John Bell Obituary, Death – We regret to inform you that John Bell, a tireless Socialist Worker contributor and lifelong revolutionary, passed away on March 28th, just a few weeks short of turning 69. John’s regular column “Left Jab” offered activists facing the many tragedies of capitalism ammunition as well as occasionally humorous relief for decades. It combined shrewd analysis with humor.
London, Ontario, is where John was born and reared. He stated, “I was born into a family that was referred to as “middle class,” in a city that is still regarded as firmly “middle class,” right in the middle of the 1950s. In order to raise our four obnoxious children, my mother, a registered nurse, stayed at home while my father taught high school. If anyone ever needed to serve as a symbol of capitalism’s triumph, it should have been me. Rather, his course brought him to an unwavering dedication to the international socialist political system.
His aunt, a children’s librarian, fostered his love of reading and education from a young age. He read Karl Marx’s writings with great fervor when he first came across them at university. He jokingly said, “Marx preceded Lenin. Yes, Marxism functions as a gateway ideology.
The notion that the societies in what was then the Soviet Union or China were not socialist but rather “state-capitalist” and that the workers in those societies were equally exploited and oppressed as those in the West was introduced to him by the International Socialists there. John’s decision to join an organized socialist movement was largely influenced by the 1980–81 Polish shipyard workers’ uprising against the Stalinist government. “You either supported the workers or you supported the generals and their tanks trying to crush the strike,” he stated. The majority of the left, shamefully, supported the tanks by labeling rebellious Polish workers as CIA or Vatican operatives. Ideas and organization are put to the test by history. The only Canadian socialist group to pass the Solidarnosc test was the International Socialists. I joined with the conviction that it was a real organization.”
John gave his entire attention to revolutionary politics over the ensuing decades. His talents and interests were diverse, even mind-blowing at times. He was an avid birder and lover of the great outdoors, with an extensive knowledge of movies and music. Given his extraordinary talent, John most likely had the option of choosing a comfortable career in academia. Rather, he lived off the meager earnings this brought about for many years as a full-time revolutionary.
He underwent a double lung transplant in 2018 following several years of a crippling respiratory ailment. His friends profited greatly from his prolific writing, which included analyses of everything from the rise of far-right figures like Trump and the US government to the catastrophic Covid policies, Doug Ford’s privatization of healthcare and Service Ontario, the return of the measles, and the implications for capitalism’s death-cult. For him, getting new lungs was like receiving a fresh lease on life. His amiable and approachable essays on popular culture, racism in sports, history, and other topics attracted a devoted readership to Left Jab.
John performed Howard Zinn’s solo play Marx in Soho in 1999. Renowned Indian communist Mythily Sivaraman, who was in the audience, was so impressed with John’s skillful performance that she expressed her desire for him to return after he left the stage, comparing it to discovering the real Marx! That’s how John managed to make Marx’s concepts come to life. John was admitted to the hospital in November 2023 after suffering a hip fracture in a fall. John had alerted people over the years to the potentially fatal effects of Covid-19 regulations, which put hospitalized immunocompromised patients at risk. His health began to deteriorate after he caught Covid-19 in the hospital.
John spent his last days on earth writing an article about opposing the cruel practices of Canadian mining corporations, even in the midst of deteriorating health. He died with his boots on, in the words of one of his comrades. John continued to actively participate in revolutionary duty until the very end, despite the numerous health issues he had to deal with for so long. His family, countless friends, and fellow soldiers will miss him more than words can express. Nonetheless, his legacy will continue to fuel the fight he fervently championed against this capitalist system that deals in death.
