------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the March 6, 2003 issue of Workers World newspaper -------------------------
TED DOSTAL, THE IRON MAN 1906-2003 By Martha Grevatt and Frances Dostal Cleveland The working-class movement lost a stalwart fighter with the death of Comrade Ted Dostal on Feb. 13. A founding member of Workers World Party, as well as a founder of WWP's Cleveland branch in 1967, Ted was lovingly referred to by his comrades as "the Iron Man." This nickname was originally bestowed on him by the Cleveland Police Department's anti-subversive squad--the "red squad"-- because he never missed a demonstration. From the 1960s up into the 1990s, the Iron Man lived up to this reputation. Ted was born in a farmhouse in Olivia, Minn., in 1906. He earned a degree in math and physics from the University of Minnesota and taught school in Wisconsin for two years. He returned to Minneapolis seeking work, but during the Depression there was none to be found. He became active in the labor movement, supporting the historic Minneapolis Teamsters strike of 1934 and the successful Farmer-Labor Party gubernatorial campaign in 1936. During this time he was won over to socialism. In 1940 he moved to Youngstown, Ohio, where he was a steam engineer in the steel mills for the next 26 years. He recruited many steel workers into the union. He was a grievance committee member until losing the office during the McCarthy era. Through the union he worked to break down racist barriers on and off the job. A previously segregated bowling alley was forcibly integrated when the union's integrated team insisted on bowling there. In 1959, while attending meetings in Buffalo that would eventually lead to the formation of Workers World Party, he met the love of his life, Frances Sherman. They were married in Youngstown and sent out announcements exclaiming that "the union makes us strong." Frances and Ted soon found themselves immersed in both the civil-rights and anti-war movements. They organized support through out Northeast Ohio for Mae Mallory and Rob Williams, two Black leaders sought on frame- up charges in North Carolina. They also led a union of the unemployed during the recession of the early 1960s. In 1967 Ted retired from U.S. Steel and he and Frances moved to Cleveland. They continued to organize against the Vietnam War and in defense of the Panthers and other victims of government frame-ups, as well as for the rights of prisoners. In 1968 Ted participated in the protests in Chicago outside the Democratic Convention, teaching youthful activists how to make barricades. That year he was also arrested during a protest against George Wallace and charged with assault on a police officer, a charge that was later dropped. In 1969 he was arrested for contempt of court while being a sympathetic observer at a demonstration supporting Black nationalist leader Ahmed Evans. He served four months in prison in 1972 but was let out early when the prisoners began planning a strike. In the late 1970s and early 1980s he led the Senior Citizens Coalition in scores of militant protests for health care, lower utility bills and free bus fare. In 1981 Ted organized for a march on the Pentagon protesting the war in El Salvador, among other issues. He later assisted the work of the All Peoples Congress. Throughout the 1980s he demonstrated against apartheid and against U.S. policy in Central America. Ted and Frances marched every year in the annual lesbian/gay/bi/trans pride celebrations. In every Workers World election campaign, Ted would single-handedly collect over 1,000 signatures on nominating petitions. On the college campuses his approach would be unique: "Say there, young fella, how'd ya like to sign a petition?" or "How'd ya like to see a woman for president?" Young people found his magnetism hard to resist. In the 1980, 1984 and 1996 presidential campaigns, as well as the 1992 senatorial campaign, he was indispensable to the party winning ballot status. In 1994 Ted and Frances traveled to Cuba with the U.S.-Cuba Labor Exchange. In 1999 Ted began to grow weaker, suffering a series of illnesses and injuries. Nevertheless, he made it downtown in his wheelchair for a demonstration in support of Mumia Abu-Jamal. When he could no longer demonstrate he was still the persistent voice on the telephone getting others out. When he could not be active politically at all, he would wake up from dreams and talk about meetings, protests or trips to Cuba. He lived, breathed and dreamed the class struggle up until his final hours. Ted is survived by Frances, by many adoring nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews, by all of his comrades and by the Cleveland activists for whom the Iron Man was truly an institution. Ted Dostal, presente! - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe wwnews- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe [EMAIL PROTECTED] Support the voice of resistance http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php) ------------------ This message is sent to you by Workers World News Service. To subscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Send administrative queries to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
