Merv Nixon
Merv Nixon (1923-1993)
Activist life
Former South Coast Labour Council secretary and well-known Communist Party of Australia identity Merv Nixon died at Bulli Hospital on September 13 after a long battle with illness.
Arriving in Wollongong in 1954, the young Balmain rugby league player started working on the Port Kembla waterfront. In 1960 he became a full-time official for the Miscellaneous Workers' Union and was the architect of the organisation of that union into one of the strongest unions on the coast. At this time Merv joined the Communist Party.
In 1969 his organising abilities were applied to the task of organising the whole regional labour movement when he became Labour Council secretary. He held this position till 1987. The last 10 years of his leadership were probably some of the most difficult times the Labour Council ever faced, with the massive lay-offs in the steel industry.
Under Merv's leadership, the Labour Council took an active role in all the social movements of the day, including the Vietnam Moratorium, the anti-nuclear movement, the fight for Aboriginal rights and women's rights.[1]
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.
Merv Nixon was among the list of sponsors.