Profile - Lawrence (Lance) Sharkey (1898-1967)

Lawrence (Lance) Louis Sharkey was born in Cargo, New South Wales. He left school at the age of 14 to commence an apprenticeship to a coach maker in Orange and was soon drawn to activism, joining the opposition to conscription during the First World War. 

In 1922 Lance joined the Communist Party of Australia (CPA). He also joined the left-wing Federated Miscellaneous Workers' Union of Australia and was soon elected to its executive. In 1926 Sharkey was elected to the executive of the CPA but was dumped in 1927 when he resisted moves for the CPA to form a united front with the Australian Labor Party (ALP). Lance, along with other prominent communists including Bert Moxon and J.B. Miles became critical of the CPA leadership and any attempts to reform the party. They won control of the party in December 1929 and Lance became editor of its newspaper, Workers' Weekly.  

Lance was strongly supportive of the Soviet Union. In 1935 he was the chief Australian representative at the congress of the Communist International and was elected a member of their executive committee.  

When the Australian government declared the CPA illegal in June 1940, Lance went underground, but resurfaced as an active communist in 1941 after the Germans invaded the Soviet Union. By the late 1940s he had become General Secretary of the Party. The party's relationship with the ALP completely broke down when the communist-led Miners' Federation went on strike in June 1949 and the Chifley Government jailed the union's leaders. 

In March 1949 Lance stated that if 'Soviet Forces in pursuit of aggressors entered Australia, Australian workers would welcome them'. He was tried in the Central Criminal Court and found guilty of uttering seditious words. He was sentenced to three years imprisonment and served thirteen months.  

As the party liberalised its policies and practices, Lance’s position became increasingly untenable and he ceded the post of secretary to Laurie Aarons in 1965. 

Lance was lauded in his heyday as a heroic communist leader, but his support for the many abuses of the Stalinist dictatorship sat poorly with many. He was a prolific writer and published many pamphlets on politics, communism and trade unions among other subjects. He died suddenly of coronary atherosclerosis on 13 May 1967 in Sydney.

References

Macintyre, S 2002, Lawrence (Lance) Sharkey (1898-1967), Australian Dictionary of Biography, volume 16, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, accessed <http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/sharkey-lawrence-louis-11664>

Australian Communist Party n.d., Lance Sharkey, accessed <https://www.auscp.org.au/history/lance-sharkey>