Obituaries Australia

Doug Olive, n.d.

Tribune (Sydney), 30 January 1985, p 12

Many CPA members and supporters, particularly older comrades in Queensland and Newcastle, will have been saddened by the death of Doug Olive. Doug died on January 2, at Newcastle, after a long illness, aged almost 80.

At his funeral, Joe Palmada spoke about Doug's long career in the CPA and political movements.

Doug, as he used to say himself, was brought up in the "salubrious" suburb of Turramurra, the son of a blacksmith whose family had little in common with those now tenanting the suburb.

His first contact with the revolutionary, radical movement began after he left home at the age of 18, some 61 years ago, and came into contact with the IWW at a railway camp between Kyogle and the Queensland border.

The impact that experience had on his young mind planted his feet firmly on the side of the oppressed and exploited, a stand he never deviated from in over 60 years of often bitter, intense and self-sacrificing struggle and leadership.

The early 30's saw Doug as part of the itinerant workforce which followed the cane-cutting seasons in Queensland. He joined in the militant struggles of these workers to improve conditions in the sugarcane industry and was recruited as a member of the Communist Party in 1931, a membership he retained all his life.

The history of working class struggle in the 30's in North Queensland, the struggle to democratise the major union covering rural workers — the AWU — the movement against war and fascism, the mobilisation of mass opposition to Franco in the Spanish Civil War, the mobilisation of people in the Militant Minority movement, the organisation of the Unemployed Workers Movement, in all of which the Communist Party played a prominent role, represent proud moments in Australian history.

It is no accident that it was in this area that the first and only communist, Fred Paterson, was elected to state parliament.

Doug Olive was part of this movement — indeed, more than a part. Along with other communists he was an organiser, instigator, leader and devoted selfless servant for the interests and needs of people.

Very early in his long career in the Communist Party, Doug became secretary of the Ayr Branch with little formal education.

Doug developed into a forceful public speaker and pamphleteer — a tribute to his tenacity and will to serve the cause of socialism.

As an example of Doug's and others' work in the anti-fascist movement in North Queensland during the Spanish Civil War, in 1935 a national organisation for Spanish relief was set up consisting of 21 branches, one in each of the capital cities of Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Hobart and Darwin. The remaining 16 branches for Spanish Relief were set up in North Queensland.

In 1935 Doug Olive stood as a Communist Party candidate for the state seat of Mundingburra and, in a field of four polled exceptionally well, particularly in his base of Home Hill where he polled 20.3 percent of the votes.

His skills as a political organiser brought him to Sydney in 1943 to work for the CPA Central Committee on the National Industrial Committee. In this capacity he was intimately involved in the major post-war industrial disputes such as the Queensland rail strike in 1947, the Queensland meat strike, and the national miners' strike of 1949.

He toured the country areas of Queensland for support for these struggles, often with great threat to his life and limb as the reactionary forces in the country towns were organised against him.

Doug was subsequently brought to Sydney to work for the party full time and, in 1952, went to Newcastle to take up the position of Newcastle District Secretary, a position he held for 10 years.

Like all of us, Doug had his faults, frailties and weaknesses. He was a normal human being, absolutely devoid of ego or personal ambition, doing what he was asked to do and doing it with a commitment that meant considerable sacrifice to himself and family.

There are possibly some who were hurt by his single-minded commitment to his unshakeable belief in the cause of socialism, but if they were, it can be tempered by the understanding that Doug's efforts and commitment were dedicated to the welfare of others and not himself.