I attended Eva Chertov's memorial meeting and I lurk on this group.
The interest stirred up by Cliff and Marush's expulsion from that meeting has
led me to my first ever post here. I wrote a brief summary of the meeting:


I attended Eva's memorial meeting yesterday. It was interesting.
The speakers concentrated not so much on Eva, but talked more on the SWP
endeavors on which Eva was working. Lanie Fleischer and Gale Shangold
co-chaired the meeting. Lanie began and spoke mostly about her experiences with
Eva in fighting for abortion rights in the early seventies. Lanie was quite
emotional, but was able to finish her speech despite some tearful moments. I was
a little puzzled by the content of her remarks because she clearly felt close to
Eva, yet she included little in her speech that resonated on a personal level.
Mostly, she spoke on Eva's deep commitment to abortion rights and her formidable
skills in persuading women to go public with their personal stories concerning
the horrors of illegal abortions in order to educate on the issue. Eva's
example, and her personal encouragement of Lanie, enabled Lanie to succeed in
similar work.

Gale Shangold spoke on the editing/translating/proofreading etc.
that Eva was doing for Pathfinder. Again, there was not so much about Eva-except
that Eva was deeply and enthusiastically committed to this project. This is
because, according to Gale, Pathfinder is a vital carrier of the revolutionary
continuity that will be essential for the working class to take power under the
leadership of the SWP. I think she also spoke on Eva's enthusiasm for staffing
literature tables for the same continuity essential to take power reasons.

Dave Prince then spoke. He met Eva in Cuba shortly after the
Cuban Revolution. But he mostly spoke about what he considered the extremely
noteworthy and deeply encouraging work the SWP is doing around the American
Crystal Sugar lockout. He said that reports from the SWPers at the scene of the
lockout are relating that the workers are showing very open minds to the
Militant and Pathfinder publications. I suppose the link to Eva was her work for
Pathfinder.

Then an SWPer who knew Eva in the late 1970s in Atlanta spoke. I
don't remember her name. She was new to the SWP when she met Eva. Eva showed a
great deal of tactical acumen and deep commitment to eradicating injustice in a
fight against police brutality. This made a deep impression on the speaker, who
gained a deeper understanding on the value of participating in struggles through
an SWP branch; an understanding that formed the core of Eva's political essence.

The last speaker was Jack Barnes. If you've heard reports of any
of his speeches in recent years you will know that they are difficult to follow.
His digressions are unpredictable, sometimes inscrutable, and not necessarily
related to the subject he is supposed to be addressing. His speech yesterday
displayed those characteristics. Nonetheless, it was the most personal of the
reflections. When he wasn't digressing, he spoke on meeting Eva in Cuba before
he joined the SWP. He spoke about Eva's family. He related stories about trips
with Eva to the New York Botanical Garden and Wave Hill. He had humorous
reminiscences about Eva's ability to communicate through facial expressions and
eye movements. He spoke knowingly of Eva's personification of the fading
heritage of American Jewish radicalism rooted in the Yiddish language and the
immigrant experience of her forebears. He had some impressions of Eva's last
days, when her condition was worsening, but her strong character was still
recognizable, and her spirit was intact. When Barnes stayed on the subject of
Eva his speech was the only one that reflected the mix of the personal and the
political that I think should be the model for such a meeting.

The only written tributes that were read were ones from people
with close connections to the SWP. The display which included the book of
reminiscences had a number of photos. Some were interesting, but a significant
portion of the display was Militant front pages from the years in which Eva was
in the YSA.

There were some people on the sidewalk outside the hotel where
the meeting took place. They greeted people and told them where the meeting was.
They also were apparently screening those who hoped to attend the meeting. Among
those who were judged as inappropriate attendees was Cliff Conner. I don't know
if others were turned away as well. The crudeness and stupidity of this policy
was ironically highlighted in Barnes's remarks. He praised the tumultuous
atmosphere in the household of Eva's SWP parents, Morris and Pearl Chertov,
where everyone who was ready to fight was welcome. Barnes was clear that this
welcoming attitude extended far beyond those who were in the orbit of the SWP;
it even included political opponents with whom Morris and Pearl could find
common ground. He made mention of the Chertovs efforts to join in united front
work on the Rosenberg case with the Communist Party. That spirit was clearly
absent from the attitude of the sidewalk reception committee at Eva's meeting.
It is a spirit that should not die along with Eva. Sadly it has surely died in
the organization to which Eva and her family devoted so much of their energies.
I hope that the Chertov spirit on which Eva was weaned and which Jack Barnes
celebrated in his speech will live on. But it is abundantly and depressingly
clear that, while Barnes can still movingly evoke that spirit, he and his
organization embody none of it.