Obituaries Australia

Veteran Communist speaker and activist Dr G. P. [Gerald Patrick] O'Day died recently.

Dr O'Day joined the Communist movement late in 1931 during the great depression. He was moved by his wide reading, his deep knowledge of the capitalist system, and his own experience of the appalling hardships suffered by large numbers of people.

A doctor of high reputation, he devoted his many talents unreservedly to working class causes and rapidly became a familiar and popular speaker at the Yarra Bank, local halls, streets, and factory gates. He stood many times as a Communist candidate in parliamentary elections.

An avid reader, he was an effective and forceful speaker on many questions, linking them with the wider issues of capitalism and socialism, in his speeches and writings he brought out the essence of the two systems in clear and simple language with humor, as well as concrete and human examples.

Dr O'Day was personally generous, and will be remembered by many workers on the dole for long periods for medical services rendered. He will be remembered as an outstanding pioneer of the Australian Communist movement.