Difference between revisions of "Michael Power"
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It was a great learning period for Mick with the final outcome being the formation of the [[Socialist Party of Australia]] of which Mick gave total support and commitment.<ref>[http://www.cpa.org.au/guardian/2012/1564/13-tribute.html, The Guardian Issue #1564 12 September 2012]</ref> | It was a great learning period for Mick with the final outcome being the formation of the [[Socialist Party of Australia]] of which Mick gave total support and commitment.<ref>[http://www.cpa.org.au/guardian/2012/1564/13-tribute.html, The Guardian Issue #1564 12 September 2012]</ref> | ||
| − | ==Lenin' Institute== | + | ==Lenin's Institute== |
His love of the Marxist Leninist teachings led Mick Power to the [[Soviet Union]] and Moscow in 1975 and in 1980 to the Lenin Institute to study their teachings. Again this was a turning point in his life for his studies of the classics brought Mick to a better understanding of the class nature of society – and the reasons for the class struggles.<ref>[http://www.cpa.org.au/guardian/2012/1564/13-tribute.html, The Guardian Issue #1564 12 September 2012]</ref> | His love of the Marxist Leninist teachings led Mick Power to the [[Soviet Union]] and Moscow in 1975 and in 1980 to the Lenin Institute to study their teachings. Again this was a turning point in his life for his studies of the classics brought Mick to a better understanding of the class nature of society – and the reasons for the class struggles.<ref>[http://www.cpa.org.au/guardian/2012/1564/13-tribute.html, The Guardian Issue #1564 12 September 2012]</ref> | ||
Revision as of 02:50, 17 January 2014
Template:TOCnestleft Michael Charles (Mick) Power , died 2012, was member of the Communist Party of Australia.[1]
Background
Michael Charles Power was born in April 1938, to parents William and Mary at Preston, Melbourne.
Mick came to Sydney in 1960-61 and lived in Harris Street, Ultimo.[2]
Militant
Power joined the Sydney waterfront in 1960 and worked a bodgie brief, but got his own in 1963.
It was here that working class politics come to the fore. He had joined the waterfront when many changes were taking place and many more were to come in later years.
It was this period where he cemented many endearing friendships, and many of those friends and comrades are here today.
In 1964 Mick was in a [wharfie] gang of notable fighters and the gang was called “The Fighting Gang”, Jack Hassen (Australian title holder); Bruce Farthing (another holder); Graham Moffett, John Hawthorne (non-title holders); Athol Dixon (who went on to become a great Aboriginal rights fighter); and Owen Porter was the gang leader.
They were a very militant gang; would stop work on any issue. It was in the period Mick took out a delegate’s brief and around 1965-66 he joined the Communist Party of Australia and became a member of the Street Branch with Harry Black, Ina Heidtman, Johnny Healy, Bob Bolger, Matt Munro, Tom Nelson and Jim Donovan.
This is where he met his great mentor Jack McPhillips, whose friendship was to last for many years and of course his other mentors being Harry Black and Ina Heidtman.
It was a great learning period for Mick with the final outcome being the formation of the Socialist Party of Australia of which Mick gave total support and commitment.[3]
Lenin's Institute
His love of the Marxist Leninist teachings led Mick Power to the Soviet Union and Moscow in 1975 and in 1980 to the Lenin Institute to study their teachings. Again this was a turning point in his life for his studies of the classics brought Mick to a better understanding of the class nature of society – and the reasons for the class struggles.[4]
Comrades
With Harry, Ina, Joy Barlow, Jack McPhillips, Stan Moran, Anne Duffy-Lindsay and Jim Robertson, hundreds of weekends were taken up on the streets of Sydney’s Balmain talking and gathering signatures for peace.
Some of Mick’s close comrades,included – Ray Ferguson, Jake Haub, Andrew Irving, George Gotsis, Donna, Denis and Hannah, Anna Pha, Warren Smith, John Graham and Joe Deakin.[5]
Cuba
His love of Cuba and the Cuban people took him to Cuba on many, many occasions. He was the first to volunteer for the Cuban Work Brigades working holidays and of course this is where he met his future wife to be, Jacqueline, in the early 1990s.[6]