Obituaries Australia

Comrade Edward Robertson, member of the Central-Committee, Communist Party of Australia and of its Secretariat, and a fighter for world peace, democracy and socialism, passed away suddenly on the night of April 30. 

The Central Committee is deeply grieved and saddened by his death which deprives the Party and the working class of one of its finest sons and leaders. The whole Party will join with the CC in mourning his loss.

His death, at the early age of 37 years, is a severe loss to the Party, the working class, and all progressive people of Australia.

A son of militant Australian workers, comrade Robertson came to Whyalla, South Australia, with his parents in the years of the anti-fascist world war. There he joined the Youth League and later the Party.

Comrade Robertson had qualities of untiring energy and devotion to the Party and to the working class.

With little formal schooling to assist him, he devoured the classics of Marxist-Leninism, and continued his studies right through his life.

He studied the realities of the Australian position, and, working collectively with the committees of which he was a member, developed great ability in the application of Marxist-Leninist principles to the conditions of the workers' struggle in this, his country and ours.

The creative work of the Party members as well as the struggles of the working people always filled him with enthusiasm.

These qualities ensured for him a rapid rise in his Party responsibilities and positions.

He became a member of the SA State Committee and, in 1950, its secretary.

The 17th Congress of the Party showed its confidence in him by electing him to the CC. Thirty-one years of age, he was its youngest member.

Three years later he was elected to the Political Committee of the CC, and on the very eve of his death, to the Secretariat.

Comrade Robertson's unfailing cheerfulness in all circumstances, his dauntless spirit and his concern for all with whom he worked, won for him the love of his comrades.

The Central Committee extends to his wife and family sincere condolences in their loss. S A State Committee "profoundly shocked" I The tragic death of Comrade Eddie Robertson has I deeply shocked members and supporters of the Commun-I ist Party in South Australia, the State Committee says in a special message. JDDIE's lifetime of working-class struggle and leadership was mainly spent in our State. During those years he firmly endeared himself to all who knew him and to all who knew his amazing abilities, energy, exper-| ience and human qualities in I waging the good fight for peace | and human progress. I Eddie was a fighter, an organi-| seri a true son of the working class which lie served until his very death. Eddie was a true Communist. His life was an inspiration to all who desire a world free from wars, poverty and rottenness — to all who desire Socialism. His memory and work will forever live deep in our hearts. We wish to express the deepest sympathy to his wife, parents and all relatives and loved ones in their and our terrible loss. £DDIE ROBERTSON was I born in Maree, South Aus- I tralia, in 1924. J He lived his early years in the cattle country round Tibooburra, in the northwest of New South Wales. At about 14 years of age, he moved with his family to Whyalla, where shortly after he began work in the shipyards. A member of the Federated I ronworkers' Association, he became a member of the Committee of Management of the Whyal la-Port Pirie branch. He was secretary of the Eureka Youth League in Whyalla and joined the Communist Party in 1942. Eddie was the eldest of a family of three boys and | three gir|s, and the father of two sons. Tribune extends to them and his wife profound sympathy, He will be buried in Adelaide.