People of the left
Reminiscences, biographies, obituaries
Tas Bull, a comrade departed Seafarer and waterside union official, originally a Communist Party member, later moved to the right. By Jim Marr
No more heroes any more. In memoriam Tony Cliff, 1917-2000. Dave Renton
One of the greatest of our women. Jean Devanny’s Revolutionary Marxism. By Carole Ferrier
“A red-hot revolutionary and ranter.” Jean Devanny in the 1930s. By Carole Ferrier.
Paul Freeman, killed at Kursk, July 1921. Australian IWW leader Tom Barker’s tribute to fellow IWW militant Paul Freeman, who died with his comrade, Artem Sergeyev, in a train accident in Russia. More on Paul Freeman.
About Denis Freney. Trotskyist who later joined the Communist Party of Australia. Political organiser and journalist. By David McKnight.
Reminiscences of a rebel. Stan Moran, trade unionist and Communist Party of Australia member.
Jim Percy, 1948-1992. Obituary for a founding leader of the Australian Socialist Workers Party, later Democratic Socialist Party.
Audrey Johnson, 1925-2002. Socialist, writer and associate of Helen Palmer in publishing the anti-Stalinist socialist magazine, Outlook. Obituary by Bob Gould.
George Petersen, 1921-2000. NSW Labor MP with a Communist Party and Trotskyist background. Obituary by Eric Petersen.
Death of Wilfred George Petersen. Extract from NSW Hansard.
Edgar Ross. An autobiographical sketch. Trade unionist and Communist Party of Australia member.
June 4, 2008 at 9:06 pm |
Hi,
My name is Geoff Lawes. I live in Hull,UK. I am trying to collect and write down as much information as I can about the men from Hull who volunteered to go and fight Franco in 1930’s Spain. The Hull Local Studies Library currently holds no easily accessible information and I wish to put this right. I have discovered from going through microfiche copies of The Hull Sentinel, an old Labour and trade union paper, that Jack( James) Atkinson, who was killed at the Battle of Jarama, in February 1937, spent his years from 14 until about 21, in Australia. From his Sentinel obituary it appears that he was politically active in the Brisbane and Sydney areas prior to returning to Hull probably in 1933.The obiturary says,
” In Australia where he landed when he was only fourteen, he took part in many working class struggles. He was arrested in Sidney (sic) for resisting evictions and was an active member of the Workers Defence Committee in Brisbane. When he returned to his home town four years ago he joined the Communist Party, and actively participated in its many sided activities.”
I have dispatched hopeful requests for further information to quite a few people in Australia whenever I have come across an e mail address that looks like it could lead somewhere and this is what I am doing here. Jack Atkinson as an individual seems to have vanished from history and any scraps of information that could rescue him from oblivion would be gratefully recieved. I have a photo of the whole microfiched obituary which I could send as an attachment.
Regards, Geoff