Aisbitt Tom

August 4, 2009 admin A 0

Tom Aisbitt

Thomas Aisbitt was a veteran of the Newcastle-upon-Tyne Communist Party. He was a close friend of Dave Atkinson (see separate entry), a fellow Communist.Tom was a prominent member of the woodworkers union. In 1969, Newcastle Trades Council presented Dave Atkinson with the Tom Aisbitt Award, a gold medallion given to “the most outstanding trade unionist in the area”.

In his youth, Aisbitt had been secretary of Chester-le-Street ILP, as well as helping to found Chester-le-Street trades council.  But Tom was especially proud to be a foundation member of the Communist Party.
He was a Woodworkers’ Union delegate to Newcastle trades council for more than 40 years. Dave Atkinson’s statement about Aisbitt, in accepting the award, aptly describes both men: “He was a marvellous man with an unswerving loyalty to, and belief in, the working class.”

Tom Aisbitt died 28th June 1954

Michael Walker

Source:  Daily Worker; Lewis H. Mates “The Syndicalist challenge in the Durham coalfield before 1914”’

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