though an occasional catch in his voice betrayed the emotional intensity of the occasion." Tribune'''s obituary remarked that the speech showed "He may have moved away from communism to become an admirer of Tony Blair, but this was the old Sam Lesser fire." In July 2009 he appeared at the International Brigade memorial in Lambeth's Jubilee Gardens, where he paid tribute to Jones, and on 7 May 2010 he appeared at the unveiling of a plaque honouring the 90 members of the International Brigades killed at the Battle of the Ebro, where he gave a speech in Spanish condemning the lack of support shown to Republican volunteers by representatives of the British government. In his final weeks Lesser opened an exhibition about the International Brigades at the Marx Memorial Library and chaired an IBMT committee meeting in London. Lesser died in London on 2 October 2010 at the age of 95, leaving instructions for his ashes to be scattered near the International Brigade memorial at Montjuïc in Barcelona. See also Jewish volunteers in the Spanish Civil War Notes References External links Bishopsgate Foundation – Sam Russell papers: 45 boxes of correspondence, articles, newspaper cuttings, notebooks, publications, reports, photographs and ephemera Imperial War Museum Interview from 1986 International Brigades personnel Alumni of University College London English Jewish writers English political journalists English people of Polish-Jewish descent Foreign volunteers in the Spanish Civil War British people of the Spanish Civil War 1915 births 2010 deaths Communist Party of Great Britain members People from Hackney, London English reporters and correspondents 20th-century English poets Jewish poets Communist poets War poets English anti-fascists English communists Marxist journalists English trade unionists