Dozens gathered yesterday to bid farewell to Gerry Gable, Searchlight’s founder, whose funeral was held in London.

People came from across the country and the anti-fascist world to pay their respects at a service which reflected Gerry in its wonderfully broad, ecumenical, united character.

Dylan fan

The service opened with the sound of Bob Dylan singing ‘Blowing in the Wind’. Gerry was a passionate Dylan fan and was listening to his music during his final days.

Andy Bell, Gerry’s friend and a former Searchlight editor, delivered a eulogy, and his wife Sonia and other members of his family also spoke.

The final farewell was to the strains of the Italian anti-fascist hymn, Bella Ciao.

At the wake afterwards many spoke of their experiences of working with Gerry, of the scrapes it sometimes landed them in, and of their deep affection for a man who made a unique and huge contribution to the struggle against fascism in this country over more than half a century.

Searchlight family

Playwright David Edgar described how going to Gerry for help when David was writing his play ‘Destiny’ back in the 1970s led to him being recruited to the Searchlight family and writing amongst other things, the What THEIR Papers Say column for the next three years, and the Recap series of articles in the early 1980s.

David Rosenberg from the Jewish Socialist Group told of a friend of his, whose son had been badly beaten in a racist attack on the tube, going to Gerry when the police appeared uninterested. Gerry spent hour with the lad going through photos of known fascists until one, the notorious Tony Lecomber was identified. He was subsequently convicted and jailed.

And in the spirit of ‘Don’t mourn, organise’ NEU General Secretary Kevin Courtney and others warned of the enormous challenge from the far right we face in these times, and the huge tasks ahead of us.

But, they stressed, we saw them off in the ’70s, we saw them off in the 2000s, and we can see them off again this time.

Later, in a local pub, Tayo Aluko, the playwright who wrote and performed ‘Call Mr Robeson’, sang ‘The Ballad of Joe Hill’ to a spellbound audience of mourners and locals.

A truly fitting note on which to end.

Salud, Gerry. No pasaran!