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The Searchlight team was saddened to hear of the death Avtar Singh Jouhl, an old friend and ally of the magazine, who died on on 7th October 2022.

Searchlight worked with Avtar Jouhl throughout his time at the Indian Workers’ Association and we had spent time with him more recently when we gathered at the restored gravestone of former Searchlight editor Maurice Ludmer in September 2019. 

Avtar Jouhl and Maurice Ludmer, (seen sharing a May day platform in the photo above) were in the Communist Party together more than 50 years ago; in fact, Maurice was one of the party members deputed to make contact with Avtar when he arrived in the west midlands as a young immigrant from the Punjab in 1958. Avtar was already a member of the Indian CP who had sent his details to the British party.

The other CP member who turned up on Avtar’s doorstep with Maurice in 1958 was Jagmohan Joshi. Together, he and Avtar would shortly afterwards set up the Birmingham branch of the Indian Workers’ Association and pioneer the struggle of immigrant workers against racism both in the workplace and in the wider society.

Together with Maurice, who was to leave the CP around this time, they were founder members of the Campaign Against Racial Discrimination in 1961 and played a heroic part in the early days of the anti-racist struggle. 

Avtar worked in the foundry industry and was instrumental in the unionisation of the workforce. He despised sectarianism and worked with countless anti-racist groups including the CARF network. He helped lead the campaign against racial segregation in pubs and housing in the West Midlands.

It was during this period that he was involved in Malcolm X’s visit to Smethwick in 1965 and he appears alongside Malcolm X in the stained-glass window in the Red Lion pub that commemorates the visit. 

Avtar was later to teach Trade Union Studies at Birmingham’s South and City College and was instrumental in establishing the TUC Black Workers Conference, in the face of considerable opposition. 

In 1976, the Birmingham Post launched a scurrilous attempt to witch hunt Maurice Ludmer and Searchlight. Colin Jordan, the former leader of British Movement, had brought a legal action for criminal libel against the magazine. It was thrown out of court but the Post used the occasion to denounce Searchlight as a ““false friend” of which “citizens of all colours should be very wary”. The IWA under Joshi and Avtar galvanised other immigrant and anti-racist groups to speak out, issuing a forthright statement in Maurice’s defence: 

“…As for the editorial in the Birmingham Evening Post, headed ” False Friends”, we know who they are and as far as we are concerned, Searchlight is not amongst them. We certainly have more confidence in that publication than in the Birmingham Press about which we have had frequent occasions to complain. 

“Maurice Ludmer, editor of Searchlight, is one of the few journalists in Britain whom immigrants can trust and support. He most certainly does not qualify as one who is ‘out to catch votes to increase their power’, quite the contrary. To our knowledge, over many years, he has withstood considerable pressure, threats and attempts and physical intimidation, all intended to silence him. It is precisely because of his long record in opposing racism, without using his position for self-gain, that he has our trust.” 

Avtar (far right) at a gathering to mark the restoration of Maurice Ludmer’s grave, Birmingham 2019

Avtar was a giant of the trade union and anti-racist movement. We send our condolences to his family and all those that knew him and worked with him over so many years. 

Avtar Singh Jouhl: Archive can be found on yumpu.com 

This is a slightly edited version of the obituary which appeared in the Autumn 2022 issue of Searchlight.