for 19 years. Over two decades he organised lobbying on nuclear disarmament within the Labour movement. His efforts played an important part in retaining an anti-nuclear stance at successive Scottish Conferences of the Labour Party. Despite British Conference abandoning their commitment to unilateral disarmament, the Scottish Conference never followed suite.

In 1993 he became Joint Secretary of Scottish CND and his home in the Southside of the city became an extension of the Campaign's office. Despite being confined to a wheelchair and only able to use one hand, he organised events and protests, largely by use of the phone but also by voice operated computer. He remained as mentally alert as ever guiding the campaign effectively through the last decade. He helped in the recent revival of CND in Scotland including reforming Glasgow South CND in his house.

His health deteriorated towards the end of 2001. In December he took part in his last march, a protest against US military action in Afghanistan. In January he contributed to a major peace conference in Glasgow. Even in his hospital bed in the Southern General he continued his work, urging the nurses to "Ban the Bomb" and displaying a small Palestinian flag above his bed.

Tony displayed remarkable energy despite his medical condition. He has given us a rare example of determination and commitment sustained over more than four decades.

Tony Southhall's funeral will take place at 3.30 pm on Friday 31 May at Glasgow Cremetorium, Western Necropolis, Tresta Road, Glasgow.

This can be reached travelling from the city centre:

via Saracen St / Balmore Rd, turn left after the canal and before the cemetery, then 2nd right

via Maryhill Rd, turn right down Lochburn Road (between the Police Station and the canal), then left up Calder Road.

Family flowers only, donations to Scottish CND.