Jack Henry (Australian communist)

John Clyde Henry, known as Jack Henry, was an Australian communist party member and former leader of its Queensland branch.

Jack Henry
Leader of the Communist Party in Queensland
In office
March 1937 – 1948
Secretary of the Communist Party in Queensland
In office
March 1937 – February 1943
Succeeded byClaude Jones
Personal details
Born
John Clyde Henry

1904
Coramba, New South Wales, Australia
Died8 May 1976(1976-05-08) (aged 71–72)
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Cause of deathMyocardial infarction[1]
Political partyCommunist (1931–1970)

Early life and career

Henry was born in the Northern New South Wales town of Coramba (just outside Coffs Harbour) in 1904.[2][3] His father was a farmer.[2] Henry moved to South East Queensland at eighteen, working as a labourer, before moving north again a few years later.[2] Henry began work in Tully as a cane-cutter aged twenty-one, and soon joined the Australian Workers' Union (AWU).[2] Encountering marxist ideas during his time as a cane-cutter, Henry eventually joined the Communist Party of Australia (CPA) in Brisbane,[4] 1931.[2][4]

Communist Party

After the CPA in Queensland significantly expanded during the '30s, Henry was appointed the fourth branch of the state party (ninth district),[4] “...which stretched north from Brisbane to the Torres Strait Islands” headquartered in Innisfail.

Henry had a reputation for organising workers as well as political proselytising. He played a prominent role in the 1935 Sugar workers' strike, which “the CPA won 'great prestige' in North Queensland,” Henry 'playing an outstanding part'.[5][4]

In 1937 Henry became state leader of the Queensland branch of the Communist Party. While leader, the Communist Party elected numerous politicians, including the first ever MP to a state parliament (Fred Paterson) for Queensland (1944).[6][7] In February 1942 Henry asked the party State Committee that he be relieved of his duties. Claude Jones was appointed to replace him.[8]

With the success of the party in North Queensland, Henry, as state leader, was one of the most successful Communist candidates for the Communist Party in Queensland. In late November 1970, Henry, a Communist Party member for over thirty-five years, was expelled in vote 12–8 vote after he breached party rules by “refusing to accept and working to frustrate decisions of the State Conference and National Congress, assisting to establish separate organisation within the party around a political platform specifically rejected by the Conference and Congress, and pursuing differences on aims and policies to the point of jeopardising party unity and effectiveness.”[9]

Electoral history

Notes
  1. Of candidates running.

References
  1. "Obituary". Tribune. No. 1949. New South Wales, Australia. 12 May 1976. p. 11. Retrieved 15 October 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. Long, Gillian (11 August 2020). "Jack Henry, a Communist Leader in Australia's "Deep North"". Jacobin.
  3. Wills, Peter (27 September 2021). "Vale Jack Henry". cpa.org.au. Communist Party of Australia (CPA).
  4. Menghetti, Diane (1981). The Red North: The Popular Front in North Queensland (PDF). James Cook University.
  5. Frost, Andrew. "The Communist Party in North Queensland During the Thirties and Forties". auscp.org.au.
  6. "Election Meeting Calls For Unity". Workers' Weekly. No. 788. New South Wales, Australia. 9 April 1937. p. 4. Retrieved 15 October 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. "Jack Henry's Triumph". Tribune. No. 47. New South Wales, Australia. 20 April 1944. p. 3. Retrieved 15 October 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. "New State Secretary". Tribune. No. 111. New South Wales, Australia. 24 February 1943. p. 1. Retrieved 16 October 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  9. "C.P.A. Expels J. C. Henry in Q'Land". Tribune. No. 1685. New South Wales, Australia. 2 December 1970. p. 12. Retrieved 12 November 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  10. Hughes, CA; Graham, BD (1974). Voting for the Queensland legislative assembly, 1890–1964 (PDF). Australia National University (ANU).
  11. "1934 Federal Election: House of Representatives – Queensland". psephos.adam-carr.net.
  12. "1946 Federal Election: House of Representatives – Queensland". psephos.adam-carr.net.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.