Tom Barker, 1887-1970

Tom Barker died in London on 2 April 1970. Although he spent only four years in Australia, from 1914 to 1918, apart from a short visit in 1931, he made his mark on this country and kept it in his affections throughout his life. His short autobiography, Tom Barker and the I.W.W., was published by the Australian Society for the Study of Labour History in 1965, concentrating on his Australian experiences but giving an outline of his fascinating life. Tom Barker was an Englishman of the generation of Tom Mann and others who were internationalists in practice as well as conviction, moving around the English-speaking world as workers and agitators, founding trade unions and preaching socialism. As a young migrant in New Zealand he quickly became a union militant, a member of the Industrial Workers of the World and a strike leader, before he shipped to Sydney in 1914. Here he was a driving force in the I.W.W. in its days of strength, a fearless opponent of conscription and the First World War. For his political activities he was gaoled and deported to South America, where he organised ocean-going seamen. Attracted back to revolutionary Europe he visited the Soviet Union, was inspired by Lenin's plan to develop industry in Siberia and during the 1920s recruited American technicians for this purpose. Returning to England, he worked in the Labor Party, trade unions and local government; as Mayor of St. Paneras he created homes and theatres for his people whilst he followed world events. Tom Barker was a self-taught man of great talent who made him self a master of speaking and writing, politics and culture. Completely sincere and self-sacrificing in his principles, he accepted the hardships and welcomed the freedom of being a citizen of the world. He loved humanity and enjoyed life, bearing no malice even against those who persecuted him, and leaving behind a multitude of friends wherever he went. He saw himself modestly as taking part in a movement for the betterment of mankind, a movement which had already taken many forms and would be unending. In old age he was still alert and busy, living for the present and the future to the end. He is survived by his widow, Bertha, a Polish-born ballet dancer who shared his life completely, overcoming her own tragedy of blindness. He will be remembered in the continents of the world

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