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Sam Aarons

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Australian radical activist and communist

Samuel Aarons
A photograph of Sam Aarons in 1939
Personal details
Born(1895-10-21)21 October 1895
Prahran, Victoria, Australia
Died10 January 1971(1971-01-10) (aged 75)
Perth, WA, Australia
Cause of deathHeart Attack
Political partyCommunist Party of Australia
Children3
Occupation

Samuel Aarons (21 October 1895 – 10 January 1971) was an Australian radical activist and communist.

Early life

He was born in Prahran, Melbourne on the 21st of October 1895, to Louis and Jane Aarons (nee Hyam), who passed on their radical politics to their son.

Biography

Sam joined the Australian Labor Party at the age of sixteen and was an anti-war campaigner during World War I. This activism led to his sacking from his job at the Customs Department, and he was injured during a 1916 march to the Victorian Parliament. Although his parents were founding members of the Communist Party of Australia (CPA) in 1920, Sam instead established a chain of shoe repair stores in Sydney, although he did eventually join the CPA in 1930. He led a workers' delegation to the Soviet Union in 1934 and recruited a young unionist, Jim Healy, to the CPA; Healy would be one of the most significant unionists of his time.

Aarons fought in the Spanish Civil War on the republican side, not leaving until the collapse of the Republic began in 1938. Upon his return to Australia, Aarons embarked upon a speaking tour advocating for Spanish democracy. He remained active in communist affairs, but stood as an independent in the 1941 New South Wales state election for the western Sydney seat of Granville, where he only received 4.5%.

Later he became Western Australian State Secretary and a longtime member of the Central Committee. He retired in 1968. Aarons had three sons: two, Laurie and Eric, by his first wife, and a third, Gerald, by his second wife, Annette Moore.

References

  1. "SAM AARONS: Over 50 years a revolutionary". Tribune. 13 January 1971. p. 8. Retrieved 4 May 2022 – via Trove.
  2. 'Aarons, Samuel (Sam) (1895–1971)', People Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://labouraustralia.anu.edu.au/biography/aarons-samuel-sam-23222/text32420, accessed 5 May 2022.
  3. "Sam Aarons in Spain". The Workers' Weekly. No. 803. Sydney. 1 June 1937. p. 4. Retrieved 13 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. "Sam Aarons Returns!". The Worker's Weekly. No. 937. Sydney. 20 September 1938. p. 3. Retrieved 13 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. "Sam Aarons". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 2006. Archived from the original on 15 August 2016. Retrieved 10 February 2013.
  6. "Dinner for Sam Aarons". Tribune. No. 1561. Sydney. 5 June 1968. p. 12. Retrieved 13 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.


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