On January 18, the Socialist Equality Party (SEP) held a memorial meeting to celebrate the life of Ken Mantell, a member of the Trotskyist movement for more than 40 years. Ken passed away on November 30, two days after suffering a massive stroke.

Ken, then a steel fixer, met the Socialist Labour League, the precursor to the SEP, in the early 1980s, and, once convinced of the party’s program, never wavered. Despite significant health problems resulting from his decades in the building industry, Ken continued to play a major role in the daily work of the party until shortly before his death.

We are posting below an edited video recording of the meeting, which more than 100 of Ken’s comrades, friends and family, as well as workers and young people, attended in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and online.

The meeting featured main speakers SEP (Australia) National Secretary Cheryl Crisp and Ken’s brother Martin Mantell, as well as contributions from SEP members including Nick Beams, Warwick Dove, Luch Lopez and Morgan Peach, as well as written condolences from representatives of the International Committee of the Fourth International’s sections in Britain, Germany and the US.

We encourage all our readers to watch and share this video, which is a powerful tribute to a committed worker-revolutionary who dedicated his life to the fight for socialist revolution.