Cindy Jaquith was born on June 28, 1947, the second of four children raised in Lexington, Massachusetts, an affluent suburb of Boston. As a child, Cindy enjoyed Girl Scouts, piano lessons, reading, and sewing. She volunteered as a candy striper at the local hospital and assisted with her younger sister’s Brownie troop. While a student at Lexington (MA) High School, she represented Massachusetts at the Girl Scout Roundup and exceled in her classes, earning many honors. Cindy was excited to attend Carleton College in the fall of 1965 and enjoyed her studies and friends. She remained at Carleton for two years and then transferred to Barnard College in New York City, during the Vietnam War protests and rise of the SDS (Students for a Democratic Society). Though a serious and disciplined student, Cindy’s dry humor and wry wit, developed as a child, were evident throughout her life.
While in NYC, Cindy became involved with the Young Socialists, eventually becoming their National Secretary. After graduation from Barnard, Cindy worked fulltime for the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) as a journalist and editor for The Militant, and a party leader. Through her work, Cindy lived in many varied regions of the US and abroad, traveling to Iran as a correspondent during the Iranian Revolution in 1979. She lived in Nicaragua from 1985-87, where she maintained the SWP bureau during the Nicaraguan Revolution. Most of Cindy’s career was spent in working class communities, where she was an activist leader for workers’ rights, Black rights, Latino rights, women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, and equity in labor issues.
Described as a “proletariat revolutionist,” Cindy represented the Socialist Workers Party on campaign ballots in Michigan and Pennsylvania. Though she was never elected to office, her campaigns brought visibility to the many causes she supported. In addition to writing for The Militant, Cindy authored books and pamphlets for Pathfinder Press, a division of the Socialist Workers Party. Toward the end of her life, Cindy moved to Florida where she reveled in the culture, people, and climate of Miami. She continued her work at the Miami Social Workers bureau up until her death from cancer on May 2, 2020, at age 72. Cindy Jaquith’s legacy of life-long efforts to end class struggle are documented by The Militant.
Diane Jaquith (Cindy’s sister)
dbjaquith@gmail.com
Comments
As a young prisoner in Virginia (1988), she wrote an Article about me, or published my missive, which helped raise $260,000 to publish revolutionary material. Thanks Cindy, job well done!