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{{Short description|English Trotskyist political activist}}
{{Other people|Patrick Wall}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2017}}
{{infobox officeholder
|parliament = United Kingdom
|constituency_MP = [[Bradford North]]
|term_start = 11 June 1987
|term_end = 6 August 1990
|predecessor = [[Geoffrey Lawler]]
|successor = [[Terry Rooney (politician)|Terry Rooney]]
|majority = 1,633 (3.3%)
|office1 = President of the [[Bradford Trades Council]]
|term_start1 = 1973
|term_end1 = 1990
|predecessor1 = Ludwig Baruch
|successor1 = Ronnie Fieldhouse
|birth_name = Charles Patrick Wall
|birth_date = {{birth date|1933|5|6|df=yes}}
|birth_place = [[Liverpool]], England
|death_date = {{death date and age|1990|8|6|1933|5|6|df=yes}}
|death_place = [[Bradford]], England
|party = [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]]
|occupation = {{Hlist|Trade unionist|activist}}
}}
{{Trotskyism}}
 
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:Pat wall face.jpg|thumb|right|Pat Wall]] -->
'''Charles Patrick Wall''' (6 May 1933 – 6 August 1990) was an [[English people|English]] [[Trotskyist]] [[political activist]] who was the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] (MP) for [[Bradford North (UK Parliament constituency)|Bradford North]] from 1987 tountil his 1990death. Wall was a long-standing member of the [[Militant (Trotskyist group)|Militant]] group.
 
==Early years==
Born into a [[Liverpool]] [[working class]] family on 6 May 1933 in [[Manchester]], he began [[political activity]] when he was picked up on a [[Canvassing|canvass]] by a local activist in 1950. Wall adopted a [[Trotskyism|Trotskyist]] outlook and joined the [[Jimmy Deane|Deane]]-[[Ted Grant|Grant]] group, the remnant of the [[Revolutionary SocialistCommunist LeagueParty (UK, 19571944)|Revolutionary SocialistCommunist LeagueParty]], which later became the [[Militant (Trotskyist group)|Militant]] group. Wall became [[Garston, Merseyside|Garston]] [[Constituency Labour Party]] Secretary in 1952.<ref>Peter Taaffe, ''The Rise of Militant'', London, Militant Publications, p. 10 [http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/militant/mil2frame.htm?intro.htm]</ref>
 
Wall played a role in moving the Liverpool Labour Party to the left in the late 1950s as a member of the (then) joint Liverpool Trades Council and Labour Party Executive. He was also one of the youngest [[Liverpool City Council|Liverpool]] councillors in the 1950s.<ref name="socialistparty.org.uk">[{{Cite web|url=http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/polltax/p2frame.htm?ch40.htm|title=We Beat the Poll Tax|website = [[Socialist Party (England and Wales)|Socialist Party]]|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070927030510/https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/polltax/p2frame.htm?ch40.htm|archive-date = 27 September 2007}}</ref>
 
== Involvement with revolutionary journals ==
Wall was associated with a series of journals aimed at leading and widening the influence of [[Trotskyism]], and popularising it without compromising or diluting it. After National Service in the Army he returned to Liverpool and helped to produce the youth journal ''Rally'', organ of the [[Walton, Liverpool|Walton]] [[Labour Youth League]].<ref>[{{Cite web|url=http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/liverpool/index.html?l3.htm]|title = Liverpool - A City that Dared to Fight}}</ref> Terry Harrison has described how when he joined the Labour Party [[Young Socialists (UK)|Young Socialists]] in 1958, it was Wall and ''Rally'' that "invited me to make a real commitment to the ideas of Marxism, and made me realise what this meant". Wall was then on the editorial board of ''[[Socialist Fight]]'' (1958-1963), and played a leading role in launching and editing the newspaper ''[[Militant tendency|Militant]]''.<ref>[http://www.marxist.com/hbt/p-4.html] Rob Sewell's postscript to History of British Trotskyism</ref>
 
Wall's job as a [[Mail-order catalog|mail-order company]] buyer eventually took him away from Liverpool to [[Market Harborough]], and then to [[Bingley]] in Bradford, where he worked for the local [[Bingley Urban District Council|council]].<ref>{{cite news |editor-last=Jenkins|editor-first=Simon|title=Pat Wall (obituary)|work=The Times |issue=63779|date=8 August 1990|page=12|issn=0140-0460}}</ref> It also took him abroad, and he established political contacts on his foreign travels in [[Sri Lanka]],<ref>Michael Crick ''The March of Militant'', Faber 1986, p. 167</ref> Hong Kong, South Korea and the United States. His assistance to Trotskyists in Sri Lanka in 1979 was still remembered in tributes sent ''in memoriam''.<ref name="revhist">Revolutionary History, Vol. 3 Iss. 3</ref>
 
== Labour Party ==
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=== Bradford North ===
Wall became President of [[Bradford Trades Council]] in 1973, and in 1981 he won a reselection battle against the sitting MP for [[Bradford North (UK Parliament constituency)|Bradford North]], [[Ben Ford (politician)|Ben Ford]], by 35 votes to 28.<ref>Michael Crick, ''The March of Militant'', Faber 1986, pp. 191-92</ref> Ford alleged irregularities in the selection procedure and it was re-run, but Wall won again, this time by 49 votes to 12, and replaced Ford as the Labour candidate.<ref>Michael Crick, ''The March of Militant'', Faber 1986, p. 198</ref>
 
During the general election in 1983 Wall faced press criticism for his [[Trotskyist]] views, particularly in ''[[The Sunday Times (UK)|The Sunday Times]]'', which portrayed Wall as wanting "civil war" and "bloodshed",;<ref>''Sunday Times'', 7 March 1982</ref> evenin though, asresponse a ''Militant'' editorial statement pointedclaimed out,that"Pat explained that the ''Militant'' was in favour of a peaceful transformation of society. No supporter of ''Militant'' would ever advocate or encourage 'bloodshed' or 'civil war'. ... Pat was explaining that if there was any threat to a peaceful transformation of society, that threat would come from the capitalist class itself."<ref>''Militant'', issue 592, 12 March 1982</ref> He was disowned by the Labour Party leader, [[Michael Foot]] publicly denounced his candidacy during the 1983 campaign.<ref name="socialistparty.org.uk"/>
 
Wall wonlost the 1983 election, coming in second place with 14,492 votes (30.3 per cent), coming in second place, less than 2,000 votes behind the winning Conservative candidate [[Geoffrey Lawler]], and ahead of the former Labour [[election agent|agent]], Peter Birkby, standing for the [[Social Democratic Party (UK)|SDP]], and Ben Ford, the deselected incumbent Labour MP, standing as "Independent Labour".<ref>Michael Crick, ''The March of Militant'', Faber 1986, p. 303</ref>
 
Wall stood again in the same constituency in 1987 and was featured in the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] [[election broadcast]] of 27 May 1987, which attacked his candidacy because he was a [[Marxist]]. He was quoted as saying: "A Marxist Labour government would mean the [[Abolition of monarchy|abolition of the monarchy]], the [[House of Lords]], the sacking of the generals, the admirals, the air marshals, the senior civil servants, the police chiefs and in particular the judges."<ref>[http://www.psr.keele.ac.uk/area/uk/pebs/con87.htm] Conservative Party Election Broadcasts from 1987</ref> ''[[The Sun (United Kingdom)|The Sun]]'' also featured a demand that Wall be defeated on the day of the election.<ref name="Militant260687">''Militant'', 26 June 1987</ref> Wall held public meetings and 17 workplace meetings in the constituency<ref name="Militant260687"/> and won the seat, recording a 9.9 per cent swing from the SDP.<ref name="Militant260687"/>
 
== Death ==
After a long illness, Wall died in the intensive care unit at [[Bradford Royal Infirmary]] on Monday 6 August 1990, aged 57.<ref>"Labour MP Dies After Long Illness" ''The Times'', 7 August 1990</ref> More than 700 people attended a memorial meeting held after his funeral, the speakers including [[Arthur Scargill]], [[Max Madden|Max Madden MP]], [[Dennis Skinner|Dennis Skinner MP]], [[Dave Nellist|Dave Nellist MP]], [[Bob Cryer|Bob Cryer MP]] and [[Terry Fields|Terry Fields MP]].<ref>"Pat Wall Memorial Meeting" ''Militant'', 24 August 1990</ref>
 
==References==
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{{s-par|uk}}
{{succession box
| title = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] for [[Bradford North (UK Parliament constituency)|Bradford North]]
| years = [[1987 United Kingdom general election|1987]]–[[1990 Bradford North by-election|1990]]
| before = [[Geoffrey Lawler]]
| after = [[Terry Rooney (politician)|Terry Rooney]]
}}
{{s-npo|union}}
{{succession box|title=President of [[Bradford Trades Council]]|years=1973–1990|before=Ludwig Baruch|after=Ronnie Fieldhouse}}
{{s-end}}
 
{{authority control}}
 
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wall, Pat}}
[[Category:1933 births]]
[[Category:1990 deaths]]
[[Category:English trade unionists]]
[[Category:English Trotskyists]]
[[Category:Committee for a Workers' International]]
[[Category:CouncillorsLabour Party (UK) councillors in Liverpool]]
[[Category:Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies]]
[[Category:Militant tendency supporters]]
[[Category:PoliticsPoliticians offrom Bradford]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1987–1992]]
[[Category:People whoeducated diedat inLiverpool officeInstitute High School for Boys]]
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