the | the ion def ore for nat of ity tes to the rm ar- nd re- er- [ 087 TUARY as ‘His life spanned century of momentous history’ With the passing of Julius Stelp on Apr. 7 at the rare age of 102, the progressive labor ovement has lost its last link not only with ne early Socialist movement in this pro- vince but with the historic 1905 revolution i tsarist Russia. Julius Stelp’s long life spanned the most momentous period in human history. He ad seen the overthrow of despotic empires and the founding of the Soviet Unionas the World’s first socialist state after World War - And he had seen the imperialist system haken to its foundations by the disintegra- 4on of colonial empires and the emergence of a world community of socialist states after World War 2. In all of these events and their political _Tepercussions around the world, Julius telp Was not a passive observer but an active participant. Throughout the more than eight decades of his adult life, he upheld the socialist convictions he formed 4S a youth in his native Latvia, where he was ©rm Dec. 1, 1881 on a farm outside the town of Dobele. Those who visited him at the Grandview- Oodlands nursing home in his last years Ound in his reminiscences an absorbing Personal history of events that occurred fore most of them were born. Failing €yesight had robbed him of his vision until he Could barely distinguish light from dark, ut his memory was as keen as his under- Standing of world events he followed through his shortwave radio. All the members of my family became revolutionaries,” he would tell his visitors in telating how his father, an innkeeper, was Tulned when the tsarist regime, always 8tasping for revenue, made liquor a 80vernment monopoly. His mother was at when she was caught with equip- sais for duplicating revolutionary leaflets, ed, released, then re-arrested and flogged. 5 In 1901, Julius Stelp himself became an Ctive Tevolutionary as an organizer for the atvian Social Democratic Party. For two as he worked among students, setting up ee andestine network through which they ae: linked to the party’s leadership. Then, 5 er the secret police became aware of his Ctivities, he was in and out of the country Or another two years, always in danger of arrest, a was in Zurich when he heard Lenin exil Totsky speak at a meeting of political i €s and students attending university Cre because they could not get into a uni- Versity ; ne bie _{