Over the seventy years of the CPA to the early 1990s, it played a role much greater than its membership numbers in Australian politics, in trade unions and in community movements. The SEARCH Foundation, formed following the dissolution of the CPA in 1991, decided to prepare material for publication in celebration of the centenary of the Party’s foundation in 2020. Comrades! Lives of Australian Communists was the result.

Following that, Helen Randerson, an Australian history researcher attached to UTS suggested collecting materials from former members born after WWII and I then took the idea to the SEARCH Foundation.

My interest was to capture the reasons members of the luckiest generation in history joined a communist party. And the podcast series grew from that.  

We are the last generation of Communist Party of Australia members -- there is no one behind us to collect our history. And not to put to fine a point on it, we are not going to live forever. Some of those I wanted to interview have died, as have some who agreed to be interviewed.

The first series of Zoom interviews I conducted were between April 2020 and July 2021: 14 men (16 invited), and 6 women (14 invited). Their average age at the time of the interviews was 66.  The oldest was born in 1947 and the youngest in 1977.

The second round of interviews (September 2021 to October 2022) were with 8 women (14 invited) and 15 men (23 invited).  The average age was 67, with an age spread of 54 to 77 years.

Verbatim transcripts of all interviews have been prepared. Over the two seasons, 340,000 words of transcript have been generated.

Throughout the process, it has been made clear that publication of the interviews in whatever form, would be up to the interviewees.

But what to do then?

Rather than producing a text, or texts, based on the interviews or even publishing the interviews, I decided a more accessible format, podcasts, was preferable. One of the advantages of podcasts is that each participant’s tone, inflexion and emphasis is  heard, including humour (often lost in printed text).

I made a commitment not to change or comment on anything that was said, and all interviewees have provided formal approval for using excerpts of their interviews.  The only editing I have done is to organise the excerpts based on the scripted questions I used for the interviews.

All interviewees have been given the opportunity to pull out of the project. Of the 20 voices recorded in the first series of interviews, 18 voices are heard in the podcasts.

As this is the generation that experienced the dissolution of the CPA, there are queries regarding the reasons for the Party’s dissolution and the role played by the Party in its own demise.

I have to say that the Season 2 podcasts are probably more consistent and coherent that Season 1. Helen Randerson, and Dr Mick Paddon (for technical assistance) are acknowledged in each episode.

Luke Whitington of SEARCH has also assisted in the publication of the podcasts and in locating former members.

The intro and outro music is by Rameau, a French baroque composer for whom I have great affection.

I am constantly amazed by what I learn, both about former members and their political struggles.

I have interviewed my brother and another, like him, who entered the catholic priesthood prior to joining. A number (like me) were members of ALP who moved to the CPA. Some were trots prior to joining. Some were never anything but atheistic communists.

The impact of the feminist movement is a feature of most of the interviews. And so is the struggle of First Nations people.

Only one had any background as a physical or natural scientist (though one has moved into the natural sciences since he was interviewed). There are no engineers or architects (though one of the latter has agreed to be interviewed for Season 3).

When this project is completed I propose to lodge all materials with the already archived material from the CPA.

So far (February 2025), five people have been interviewed for Season 3 – I have list of over 40 to invite.

So, if you know someone (or yourself), born after WW2 and a former member of the CPA (and for whom you have an email address or other contact details) let me know.

Various people have suggested a book. I have zero interest in such a project.

Both seasons of podcasts remain accessible and live. They can be accessed through your podcast app (search for “SEARCH Foundation”) or here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1951857.