In Memoriam: Nina Fishman

posted 11 Dec 2009 00:14 by Dick Pountain   [ updated 14 Dec 2009 20:01 ] 
 

Nina Fishman, who died on Dec 5th, was a well-respected historian of the British labour movement and a much loved friend of mine. In the late 1970s Nina led me back from a wilderness of post-situationist disillusion into realistic left politics; Nina shamed me into overcoming my adolescent contempt for opera and introduced me to some of the best musical experiences of my life; in 1987 I helped Nina organise the first attempt to use tactical voting to unseat the Tories (it took two more elections to catch on); Nina launched the political supper club that supplied a bunch of North London lefties with mental stimulation for a decade. Before succumbing to her final illness, Nina completed her political biography of Arthur Horner the great miners' leader, to be published next year by Lawrence and Wishart. She will be sorely missed.

You can read Donald Sassoon's full Guardian obituary of Nina here and there is now an archive of Nina's writings.