Bernard Barry, a veteran member of the Communist Party and an active trade unionist, has died aged 94. Bernard was born in 1920 in the Strangeways area of Manchester, the only child of poor Jewish working-class parents.

At 15 he joined the Youth Front against War and Fascism, becoming a member of the Young Communist League when the two organisations merged. He was an active campaigner in the 1930s against fascism and for Spanish republicans.

Bernard wrote the booklet From Manchester to Spain about fellow Manchester comrades who volunteered for the International Brigade. This was published in 2009 by the Working-Class Movement Library, where Bernard was a voluntary researcher.

Bernard was multilingual and during the war he served in Algeria as a War Office interpreter in Italian. After the war he worked in a factory where he was a shop steward for the Tailor and Garment Workers Union.

Bernard undertook emergency teacher training, rising to deputy head of Higher Openshaw secondary school. Later, when housemaster at Birley High School, he was proud to have recruited there over 50 staff to the NUT.

Bernard was active in the campaign for peace in Vietnam. He was also treasurer of the Northwest British Vietnam Association, which despatched thousands of pounds of relief aid, including for the Thanh Xuan Peace Village for therapeutic treatment of child victims of war.

Bernard remained a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain as secretary of Crumpsall branch and later a member of the Moston branch committee.

In the 1970s Bernard was a tutor at the Potsdam annual summer course for German teachers of English.

After retiring at 60, Bernard expanded his knowledge of languages, learning Russian, German and Spanish, in addition to his existing French, Italian, Latin, Yiddish and Hebrew. He also passed a computing exam.

In retirement he volunteered with the Royal Voluntary Service (formerly WRVS) until he was required to stop at the age of 70. He continued to enjoy outdoor hikes and often joined Kinder Trespass anniversaries. Bernard supported the Morning Star and remained steadfast in his political beliefs throughout his life.

Bernard is survived by his daughters Rica and Judith and granddaughters Jo, Emma and Sadie. His first wife, Bertha (1915-1962), was secretary of Cheetham CP and a founding member of her local group of the National Assembly of Women.

Bernard felt lucky to have had a second happy marriage with Vera, who predeceased him in 2011.

Paul Gosling