Who is Paddy Stanton?

Question

In Irvine Welsh's "Trainspotting," - "House Arrest" on Page 188, "Paddy Stanton looks doon at us wi his 70s sideboards"
who is Paddy Stanton? Thanks for your help

Answer 1

With the death of George Stanton on April 25 the American labor and socialist movement suffered a grievous loss. Affectionately known as Paddy, he was a colorful figure, widely known over the past 35 years on the West Coast and Eastern Canada, and in the previous decade in Chicago and on the US West Coast.

He was a rebel and a fighter—every inch of him. All his time, his great energy, what goods he possessed were always on call, without reservation, at the service of the union and socialist cause. Steeped in the great revolutionary traditions of his class and supremely confident of its future victory, his voice, his manner, everything about him was cut from the one cloth. His dramatic postures, his booming voice, his vivid earthy imagery were a familiar part of union meetings, conferences, political forums, street corner rallies, from coast to coast for almost four decades.

Stanton collapsed and died as he picked up his welding torch on a job at Malton just outside Toronto, in the harness of the class of which he was so proud to be a member.

Answer 2

Honestly, I don't know who he is in the novel, but Paddy Stanton was a Trotsky supporter who took the floor to explain that the no-strike pledge would ultimately weaken the defense of the world’s first workers state and the struggle for socialism in Canada.

Answer 3

My search yielded a George "Paddy" Stanton. Please read more on http://www2.cddc.vt.edu/marxists/history/canada/socialisthistory/Remember/Obits/Stanton.htm
Goodluck.