Kim Back
Kim Back was a passionate socialist feminist who joined the Communist Party of Australia in the late 1970s. She worked in the Party’s Women’s Collective, Sydney District Committee and Marrickville Branch. Kim died in an accident on 26 December 1986, aged 29.
Radical life
Kim was born in Malaya as it was then known – her father was stationed there in the army and the family lived in Penang. After returning to Australia they lived in Kalgoorlie, Esperance and then Perth from when Kim was 10, until she moved to Sydney aged 19.
Kim attended Bentley Senior High School and then WA Institute of Technology (WAIT, now Curtin University) where she started a Bachelor of Arts with teaching in mind. She was very involved with the Students Union (including serving as President for a time) and feminist politics in the two years she was there.
Her political and personal networks expanded on a road trip holiday from Perth to Queensland in the late 1970s. She stopped in Melbourne and Canberra where she met friends and comrades of people she studied with, and then went to Sydney where, after attending a large International Women’s Day rally, she fell madly in love with the city and stayed.
In Sydney, Kim threw herself tirelessly into anti-nuclear and socialist feminist political work, and those who worked with her gained so much from her dedication, positive energy and courage.
Kim joined the CPA in the late 1970s, committed to the struggles of working-class people and developing the links between the socialist movement, women’s and gay liberation, anti- racism, Aboriginal rights, sexual politics, environmental and union work.
For many years, she was deeply committed to working in the CPA Women’s Collective, on the Sydney District Committee, in the Party’s Marrickville Branch and at many Party conferences and Marxist Summer Schools.
Marilyn (McCormack) Pittman, Kim’s close friend, speaking in the year after her death, said, "Silence is something women know a lot about: ‘Be silent you're a woman. Be silent you're a mother. Be silent you're a lesbian, a migrant woman, disabled, working-class. Be silent you're Black. Be silent you're not black enough. Be silent, we don't want to hear your story."; Marilyn was speaking as a Black woman about her own life and experience, but she could also have been speaking from her experience and love of Kim, who refused to be silent as a woman, a lesbian, a socialist, a feminist, a working-class woman, and as an advocate for Indigenous people and people of diverse cultures. Kim was never silent!
In her paid work Kim was dedicated to community development and worked in youth and women’s services. She had a major impact on the politics of women’s services during her time at the Liverpool Women’s Health Centre, which was established through the work of many women comrades.
Tragically, Kim was killed suddenly in a motorbike accident on Boxing Day, 1986. Her friends and comrades in the Marrickville CPA branch wrote a tribute to Kim in Tribune:
- Dearest Kim,
- Remember when you went to Spain for La Pasionaria’s 90 th birthday? She’s some inspiring woman, yes? Remember how the people sang for freedom and democracy, the struggle against fascism and their love for La Pasionaria? You said she looked so old and frail. Remember how you felt and cried when she sang her song, when the many thousands sang “The people united will never be defeated”.
- …We remember you, Kim, your passion, your inspiration, your passion for living, for friendship, for your family, for loving, for women, for politics, for your comrades….
- …. We remember special times with you that will come to us again and again for the rest of our lives.
- La Pasionaria. Kim.
- Jacquie Widin and Geoff Evans, with thanks to Indeana Black and Margo Moore.[1]
"STATEMENT REGARDING ABORIGINAL LAND RIGHTS"
In April 1986 several hundred attendees of The Broad Left Conference in Melbourne signed an add in the National Times "STATEMENT REGARDING ABORIGINAL LAND RIGHTS".
Signatories included Kim Back.
CPA Gay Collective
In the 1980s Geoff Evans was aware of gay activists in the CPA – Lance Gowland, Brian McGahen. Evans then became organiser for the Sydney District of the CPA. He was interested in supporting communists in the gay movement and the CPA Sydney Branch had formed a homosexual collective. Geoff joined the group to provide support for a central human rights struggle, but as a straight man. His friend and housemate, Marilyn McCormack and Kim Back, an ex-lover were members, plus Lance Gowland, Brian McGahen, Barry Power, Graham Chuck and Peter Murphy. The collective was relatively small – about 8 – 10 people. It discussed politics in the gay movement, sexism among gay men, the politics of lesbian separatism. Perhaps Joyce Stevens, Margo Moore attended – there was an overlap between the gay and women’s collectives.[2]