Tony Chater, British newspaper editor and communist activist, Dead

Anthony P J “Tony” Chater was born in 1930, and died on August 2, 2016.

He was a British newspaper editor and communist activist.

He attended Northampton Town and County Grammar School, and joined the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) whilst in the sixth form.

He then studied at Queen Mary and Westfield College in London, completing a BSc and a PhD in chemistry.

When he completed a two years post-doctoral research fellowship at the Dominion Experimental Farm, Canada, and a year in Brussels studying biochemistry, he returned to Britain to teach, eventually working at the Luton College of Technology.

Tony stood in the Luton by-election, 1963 as a CPGB candidate, but was placed last gaining only 593 votes.

Regardless of this, he stood in Luton again in 1964, 1966 and 1970, again without success.

During 1969, he started working full-time for the CPGB, and in 1974 he became editor of the Morning Star, a daily paper associated with the party.

Tony attempted to get the party executive to prioritise increasing sales, with limited success.

That paper, run by the People’s Press Printing Society, and the party were coming into open conflict by 1982, disagreeing on approaches to the shop stewards’ movement.

He stood down as editor of the Morning Star in 1995.

Tony Chater passed away in 2016.