Mary Rosser Hicks, my wife and comrade, died suddenly of cancer on November 3 at the age of 73. The trajectory of her life could be summarised as “from convent to communism”. Born into a devout Roman Catholic family and convent-educated, she moved in the late 1960s from Christian belief to Marxism, joining the Communist Party of Great Britain.
At school, she received a thorough and rigorous education which she carried through into adulthood by wide reading, especially of history and Marxism. Politically dedicated and experienced in publishing, she was appointed in 1976 as chief executive of the Morning Star. Divisions in the Communist Party had their inevitable repercussions on the newspaper.
In the midst of the struggle for the control of its policy and resources, Mary was in the eye of an unprecedented and turbulent political storm. Throughout that period, she stood her ground with great courage and determination in tense and bitter stand-offs – even facing physical violence. She continued to make a powerful contribution to the survival of the paper through further political and financial crises.
After the demise of the Communist Party of Great Britain, Mary took part in the re-establishment of the party and was a member of the executive committee of the Communist Party of Britain. Nearly half the EC, including Mary, were forced out of the party in 1999 by sectarian and other elements.
For more than 40 years, she was an active member of the committee of the Marx Memorial Library in Clerkenwell and later its chair. Under her leadership, the dilapidated building was restored. The collections of books and documents were organised to provide important research resources.
She took part in the Marxist-Christian dialogues of the 1970s, believing that many of the values of her Christian upbringing found their expression in the aspirations embodied in Marxism.
Later, she was active in the Diversity and Pluralism Campaign alongside Ken Livingstone and Peter Bottomley, challenging the growing monopolisation of newspaper distribution.
Latterly, she was a member of the Labour Party and a constituency party chair.
Mary was a loving wife and mother of Tina and Anthony and grandmother of Helen, a loyal friend and outstanding in her dedication to action in support of her beliefs.
