International Secretariat, League for the Fifth International
It is with great sorrow that we learned of the death of our comrade Marcus Vickers after a prolonged battle with cancer. Marcus was a founder member of Workers Power USA and for some fifteen years a tireless activist for the League. A working class militant and musician in Nashville, Tennessee, he was active in the city’s central labor council and the Democratic Socialists of America. As a leading member of WPUS he was a frequent writer for its website and for that of the League for the Fifth International, writing under the pen name Marcus Otono.
He was a vital contributor to the online meetings of the US section. At these meetings, Marcus always showed the greatest sensitivity and encouragement to young comrades, striving to ensure their participation. Even when he had differences on tactical issues, he was always the first to carry out the decision and in an exemplary way.
He was an internationalist, antiracist and anti-sexist to the roots of his being. In the last years of his life he made a major contribution to drafting the League’s action programme for the USA which we will publish shortly and, now, dedicate to his memory.
We send our sincerest condolences to Marcus’ family and friends and to his comrades in WPUS, by whom his gifts, his optimism and sense of humour will be greatly missed.
Farewell dear comrade – you will live on in the warm memories of all those who worked with you and in the ideas and work you contributed to building the League for the Fifth International and the workers’ movement.