Sam Lesser

Sam Lesser (born Manassah Lesser or Manasseh Lesser and also known as Sam Russell; 19 March 1915 – 2 October 2010) was a British journalist and veteran of the Spanish Civil War's International Brigades. Lesser was one of the last surviving British veterans of the Spanish Civil War, and went on to serve as chair of the International Brigade Memorial Trust (IBMT), and write for the Daily Worker and its successor, the Morning Star.

Early life Lesser was born Manassah He was raised as a practising Orthodox Jew where he initially studied history before switching to Egyptology. He acknowledged in a 2007 interview that he was already "a bit Bolshevised" by the time he arrived at UCL. In 1935 Lesser joined the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB),

While at UCL, Lesser also joined the Officers' Training Corps (OTC), something he later described as "something that I always have great difficulty explaining," He was also motivated by the Non-Intervention Agreement signed by the British government, which prevented the Second Spanish Republic from purchasing arms internationally. The CPGB gave Lesser money for a ticket to Paris and an address to report to when he arrived; from the Paris-Gare de Lyon he travelled by train to Perpignan. He took the pseudonym "Raimundo Casado" while crossing the Pyrenees,

Lesser then became a correspondent for the Daily Worker in Barcelona, using "Sam Russell" as his byline

Lesser married Daily Worker switchboard operator Nell Jones in 1943, but shortly after renewed his acquaintance with Powell. He divorced Jones and married Powell in 1950. He also wrote an autobiography, which was never published. Carles Casajuana, Spain's ambassador to Britain, told the veterans that "Your efforts were not in vain. Your ideals are part of the foundations of our democracy in Spain today." Lesser gave a speech in fluent Spanish, linking the Spanish Civil War to the fight against the British National Party, He also spoke of his sadness that so few of his comrades were still alive to witness the gesture, and quoted Laurence Binyon's "Ode of Remembrance":

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.

At the end of his speech Lesser gave a raised fist salute. In his book Unlikely Warriors, historian Richard Baxell wrote that Lesser "spoke clearly and eloquently ... though an occasional catch in his voice betrayed the emotional intensity of the occasion." Tribune's obituary remarked that the speech showed "He may have moved away from communism to become an admirer of Tony Blair, but this was the old Sam Lesser fire." and on 7 May 2010 he appeared at the unveiling of a plaque honouring the 90 members of the International Brigades killed at the Battle of the Ebro, where he gave a speech in Spanish condemning the lack of support shown to Republican volunteers by representatives of the British government. In his final weeks Lesser opened an exhibition about the International Brigades at the Marx Memorial Library and chaired an IBMT committee meeting in London. Lesser died in London on 2 October 2010 at the age of 95, leaving instructions for his ashes to be scattered near the International Brigade memorial at Montjuïc in Barcelona.