What's left? Memoirs of an Australian CommunistBy Eric Aarons
Penguin Books, $14.95
Reviewed by Stephen Robson
Having joined the Communist Party of Australia (CPA) in 1937, Aarons is in a good position to help flesh out the history of the CPA, which dissolved in 1990.
By the '70s he was playing a central role, involved in party education work, a stint as acting editor of the paper Tribune and from 1976 becoming a joint national secretary of the party, along with Joe Palmada and Mavis Robertson.
Eric's brother Laurie had been national secretary from 1970 to 1976.
Eric participated in a nine-person delegation that spent three years in China in the early 1950s. Whilst a few comments throw light on the formulation of views of the CPA leadership on the differences between China and the USSR, the writing tends to be disappointingly superficial.
Issues such as the CPA's trade union work following World War II and the attitude to the ALP are also touched on.
This book does bring out the doubts and disorientation that influenced the CPA, particularly from the '60s and '70s.