We are shocked and saddened to hear of the sudden death of Mark Langabeer, who was a regular contributor to this website. He was a staunch socialist for the greater part of his adult life and was a comrade who always inspired confidence and optimism in those with whom he was in contact. We have contributions here from two comrades who knew Mark, and his son, Joe.
Tim Harris, a member of Leyton and Wanstead Labour Party, describes his early political contact with Mark:
It was a cold evening in November 1978 when I first met Mark, at a meeting of Erith and Crayford Labour Party Young Socialists (LPYS) in South London. Having just moved to the area, I didn’t know anyone, but Mark and other members made me feel very welcome. I remember nothing about the meeting, but I do recall being invited for a pint afterwards at The Royal Oak.
Over the next few years, I got to know Mark as a committed socialist, someone who didn’t just argue his politics in meetings but put in the legwork to further the cause of the Labour movement. Working at the Molins factory in Deptford, he was active in the white-collar union APEX, dominated by a right wing and long since swallowed up by the GMB, as well as in his Labour Party branch and the LPYS. And he would regularly visit picket lines to offer solidarity.
Mark was a driving force in the local LPYS branch
Mark and I often discussed Marxist ideas, and he began to sell the Militant newspaper in 1979. Thatcher had just been elected, and her rampage – the start of neoliberalism – was getting into full swing. The labour movement was shifting left, and many young people were drawn to the campaigning activity of the LPYS and Militant. In 1981, Erith and Crayford LPYS took 32 people to its annual conference, the biggest attendance of any branch in the country, I believe. Mark was a part of that drive to reach out to as many young people as possible.
He didn’t suffer fools gladly and would happily take to task those he saw as failing the movement. For example, I still remember him demolishing Roy Hattersley (incredibly, at that time way to the left of Keir Starmer!) at a Young Socialists’ weekend school around this time.
But he also very much had his feet on the ground and was scornful of so-called “re-re-revolutionaries” who were completely out of touch with the mood of workers. One of Mark’s great strengths was his incredible patience when discussing with young people who were drawn towards the LPYS, explaining in simple terms why socialism was necessary for the future of humanity and how it would work.
Interests were not restricted to politics
Mark wasn’t just about politics, though, and that’s one reason he was so popular. He had a love of football – Charlton Athletic was his team – and cricket. And he knew how to have fun, whether it was clubbing at the weekend or hosting the regular, impromptu parties we held in the flat we later shared on the Thamesmead estate. These weren’t organised, they just tended to happen after pub closing time on a Saturday, and they played a crucial role in building support for socialist ideas on the estate.
Many a discussion about perspectives for the British economy, dialectical materialism or the need for fighting trade unions took place at these ad hoc events – usually with Mark at the forefront. Mark and I lost touch after I moved out of the area in the late 80s, but he definitely influenced my approach to politics, just as I’m sure he did that of many others. I had been hoping that I could meet up with him this year to talk about old times and discuss the future. He will be sorely missed.
John Pickard writes:
My own contact with Mark began around ten years ago, when there were initial discussions with former supporters of Militant to start a socialist website. We were all fed up with the gallop to ultra-leftism that seemed to afflict so many promising political movements and groups on the left. Mark was then a member of Newton Abbot Labour Party in Devon, and still working. As he told me, having lost a lower leg in an accident, he was “the only one-legged bus-driver” in the whole of the South West. Unusually, he was a member of th RMT union, a membership he kept up after he retired.
Mark supported the whole Left Horizons project from the very beginning. Not only that, but he was one of the website’s most prolific contributors. Search Mark’s name at the top of the home page, and you will see that he contributed literally hundreds of letters, reports and articles over the years.
There are not many workers who seemed to do what he did – watch a TV programme with a pen and paper in hand, and then write up a review of the programme. His writing was refreshingly straightforward and to the point. Whether he was reviewing a TV documentary or just contributing a letter around a particular issue, he brought an ordinary workers’ point of view to bear – although “ordinary” is the last word you would use to describe Mark.
Wrote on a wide range of social and political issues
He wrote on a huge range of social and political issues, both national and international, and he put his views clearly, not just by sucking ideas out of his thumb, but through the prism of his decades of experience in the labour movement. His most recent contribution was a letter, posted on the website just two days before he died.
Until ill health forced him to scale back somewhat, he was a regular attender at discussion meetings, in which he more often than not made a good contribution. Whether in person or on Zoom, always brought a sense of optimism and positivity to a discussion.
When he retired, Mark and his wife, Leontine, moved to the Hastings area and he immediately became an active member of the Hastings Labour Party, continuing where he left off, in his regular writing for this website. He had not been in the best of health lately, but his passing nevertheless came as a great shock.
Joe Langabeer writes:
When I was growing up, many of my friends and extended relatives would often say, “I wish my dad was as cool and funny as yours.” I often thought people were jealous of me for having Mark as a father, and I’m sure I was right. He was not only funny and witty, but he was also the kindest man you could ever meet.
He would go to the ends of the earth to make sure people were looked after, including myself and his wife, Leontine. His kindness stemmed not only from the care of his parents, Arthur and Betty, but also from his fundamental beliefs – he truly believed people should look out for one another. Everyone should have the right to shelter, food, and essentials, to be cared for when they are sick, and to have dignity from the cradle to the workplace, to the grave. At its core, those are the principles of socialism, and Dad instilled those values in me from a young age.
He was never pushy about my inevitable gravitation towards socialism, however. In fact, when I was a teenager, we didn’t really discuss it! He did take me to a Socialist Appeal conference when I was 16, but I didn’t really understand what was going on, as I wasn’t particularly interested in politics at the time. However, we ended up having an excellent conversation about the 2008 financial crisis and tuition fees.
He told me that while his generation might not feel the effects of the crisis and the austerity measures set in motion by the Tory government, mine certainly would. Just a few days later, I signed up for the Labour Party, and so began my journey into socialist ideas, which inevitably led me to become a supporter of Left Horizons – just like my dad.
Like many young people, I became seriously involved in the political movement when Jeremy Corbyn arrived. Dad and I went canvassing together a few times and would talk for hours about public ownership, workplace rights, benefit cuts, and why we aligned with the Labour Party. He introduced me to the ideas of Ted Grant and the influence Grant had on him. Phrases like “conditions determine consciousness” have stuck with me to this day—I still recite them in my head.
More than anything, Dad taught me the values of patience and time. These are qualities that many great socialists possess—they do not rush events or make poor judgments out of impatience with the developing (or sometimes regressive) forces of the labour movement. It’s a lesson many young socialists and ultra-left sects still need to learn, and Dad had that understanding in abundance.
In the final years of his life, as his health declined, we became closer than ever—not just through our political ideas, but as best friends. I was never much into sports, whereas he was an avid football and cricket fan. I, on the other hand, loved theatre and the arts, which weren’t really his thing, but he always, without fail, came to see any production I acted in or directed.
Over time, I developed a love of tennis, and we would talk about the recent greats like Roger Federer. We discussed the weekly editorials of Left Horizons, often agreeing with their positions and then falling into long tangents about economics, climate change, and the impact of capitalism on young people. We talked about his own articles as well—even the day before he died, we discussed his piece on the LA wildfires and how the “markets” (capital) seemed to dictate democracy. Those conversations will be sorely missed.
In the past couple of months, Dad talked to me about a song he had dedicated to me—Patches, sung by Clarence Carter. The song tells the story of a son recounting everything his father taught him and how it was now up to him to support the family.
In Dad’s eyes, it symbolised the passing down of the legacy of socialism—through the teachings of Ted Grant and his own. That legacy will continue as we build on the foundations of Left Horizons and the ideas of socialism—not just because it’s what he would have wanted, but because I truly believe that Left Horizons will play a crucial role in developing the forces of socialism in Britain. Through our rationale and perspectives, we will now move onward—toward that bright tomorrow.
Left Horizons and all its supporters extend our condolences to Leontine, and his son and daughter-in-law, Joe and Enya. Mark will leave a big hole in all of our lives and one that will not be filled and he will certainly be a big miss to the socialist movement.
Mark’s funeral will be on Friday, February 21 at 3:15pm, at Hastings Cemetery and Crematorium, The Ridge, Hastings, TN34 2AE. His family are happy for all of his friends and comrades to attend.
