Bev Symons
Bev Symons was a leading member of the Communist Party of Australia in Sydney. Joined in 1970. Very active in the Campaign for International Cooperation and Disarmament in Melbourne, then Sydney from 1958.[1] movement. A board member of the SEARCH Foundation circa 1995.[2]
SEARCH Foundation webinar
SEARCH Foundation May 6, 2021 , 2021 STATE LIBRARY OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
Session 6 - A world to win
Moderator: Pat Ranald
Panelists: Bev Symons, Peter Murphy, Andrew Hewett, Kate Lee.[3]
"Comrades! Lives of Australian Communists"
"Comrades! Lives of Australian Communists", was edited by Bob Boughton, Danny Blackman, Mike Donaldson, Carmel Shute, and Bev Symons (SEARCH Foundation, 2020).[4]
SEARCH Bios Project Collective
From the SEARCH Foundation:
- A small group of SEARCH members are setting out to answer these questions, as part of the activities and events being held to mark the CPAs centenary. We intend to delve into the records and produce a series of short biographical sketches of CPA members who might otherwise be forgotten. These sketches are intended to invite critical reflection and comment on the CPAs history, its high points and its low points, its great achievements and its abject failures, and all the shades in between.
- Our aims are simple. To honour the memories of past comrades and the contributions they have made to the struggle for socialism; to inspire current and future generations of socialists by their example; and to use this work to reflect critically on the history of the CPA, and draw out lessons from the past which are relevant to today’s struggles.
Bios project collective: Bob Boughton, Danny Blackman, Louise Connor, Bob Makinson, Marg Penson, Scott Poynting, Carmel Shute, Bev Symons.[5]
CPA reminiscing
Saturday, 30 October 1920; a sunny spring day in Sydney; and in a hall in Liverpool Street, 26 men and women met to help create the Communist Party of Australia (CPA). Seventy five years later, almost to the day, but this time on a hail and rain swept Sydney evening, 520 people gathered in a Marrickville reception room to commemorate that event and the movement it helped create.
It was a night of speeches (by Laurie Aarons, Pat Elphinston, Judy Gillett, Stuart MacIntyre, Tom McDonald, Pat Ranald, Dom Syme, Bev Symons), songs (the Solidarity Choir, Jeannie Lewis), memories, and merriment.[6]
SEARCH Foundation Newcastle
Newcastle attendees of the SEARCH Foundation 2014 AGM were Greg Giles, Judy Morley, Bev Symons.
SEARCH Committee
SEARCH Foundation committee members as of February 1994:
Rob Durbridge, Adrian Shackley, Judy Gillett, Brian Aarons, Adam Farrar, Joyce Stevens, Eric Aarons, Bev Symons, Josie Moynihan.
NOW WE THE PEOPLE
In July 2001, endorsers of the SEARCH Foundation's NOW WE THE PEOPLE conference in Sydney included Bev Symons.
MINUTES OF THE SEARCH FOUNDATION AGM
HELD IN SYDNEY ON OCTOBER 22, 1994.
Adam Farrar, Cliff Willard, Vic Slater, Eric Aarons, Judy Gillett, Peter Murphy, Greg Giles, Richard Archer, Chas Begg, Jack Vernham, Graham Drew, Laurie Aarons, David Baker, Vern Moffitt, Jack Wright, Bill Whiley, Jack Cambourn, Peg Hewett, Ray Harrison, Joan Harrison, Albert Laird, Bert Heinemann, John Brunskill, Gwyneth Regione, Pat Ranald, Rob Durbridge, Vera Deacon, Pat Elphinston, Norma Nord, Gloria Garton, Evelyn Healy, Kevin Healy, Hal Alexander, Bev Symons, Joyce Stevens, Brian Aarons, Roger Milliss, Jack Mundey (afternoon).
Chairs Judy Gillett (am), Greg Giles (pm) Adam Farrar (am), Brian Aarons (pm)
Apologies: Evan Phillips, Carol Aarons, Josie Moynihan, Adrian Shackley, Jim Endersby, Pat Ranald (afternoon), Adam Farrar (afternoon), Rob Durbridge (part morning).
South African Women's Liberation appeal fund
In 1994 sponsors of the SEARCH Foundation's South African Women's Liberation appeal fund to sponsor a female organizer for the South African Communist Party were Sydney Martha Ansara, Margaret Kirkby, Peter Murphy, Gerry Phelan, Vic Slater, Bev Symons, Jacqueline Widin Newcastle Greg Giles, Cathie Murray Wollongong Sally Bowen, Lia Ricci, Barbara Quantrell Canberra Brian Aarons, Romaine Rutnam, Melbourne Rob Durbridge, Linda Gale, Richard Walsham Adelaide Irene Gale, Judy Gillett, Dave Ferguson, Adrian Shackley.
"It's time to act"
"It's time to act" was a 1991 statement calling for the formation of the New Left Party.
NSW Illawarra sponsors were : Malcolm Bailey, John Bourne, Monica Chalmers, Lynette Dwyer, Mike Dwyer, Claire Heaton, Frank Jackson, Dave Martin, Paul Matters, Rod Patterson, Steve Quinn, Bev Symons, Patrick Vasquez, Marie Wallace, Reg Wilding..
Broadside Weekly sponsors
Sponsors of the the Broadside Weekly listed in issue number 3, June 17, 1992, page 15 included Bev Symons.
Broad Left Weekly sponsors
160 people sponsored the Broad Left Weekly in a pamphlet published in the January 30 1991 Tribune - including Bev Symons.
The Broad Left Conference
The Communist Party of Australia, Association for Communist Unity and others organized The Broad Left Conference, which was held 1986 28th-31st March, at the NEW SOUTH WALES INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Broadway, Sydney.
Bev Symons was among the list of sponsors.
"Peace activist"
EYL
Barrie Blears, Alan Anderson, Paula Rix and Bev Symons were all members of the Eureka Youth League.[7]
References
- ↑ [1]
- ↑ [2]
- ↑ [3]
- ↑ [4]
- ↑ [5]
- ↑ [75th Anniversary of the Foundation of the Communist Party of Australia, 1995, Author(s): Rowan Cahill, Source: Labour History , May, 1996, No. 70 (May, 1996), pp. 217-220, Published by: Liverpool University Press, Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/27516422]
- ↑ [6]