Pete Rowlands 1944-2025
Pete Rowlands, a lifelong socialist who spent most of his active life in the Labour Party, died in late July. He first joined the Young Socialists in 1965, influenced by Marx and Trotsky and in 1968, the International Socialism group, where we first met. He left in 1974 and then got involved in Chartist and Labour Party politics.
Pete was born in Essex and attended King Edward VI Grammar School in Chelmsford. He was a bugle sergeant in the school Corps of Drums, which developed into being a jazz trumpeter in the Chelmer Jazzmen and later the skiffle group, the Hot Five. He went on to the London School of Economics, where he met fellow student Mick Jagger. Mick declined to join his band.
Pete found his way into further education, first in Glamorgan and then in Hounslow. He was an active trade union organiser in West London, a local rep and long-term member of the Greater London TUC. He was involved in the battle to save Hounslow Hospital in 1977.
He understood white collar trade unionism and later wrote a pamphlet for the Labour Coordinating Committee, Trade Unions and Socialism, about the rejuvenation of the trade unions after the hammer blows of Thatcherism.
As a Labour Party member, he became active on the GMC and in 1994 was elected as a councillor in Hounslow. He twice stood, unsuccessfully, as a Labour parliamentary candidate – in Brentford and Isleworth in 1983 and Feltham and Heston in 1991. He wrote a history of Hounslow TUC.
Pete was a prolific writer and thoughtful political analyst. He wrote regularly in Chartist on Labour and unions, how Labour could defeat the Tories and, after his move with Janice to Swansea in 2003, Welsh politics.
He remained active in his local Labour Party, Swansea East and latterly volunteered for Citizens Advice. He was three times a council candidate in Swansea. Always interested in working class and local history, he was a member of the Gower Society and Swansea Local History Group. He was a great fan of real ale and active in CAMRA. Many is the pint we consumed in the Princess Louise, Holborn, in our periodic pub meetings, mulling over the current state of Labour and world politics. Pete was always good company, with a great sense of humour. A tireless campaigner for a more just and equitable society.