Tom O’Lincoln has sadly passed away. He had had a great influence in revolutionary left politics in Australia since he arrived from the US in 1971.
He had in the late 1960s joined the US International Socialists, then strongly influenced by Hal Draper’s politics, including a bureaucratic collectivist analysis of the Stalinist states, rather than Tony Cliff’s state-capitalist one. Tom played a leadership role in a number of organisations of the “International Socialist” tradition (which has fractured a few times in Australia), and there are many tributes to him from current and former members of the current organisations, Socialist Alternative and Solidarity . He published seven books and numerous articles, and established many international connections. I met Tom first in the late 1970s, when our tendency still had a “degenerated workers’ state” position on the USSR.
What always impressed me was his lack of sectarianism, his ability and willingness to have serious, respectful discussions with other leftists on topics where we disagreed. I remember discussing Israel-Palestine with him in the 1990s — he would have been initiated, in the USA, in something like a “Two States” position, but had moved with his political current to something much more anti-Israel, while Workers Liberty had moved to our current position.
We had a frank and respectful exchange of views — I wish that we could do so again now. Tom will be greatly missed, and will continue to be an inspiration.