Comrade

Comrade by Cybele Locke delves into the life of Bill Andersen, one of the most significant figures in New Zealand's trade union movement in the later twentieth century. This biography uncovers the intricate relationships between communism and working-class trade unionism during World War Two and the ensuing decades.

Beginning with Bill's experiences as a merchant seaman during World War Two, Locke utilises over forty oral interviews alongside Bill's unpublished autobiography. This approach provides a nuanced exploration of what it meant to be a working-class, communist trade unionist during those transformative years.

As a history centred on biography, Comrade tells a riveting story of labour activism and social change. The post-war splintering of the world communist movement fractured New Zealand communists; in the 1970s, the Northern Drivers' Union emerged as a powerful social movement; and Maori land rights and sovereignty activism reframed radicalism through the last decades of the century. The impact of neo-liberalism on trade unions in the late 1980s and 1990s is starkly shown.

The histories of working people, organised labour, and left-wing movements are too little told in Aotearoa New Zealand. Writing with insight and empathy, Cybele Locke has provided a highly readable account of a communist union leader navigating the social and political turmoil of the twentieth century.