It is with deep sadness that the Socialist Equality Party (Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei, SGP) announces the death of its long-time comrade Elisabeth Zimmermann-Modler. “Elli,” as she was known to all party members, died on the morning of November 28 at the age of 69 as a result of a tragic accident. For reasons that remain unclear, a fire broke out in her apartment, and all attempts at resuscitation by the fire department, which was immediately alerted, came too late.
Elli joined the Bund Sozialistischer Arbeiter, the predecessor organisation of the SGP, in 1975 at the age of 19 and fought continuously for 50 years for the perspectives of the world Trotskyist movement. As she said in a speech in 2024, she owed “much of my political, historical, and cultural education” to the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI).
When it came to socialist principles and standing up for them, Elli was uncompromising—even with herself. Many comrades will remember her for the inexhaustible energy, tenacity, and patience with which she participated in the party's campaigns and election battles and promoted its socialist goals.
Internationalism was the most important question for Elli. She participated in numerous ICFI schools and conferences, forming friendships with many international comrades. When the British Workers Revolutionary Party, led by Gerry Healy, broke with the ICFI in 1985/86 and adopted a nationalist course, Elli unhesitatingly supported the ICFI, even though she had great respect for Healy.
In the years that followed, she played an important role in educating new members in the lessons of the split. Tamil comrades who fled the civil war in Sri Lanka and had a nationalist background still remember today the perseverance with which Elli convinced them of international socialism at that time.
Her encyclopedic knowledge of the history and documents of the ICFI also played an important role in the party’s national committee, of which Elli was a member for many years. When fundamental questions arose, one could always count on Elli to contribute a historically informed perspective.
Elli also campaigned as the public face of the SGP. She ran several times in European, federal and North Rhine-Westphalia state elections and wrote nearly 330 articles for the World Socialist Web Site. Her core topics were poverty and social inequality, the coronavirus pandemic, trials of Nazi criminals, the flood disaster in the Ahr Valley, and reports on industry, especially on the crisis in the steel industry, which she experienced firsthand in Duisburg, where she lived.
Elli earned her living for three-and-a-half decades as a clerk at Siemens. She retired in 2020. In October 2022, she suffered a stroke that affected her health.
Elli is survived by her husband Peter Modler, a retired steelworker who had worked for many years as a shop steward on behalf of his colleagues. The SGP expresses its deepest sympathy to him.
We will remember Elisabeth Zimmermann-Modler as a tireless fighter for socialism who dedicated her entire life to serving the working class and building a better society. Her death is a bitter loss and fills us with deep sorrow, but her confidence in a better, socialist future is also an inspiration.
We will publish a detailed tribute to Elli’s political life soon. Please send condolence messages to sgp@gleichheit.de.