EULOGY: OH COMRADE, DEAR COMRADE, OUR BELOVED
COMRADE!
The Marxist-Leninist Weekly, Organ of the Central Committee of the
Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist), September 14-20, 1997.
You who were the light of so many of our lives. Words cannot express the grief we feel at your
untimely loss. None of us can believe that your person, your oh-so-human person, is no longer with
us. You who have always been there for us workers, women and youth, artists, writers, journalists,
actors, musicians, academics, scientists and researchers; those of us who are national minorities,
Native peoples, differently abled, and from amongst the most vulnerable in society, and your many,
many, many fellow travellers.
In this regard, Comrade, I would be remiss if I did not make special mention of your dear family
members, of your beloved children, each and every one of whom made you so proud, your brothers
and sisters, cousins, nephews and nieces for whom you were a guide and an inspiration.
I would also be remiss if I did not mention your many second families, literally spread throughout
the world, on every continent, in oh-so-many countries. And the Party children, Comrade Bains. The
children are so sad for they loved you so. As for the younger generation, Comrade Bains, it has
spoken for itself, as you taught them to do. You are their pride; you are their joy. They will celebrate
your life in their own deeds to change the world.
Comrade Bains, the twinkle in your eyes, your mischievous smile, your beautiful artistic hands, your
fine mind, your tender love for all of us they all combined to work a magic. Who could resist your
purity, your sincerity, your drive to bring out the best in everyone you met, in everyone you worked
with, no matter what their age, what their standing in life, what their ideas or opinions? Meeting you
was like falling in love at first sight, over and over and over again, just as you too fell in love with the
best in everyone, bringing out whatever they had to offer to make this world, "where tears are hung
on every tree", a better place, a place in which this great humanity can realise its potential, so
tragically squandered by the old forces at this time.
Who can comprehend the power of such a love? Could it be, Comrade Hardial, that this is the social
love you spoke to us about so often? Is it perhaps that you personified all that is best in the striving
of humankind for a new world, a world which is affirmed and does not even know the meaning of
exploitation of persons by persons? This, Comrade Bains, is the new world you brought into our lives
and have impelled and organised us to fight for. Billions of individuals will realise their full human