Eva Bacon 1909-1994

By Jim McIlroy

BRISBANE -- A moving memorial gathering was held here on August 6 for Eva Bacon, a well-known activist for womens' rights and the left over many decades. Eva died on July 23, aged 84.

Many of Bacon's friends and comrades attended and a number spoke with warmth about her life and political work. Colleagues from the former Communist Party of Australia, the Union of Australian Women, the Womens' Electoral Lobby, the peace movement and others of her numerous arenas of campaigning over the years, were there.

Warren Bowden, a long-time communist explained that “one of Eva's great qualities was her deep humanitarianism. If she could help any of us in any way she would do everything she could”.

People at the gathering spoke of Bacon's great work for the peace movement, her role as a founding member of the International Womens' Day Committee here and her important work in the UAW. Appropriately, People for Nuclear Disarmament activist Jack Sherrington presented a brief memorial speech for Bacon at the Hiroshima Day rally that morning.

Bacon had been a communist militant since her youth in Vienna, until she was forced, as a leftist and a Jew, to escape to Australia after Hitler invaded Austria in 1938.

She continued her life-long struggle for peace, socialism and the emancipation of women in her new homeland through her activism in the CPA and a variety of other progressive organisations.

Bacon is survived by her husband of almost 50 years, Ted, who is currently ill in hospital, and her daughter Barbara.

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