Dr. Alistair Wilson
A T M Wilson was born in 1913, the son of Dr J M Wilson, who had come to Aberdare in South Wales from Aberdeen in 1907. All three of the siblings would become GPs.
Alistair Wilson went to Cambridge in 1931, where he began to become politically active, joining the Communist Party. He met and medically cared for the Hunger Marchers of 1932 and 1934 on their journey to London. He transferred to a teachers’ training college in 1933 but did not teach subsequently, returning to Aberdare to help in his father's practice there. In 1938 he resumed his medical studies at Cardiff, and finally returning to Cambridge to finish his medical degrees, qualifying in 1940.
In 1939, he married Olive Greening, whose brother Edwin fought in the Spanish Civil War for the International Brigades. Dr Alistair Wilson won a seat on the Aberdare Urban District Council for the Communist Party in 1938 and held the seat until 1950. He continued to contest local and parliamentary elections as the Communist candidate until 1978.
He was very active in many campaigns and founded democratic initiatives and patients' committees within the Health Service, lectured in Marxism and Welsh History and was also involved in the peace movement and anti-racism campaigns. Alistair founded and edited the bilingual journal 'Cyffro', which was a combination of current politics, debate, history and poetry. He was an honorary life member of the Aberdare and Cynon Valley Trades Council.
In 1981, Dr. Alistair Wilson accompanied the Welsh section of the 'Peoples March for Jobs' for a week as its medical officer. On the last stage from Cardiff to Newport he suffered a severe heart attack and was unconscious for 19 days before dying on May 22nd.
Alan Jones
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