My father, Colin Williams, who has died aged 92, was an artist, journalist and communist, who committed his life to building a more progressive and egalitarian society.
Son of Doris (nee Osborn) and Charles Williams, he was born on a tea plantation managed by his father, in the Sylhet municipality of Assam, then in British India. He remembered his childhood in India, together with his brother and three sisters, with fondness, a time of great adventure that gave rise to many tales.
Following service in the merchant navy during the second world war, Colin studied art in London, at Saint Martin’s School of Art and the Slade, later becoming a school art teacher. Inspired by his travels in the navy, he became interested in politics, eventually joining the Communist party of Great Britain (CPGB) and giving up his teaching post to concentrate on politics.
In the 1950s he became general secretary of the British Soviet Friendship Society, and in 1961 married Joan Spence, his second wife, who was then a secretary at CPGB headquarters. In 1969, for personal reasons and with the encouragement of John Gollan, CPGB leader, Colin took over as Moscow correspondent for the Morning Star. Neither Colin nor Joan spoke Russian at the time and “jumped in feet first” (in Colin’s words), taking their four young children to a country with a different culture and freezing winters.
During the next seven years, he wrote articles about life in the Soviet Union, travelling all over the region from Siberia to Outer Mongolia. Returning to Britain in 1976, he continued as a journalist at the Morning Star for more than a decade, refusing to be drawn into sectarian divisions that split the communist movement in those turbulent times. On retiring, he worked as the UK correspondent for Berliner Zeitung and editor of Cab Trade News, until 2012.
After a life given to progressive politics, and despite the challenges and setbacks, he remained an optimist. He was overjoyed by the election of Jeremy Corbyn to the Labour party leadership. His tolerance, kindness and readiness to help were exemplary and touched many lives. He remained an artist all his life, inspiring his children and grandchildren to share his enthusiasm, and through art hoped to reassure us all that the future was bright.
Colin is survived by Joan; by their children, Ross, Gareth, Emma and me, and six grandchildren, Anya, Harry, Hugo, Matthew, Miri and Yuri; and by his sisters, Hazel and Pam.
