Yesterday, October 16, marked the 45th anniversary of the assassination of Tom Henehan, a member of the political committee of the Workers League—the predecessor of the Socialist Equality Party in the US.
On October 19, 1997, the SEP held a meeting in Ann Arbor to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Tom Henehan’s death.
Below we post the tribute to Tom that then SEP National Secretary David North delivered at the meeting. This lecture is also available in pamphlet form at Mehring Books.
On the evening of October 15, 1977, Tom was supervising an activity sponsored by the Young Socialists, the party’s youth movement, in Brooklyn, New York. Two men, later identified as Edwin Sequinot and Angel Rodriguez, started a disturbance by attacking another Workers League member, Jacques Vielot. As Tom rushed to Vielot’s aid, he was shot five times by a third assailant lying in wait, a professional gunman named Angelo Torres. Sequinot then pulled out a gun and shot Vielot, severely wounding him. The injured Vielot rushed Tom to Wyckoff Heights Hospital. Tom died approximately an hour after arriving at the hospital, in the early morning hours of October 16. He was 26 years old.
— source wsws.org | David North | 16 Oct 2022