Gary Schaefer

Gary Schaefer and Consuela Lee, 2000. WW photo: Monica Moorehead

Gary Schaefer came to Youth Against War & Fascism, the youth group of Workers World Party, in 1968, a tumultuous time when the Black liberation and anti-imperialist struggles were on the rise. The Vietnamese led by Ho Chi Minh were in the process of driving out the U.S. invaders, while the Black Panther Party and the Young Lords were organizing in the oppressed communities. Many were attracted to YAWF’s anti-war militancy, but what was unusual about Gary, during this period, was that he was an anti-racist worker.

“Gary was born into a union family, and he stayed true to unionism and to his class his entire life. Gary was always a guy you could depend upon,” Bill Kaessinger told Workers World. Kaessinger worked with Gary in Teamsters Local 10 at RCA Communications, where Gary was a shop steward. He remembered the valuable role Gary played in strikes in 1966 and 1976. He was “always available and always agreeable to do whatever was asked of him,” whether serving as a picket captain or running the strike headquarters.

Gary may have inherited unionism from his father, Raymond Schaefer, who was Secretary/Treasurer of Local 10, but he learned about the importance of fighting racism and the need for political activism from his mother, Veronica Schaefer. He talked about attending anti-racist activities and anti-nuclear SANE marches in the 1950s with her.

In the early 1970s YAWF Women set up a Saturday child care program to enable women to participate in political activity. Gary was proud to be one of the regular childcare providers. When the party set up a committee to do local organizing, Gary was the only shift worker on it, and he was able to bring a worker’s consciousness to the discussions. In fact, Sam Marcy, founding chair of the party, noted that Gary came to the party as an anti-racist worker, but after being in the party he became anti-imperialist.

Gary put that into practice during two trips to Cuba, where he defied the U.S. blockade. During the second trip in 2001, he marched in the May Day parade and celebrated his birthday on May 2 by attending the national meeting of the Cuban Federation of Workers. Gary was keenly aware of the many advances in health care and education instituted by the Cuban revolution. That only heightened his desire to overturn U.S. imperialism through a socialist revolution.

Due to personal issues, WW didn’t see much of him for about a decade between the early 1980s and early 1990s. But after Gary became sober, of which he was rightly proud, he rejoined the party.

One of the key issues that Gary always raised at internal meetings was the need for comrades to be sensitive to one other. Maybe that was because he was so aware of the need for sensitivity on the job or because he himself was sensitive. Although he was born with a disability due to cerebral palsy, his parents always treated him as though he were able-bodied. Gary’s fiercely independent spirit helped him weather heart disease and diabetes. Gary died of a heart attack on March 28 in Jersey City, N.J., about a month before his 65th birthday.

A devoted people watcher, Gary was a raconteur. He loved kids, he loved the Knicks and the New York Giants, he loved to dance, and he loved jazz. He was a devoted supporter of Snow Hill Institute for the Performing Arts, located in Alabama’s Black Belt. The institute was run for almost 25 years by jazz pianist and composer, Consuela Lee, who encouraged Black children to appreciate their cultural heritage by teaching them to play jazz.

“Some who leave our movement retain in greater or less degree what they felt and learned,” Milt Neidenberg, long-time union leader and founding member of WWP, told Workers World. “Others, like Gary, leave for a time, all the while holding close their communist beliefs and their love for and identification with all those who suffer under capitalism. Gary was welcomed back by all who remembered what a steadfast, hard-working comrade and friend he was. Between then and now Gary validated the memories of those of us who knew him in the past and won the respect and comradely affection of the newer comrades.”

Gary Schaefer, presente!