Baird in a London hospital March 21 following a long illness.
_ Born in 1906, he worked for a time in the coal mines in Scotland, later becoming a dentist. He joined the Labour party at a very young age and remained in its extreme left wing from the beginning to the end. After having been drafted during the war, he became a candidate for parliament from Wolverhamptom East, winning from the Liberals in the general election of July 1945. He was re~ elected in 1950, 1951, 1955 and 1959. He did not run in the election last October,
John Baird was close to the Trotskyist movement, and on numerous occasions displayed his solidarity with it. During the war, Pierre Frank, a leader of the French Trotskyist movement, was imprisoned in Britain where he had gone to escape the Nazi occupation of France. When Baird became an MP, he. intervened in the case to help win legal standing for the refugee Trotskyist leader. Baird was a strong witness in behalf of Michel Pablo and Sal Santen at their trial. in Amsterdam for activities associated with the Algerian Revolution. In Great Britain he took the initiative in organizing aid for the Algerian cause. ._He visited the Algerian workers and fighters who operated from Morocco. After Algeria won freedom, he participated in the conference at Algiers in June 1963 which sponsored nongovernmental aid for Algeria.
His position in the extreme left of the Labour party won him some brickbats from the parliamentary group under Gaitskell's leadership.
Although he suffered from an incurable illness, he continued his work for causes of the vanguard up to the last moment. A few ยป days before His death, he sent a letter from his hospital bed to. the British socialist publication. The Week, appealing for aid to. the Vietnam revolution.
Those who knew John Baird will remember him as a good friend, a good comrade and a loyal militant of the working class.