In Memoriam - Obituaries and appreciations

Henri Benoits 1926-2025.


On 6 November, our friend and comrade Paul Mepschen passed away, far too young. For many years, Paul had been one of the central people in SAP, the Dutch section of the Fourth International. He was a dedicated socialist and scholar whose work and life revolved around emancipation. Paul’s warm and sympathetic personality will be missed by many.

Joanna Misnik (6 September 1943-3 September 2025) was a leading Fourth Internationalist in the United States for many decades. International Viewpoint published a number of tributes earlier. This substantive essay traces Joanna’s political life and underlines her important contribution.

Our comrade Andreas Klocke, with whom we were active in what was then the only group in the Greek section of the Fourth International, died at the beginning of October, greatly weakened by a very long illness following a complex operation. In recent years, as far as his strength allowed, Andreas continued to be involved in observing and analysing what could advance a revolutionary crisis.

Joanna Misnik (1942-2025) was a long time leader of the Fourth Internationalists in the USA. We are publishing here the first tributes received.

Our comrade Hendrik Patroons, alias “Pips”, passed away in Ghent on April 17, 2025. He was active from an early age in SAP-Antikapitalisten (our organization in Flanders, then called Revolutionaire Arbeiders Liga) and the Fourth International. A convinced revolutionary right up to his last days, he and his companion Marijke Colle left a lasting mark on the organization. He took part in our last national congress in December 2024, and had volunteered to be part of the technical support team for the 18th World Congress of the Fourth International in February 2025, but was unable to do so due to illness. We publish below the tribute paid to him by Alain Tondeur at the funeral ceremony in Wondelgem, near Ghent, on April 25.

I am so sad to learn of the death of my dear friend Tikva Honig-Parnass. Tikva was a fearless socialist, a committed feminist, and one of the most consistent and principled anti-Zionists I have ever known. I was privileged to work with her during the first Palestinian Intifada, when she was acting director of the Alternative Information Centre in Jerusalem, and I was editor of the centre’s monthly English-language journal News From Within.

Patrick Quinn, who died on 4 January 2025 at the age of 83, was a terrific friend and political comrade for 55 years. Compared to me, he always seemed to have a larger-than-life personality. He was extroverted, gregarious, approachable, and often affable and even playful—with amazing raconteurial gifts and a more retentive memory than a herd of elephants.

Lennart Wallster […] was strongly associated with SP’s very first days in the late 1960’s and the commitment to building the political and organizational center of the Fourth International.

Wickramabahu Karanaratne, the secretary of the New Samasamaja Party, who was ill, passed away on July 25 while undergoing treatment at the Colombo General Hospital. The press release issued by the ‘Socialist People’s Forum’ issuing condolence for his death is published in its entirety below.