WE can only say "ditto" to the tribute paid to the late Comrade Richard (Doc) Lynch by the president of the Bermuda Industrial Union, Derrick Burgess, at his funeral yesterday, when he declared that the labour movement had suffered a blow in the passing of one of its backbones.

Comrade Richard Lynch,70, was one of those grass-roots leaders whose exemplary courage and commitment etched his name indelibly into the history of both the Bermuda Industrial Union, the Bermuda Progressive Labour Party and in a broader sense into the social and political fabric of Bermuda.

It is no secret that for nearly six years I was national chairman of the PLP, although it may not be generally known that also I was for a number of years secretary general of the BIU. In each of those capacities it was my good fortune to have encountered Comrade Lynch, and discern his extraordinary leadership qualities. They included his preparedness to be as much an outstanding, reliable follower as at the same time a tried and proven front-runner.

Lynch was a man of action and did not like to waste time being tied up in semantics, a "grandstanding", as he termed it, when good ideas were in need of implementation, he could be relied on to be the first off the mark with his time, talent, and money, if need be, supporting the causes in which he passionately believed.

The overflow congregation at St. Paul AME Church in Hamilton was moved when his niece Rosemary Tyrrell, in her obituary on behalf of the family, mentioned how he espoused a "social gospel", that included the dignity and worth of labour, and belief that if all men were allowed equal rights and opportunity Bermuda and the world at large would be better off.

Ms Tyrell added it was impossible for her uncle to fathom man's inhumanity to man. She said, while he entered into the struggle for racial equality and equal rights at the risk of being imprisoned or ostracised by capitalistic entrepreneurs, he was fearless and undaunted. He believed that strategic planning and deliberate, calculated efforts were the keys to resolving injustice and realising dreams.

"Doc" Lynch, as many knew him, was a highly skilled plumber by trade. He perhaps will be best remembered for the high profile he gained for his singular effort in the 1959 Theatre Boycott that culminated in the desegregation of public places in Bermuda.

The boycott was initiated by an anonymous bunch styling themselves A Progressive Group, who urged the people to stay away from the racist theatres. It was young Richard Lynch, first off the mark, and Kingsley Tweed who had the courage of their convictions, openly urged the people to confront the operators of the racist theatres at their places of business.

They mounted a soapbox on the steps of the old Hamilton Hotel directly opposite the discriminating Bermuda General Theatres, and night after night encouraged the crowds to hold fast in their protest. It was their oratory, or as Comrade, in his characteristic, witty style termed it, their soap boxing that gave efficacy to the boycott.

His role in the Theatre Boycott has been well documented in the Errol Williams film When Voices Rise.

Born Richard Alexander Lynch on November 27, 1932, he was the youngest son of the late Maria and Ebenezer Lynch. Maria was one of three sisters who were pregnant in a similar time frame, and were delivered of sons, James, Richard and Roosevelt Brown (now Dr. Pauulu Kamarakafego).

Richard and Roosevelt were true kindred spirits born in November. The latter is best known for his initiatives after the Theatre Boycott that culminated in voting rights for all Bermudians upon reaching age 21.

After the boycott, Lynch went on to take a leading role in the grounding of the Plumbers Division of the BIU. It later was one of the entities that formed the Amalgamated Building Workers Division, of which he was a vice-president. He also was among the first to join the Bermuda Progressive Labour Party on its formation in 1963.

BIU president Burgess, in his tribute to Comrade Lynch, lauded him for being in the forefront of those workers who took the initiative for a local Labour Day holiday. In fact, he campaigned for it to be on May 1, the traditional May Day festival observed by millions of workers in most parts of the world.

But the prevailing mentality in Bermuda at the time the powers-that-be conceded the holiday 20 years ago, was that May 1 had connotations of communism and thus the American version of a Labour Day in September was instituted.

UNDAUNTED, Comrade Lynch each year singlehandedly saluted May Day by going to the expense of taking a full-page advertisement in the daily newspaper, with his personal May Day message to the workers of Bermuda.

Brother Lynch was quick to point out that while his Christian name was Richard, he preferred to be addressed as "Comrade" as opposed to "mister" or as "sir" because he thought the salutation of "Comrade" was friendlier.

Following his early education at Central School (now Victor Scott School), Richard went to work on the Furness Withy liners Ocean Monarch and Queen of Bermuda as a boiler room engineer. He learned his trade on the job, alongside master plumbers.

After spending most of his working life as a self-employed plumber, in later years he worked as a foreman for Bermuda Mechanical Company. At the time of his illness, he was chief foreman for the Bermuda Airconditioning Agency.

On July 23, 1965 Comrade married Marguerite Stowe. From that union, daughter Pamela (now deceased) and son Seewood, an electrician by trade, were born. The family grew to include granddaughter Chikobe.

In the obituary, niece Rosemary Tyrrell related how Comrade had been admitted on March 22 to the Lahey Clinic in Burlington, Massachusetts. He passed away, quietly, on March 27, a few hours after son Seewood joined his mother and Chikobe at his bedside.

They said he wanted his "ace boys" in Bermuda to know that he was a changed man and encouraged them to experience the same change. He had "embraced the Master Socialist, Jesus Christ".