chummy fleming, a brief biography

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CHUMMYFI,EMING

a brief biography

-by-BOB JAMES

MONTY MILLER PRESS Sydney

LIBERTARIAN RESOURCES Melbourne



CHUMMY FLEMING

Bob James

: A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

First Edi t ion publ ished for the Austral ian

Anarchist Centenary Celebrations'

Melbourne May 1-4, 1986, joint ly bY

LIBERTARIAN RESOURCESc/ - P.O. Box 20 Parkvi l le 'Victor ia 3052.

MONTY MILLER PRESSP.O. Bo x 92 Broadway'N.S.W.2007.

John Fleming, general ly known asrChummyr, wa s born in 1863

in Derby, England, he so n of an l r ish f ather an d an Engl ish mother

wn o OteO wnLn JW wa s f ve years old. Hl s (maternal) grandfather

had"been an tagitatort In the Corn Laws struggle an d hl s father also

had been Involved n Derby strlkes. '

'. . .At 10 he had to go to work In a Lelcester boot factory. Th e

conflnement an d tol l broke down th e boyrs health an d whilst

lald up with slckness he began to ref ect and to feel that he

was a sufferer from soclal InJust lce.. . tFleming attended th e free thought lectures of Bradlaugh' Holyoake

an d Annfe Besant, before comlng to Melbourne. Jack Andrews'- an

anarchlst col league, ecordedhl s early perlod in Austral la thls way:2

' . . . (He *asJ 16 when hl s uncle Invl ted hlm to Melbourne' He

arrived in 1884 an d fo r a t ime he was a good deal more prosper-

ou s than later, gett ing work as a bootmakert.

He attended th e 1884 (ZnO Annual) secular conference held in

sydney, bu t more lmportant ly wa s soon regularly attending. he North

Wn"r i Sunday af ternoon meet ings, l legal ly sel l lng papers there. Th e

regular speakers at the time were Joseph symes, President of the

AustralasianSecular Associat ion,Thomas Walker, another free thought

lecturer, Monty Mi l ler , a veteran radical , an d w.A. Trenwl th ' an

aspl rantpol l t lc lan,bootmakerby t rade.'Flem

ingrs prosperlty di d not last long, as by early 1885 lt appears

he wa s already in the ranks of th e unemployed, perhaps because

of hi s role in a lockout? an d graduating to the platform as speaker

in his own right . Via Andrews,he descr ibedhl s f l rst arrest :t . . .1

wa s amongst th e unemployed.Mr Whi te f n ished a vio lent

speech concluding wlth remarks about Brutus, an d we started

in procession o th e Treasury buildings, wlth a banner on whlch

wa s 'Bread or Workr. lmmediate ly we arr ived th e pol lce at tacked

us . Messrs. Wil l lams, Boon and de Ware were arrested, an d I

recelveda summons. Th e others were) f lnedr.

Thls summons appears to have been lssued by th e Melbourne Har-

bourbour Trust for trespassing on their North Wharf property' Dis-

charged on account of hi s youth, an d advlsed rt o st lck to hls last

by t ie magistrate Mr . Panton, he was back on th e Wharf th e fol low-

in g sunday where, Andrews says, he stuck to his comrades by collect-

In g th e money to secure thelr release.r. . .Afterwards he went to Ballarat for about sl x months' where

he worked as a bootmaker and took part in th e local free thou-

gh t movement an d ha d th e experienceof being stoned by bigots

ln the main st reet along with another agi tatornamed Wi l l iam

Lee. . . lHe was elected Secretary of the Ballarat Branch of th e ASA' bu t

by August, 1885 was back in MelbOurne where he wa s nomlnated

for the AS A Executivejwl th ln the AS A he di d no t fol low hl s Anarchlst c lub col leagues

|ntota| |yrepudiat ingsymeswhenthatpersont r iedtodistancehim-sel f f rom Anarchisni tot lowing th e Haymarket furore an d th e Clubrs

establ ishment n May, 1886. He appearssupport ive, n l t la l ly, at least

oi - Symsst efforts in related struggles such as freedom of speech'



and not immediate ly interested in Anarchism or the Club. Unti l arPeoplets Forumr wa s permanent ly organised at th e Yarra Bank'

attempts to conduct debates at public spaces such as the North and

QueenrsWharf areas were constantly under threat from police' bigotsand toughs. Free Speech campalgnsr lSS5 to 1890 provided Symes'F leming and numerousothers wi th thel r f i rst exper lences f Melbour-

ne arrests and threats of arrest l Flemlng had tremendous drive an d

enthuslasm and carrled agltat lonal ldeas Into pract lce where others

held back. He dldn' t have Andrewrs inte l lect or wr i t lng abl l l ty ' orDavld Andraders slngle-mlndednessabout mutuallst-anarchlsm, he

domlnant strand in the Club early on, but he had great feel ing forpract lcal pol l t lcs an d worked wlth whatever materlals were at hand.

Thls has made hls ear ly phl losophlcevolut lon somewhat di f f lcu l tto track and hls commlttment to and understandingof anarchismdiff icult to assess.

Durlng th e early Club meetlngs he perhaps shared David Andradersldeas but later on became more closely associatedwith the commun-ls t anarchlsm art iculated by Andrews, Larry Petrie and RobertBeatt ie. In Augustr 1886, as a result of arrests of leaders of theunemployed campaign, Flemlng rpromoted and conductedt th e f lrstAnarchism meeting held on the Wharf 6 Such meetlngs, comblnlngtheory and pragmatic concern with the issuesof the day then becamea feature, wl th rChummyr closely ldent l f led wl th both for the next60 years at dif ferent locat lons.

Haymarket protests and memorial meetlngs were regularly organlsedby hlm. In 1889, with Andrews he addressed he Richmond YoungMenrs Soclety to try to counter the heavy broadsidesagainst anarch-

ls m In generalan d th e Haymarket group In part lcular lWi th the demlse of the Anarchlst Clubrs Co-operat lve Home In

late-1888 as a resul t of the spl l t wl th ln th e Club over the quest ion

of communlsm, ndividual lsm nd th e nature of revolut ionl ne tsocia l -

lstsr of Melbourne comblned to establish a Melbourne branch of theAustral lan Social lsts League whlch had, as In Sydney,strong anarchistleanings.There were st l l l d l f ferencesof opin lon and Fleming cont inu-ed to work outside the ASL wlth those anarchists l lke Andrade whoopposed he communist strand. He played a major part In the estab-l lshment of the ASL, openlng the f rs t meet ing, 9 January, 1889,with an address on the objects of th e League and readings fromKropotkints tAppeal to the Youngti He seemed to see the ASL asa branch of the MAC, and he cont r ibuted to the last issue of theClubts paperrrHonestyr, an d probably at tended the last meet ing asDavid Andrade t r ied to keep it going in ear ly 1889, before al lowing

it to go into recess for 16 months. F leming also at tended th e ClubrReunionr in July, 1890. l t is not c lear what part he played in th ef ormat ion of the Socia l Democrat ic League, July 1BB9'which super-

seded the ASL through the ef for ts of Rosa and Flynn, tw o non-anarchists. F leming is reported as a Cornmttee Member in June,1891, when a re-organisedSDL was discussing possib leCo-operat iveCompany. to

Hi s involvement wi th wider issues also cont inued. In late 1889'as an organiser of the Sunday Liberat lon Society' and addressing

th e crowd on th e need to open the Public Libraries an d Museums

on Sundays,F leming concluded by saylng that he wasrJust going

up to the Publ lc L ibrary (closed by church pressure). . to oo k at it

f rom th e outsidef .Many f rom the meet ing fo l lowed hlm:"t...On th e few Sundays fol lowing, th e ceremony...was repeated

wi th se t purposebu t wl th smal ler numbers.Then came a Wed-

nesdayme'et i i rg ear the Working MentsCol lege. . . l

Andrews tel ls of thls meeting appoint lng a deputat ion of flve to

Par l iament House. But many. f rom th e crowd fol lowed' and others

joined in t i l l there were 6,000 people surglng along th e street ' Th e

police tried to stop them, to break up the procession,bu t th e crowd

iurged up the stepsr where they were stopped. Fall lng rain dispersed

them an d later newcomer Rosa, Fleming and John white receivedsummonses fo r ttaking part in an unlawful processionr. Each wa s

imprisoned fo r a month. Th e movement achieved success but the

l ibiaries etc. werenrt patronised enough' an d eventually closed again

on Sundays or 40 years.

A let ter wr i t ten subsequent ly o therLiberatort , on 4 January''1890, f rom jal l ( for 'obst ruct ionr) says that he , F leming, had been

studying th e prison regulat ions an d found that th e sanltary arrange-

ments were less than required. So , he stopped th e Governor on hi s

weekly rounds, t lectured hi m for an hourt whereupon the Governor

ordered immediate improvementsl2

Yet another init iat ive fo r which Fleming is credi ted is the f i rst

col lect ion in Victor ia for the rel ief of the st r ik ing London dockers'

eleven pounds. t,The movement spread and it is a matter of history

ho w many thousands f poundswere sent from Austral latt .

one of th e most surpr is ingpleces of evidence fo r F leming havinga wider view and, most important ly, a recognl t ionof the part p layed

by lndiv iduals n mass reform, is his concent rat ion n MA C (Melbourne

Anarchist club) debates on women's rights and the need for sexual

freedom. No t a great paper giver, he is f irst recorded leading a

debate in September, 1886 an d in October he spoke fo r rFree Love'i '

The debate had been adjourned from th e previous week so thatt ladiestcould part ic ipate in what ha d proved to be arst imulat ing

discussiont. On th e Sunday preceding 27 February, lBBT he spoke

on tThe Subject ionof Womenr,and cont inuing his interest , on tMarr-

lage, Prost i tut ion an d th e whi techapel Murders'on 15 December '

1888.Th e as-yet -unslghted Libertyr pamphlet tFree Love-Expla inedan d

Defended' issued by the club without the authorrs name in 1886

or 1887, may therefore be Flemingrs,Or a resume of th e discussion

in seotember-october, 1886, bu t is most l ikely to be David Andradersas al l the others bu t on e are.

It appears rChummyt never marr ied an d I have no in format ion

on an y romant ic or sexual nterest in his l i fe .

when th e movement fo r an Aust ra l ian Republ ic prompted meet ings

in Melbourne, n 1BBB, t which even Monty Mi l ler spoke in support 'rchummyturx"o th e question,twhat wil l i t do for the workers?'

dampening he enthusiasmof qui te a few. Nevertheless n 1892' he

was'qui te prepared o support an ant i -Royal ty resolut ionbefore 4'ooo



people on the Yarra Bank, where hisrstandrwas al ready recognisedas an inst i tut ion'.o

Each year, around the onset of winter, the numbers of horneless,dest i tute people became more acute and tact ics were adopted byagi tators as seemed appropr iate, F leming and John Whi te were main-stays of this struggle from at least 1885 to 1900. Some incldentscannot be dated exact ly:

rOne of Flemingrsow n devices whichr l f i t could have been carr-ied into ef fect might have been at any rate a means of cal l ingat tent ion to the d ist ress exist ing in Victor ia, wa s to have th eunemployedmarchlng n the Elght -Hoursprocesslonwl th a specla lbanner, but this was objected to , an d did not come off , an d

as only a smal l number of unemployedwere ready to take partIn th e manner he wished, i t is qui te possib le hat the effectmight have been just the reverse of what he intended...r

A let ter f rom Fleming in 'Labor Ca11t6.4.1933 efers to an un-employed meet ing an d march, which perhaps s l8B9:

r. . .The unemployed meet ing was held on a piece of land nearth e WorkingmenrsCol lege. At the conclusion of the meet ing,o ld John Whi te and I carr ied the cal ico banner which had wr l t tenon i t : rFeed on our f esh and blood, Capi ta l ist hyena; it is yourfuneral feast t . When the unemployedarr ived at the Trades Hal lthey were attacked by unionists. During the f ight th e bannerwa s destroyed.Th e pollce came and ended the fight...l

On an ear l ier occasion, dur lng August , lBBT, tChummythad workbut that didntt stop him addressing a crowd of 2,000 unemployedmen, In ra in and cold, and wi th John White, leading a deputat ionto Mr. Nimmo fo r work. The next week he denounced he MPts wh oha d boycotted a meetlng at th e Temperance Hall for unemployed,an d announced e was going to Bal larat for a fur ther meet ing. F lem-ingts f i rst recorded act ion wi thth isrunlon, th e Victor ian Operat iveBootmakers, (VOBU)}5 as an amendment he moved on 2l June, 1886.Th e second reference wa s not t i l l November, then there is a ga pto 17 February, 1890, when he recelved hls f i rst nomlnat ionas VOBUdelegate to the THC. He was again Just out of Jai l , indicat ing wh ythere were so many gaps. He does appear to be act ing as organiserfo r the unlon dur ing September and October lBBB, and col leci lng1/ - pe r week levies fo r th e Northumberland NSW) rniners then onstr ke.

From 1890 his union act iv i t ies clear ly were very lmportant tohim. He rarely misseda meet ing, despl te h ls other act iv i t ies, unlessdetalned ta t Her MaJestyrs leasuret r i l l , unt l l he was f Inal ly expel l -ed f rom the THC in 1904, ostenslb ly for d is loyal ty, bu t in real i tyfo r being lndependentm nded and espouslnganarchism.His unionistconsclence role went Into high gear in '1890when he opposed Tren-wl th, who was qulckly r is ing to leadershlpof the emerging Victor ianLabor Party, about working condi t ions, and a, - ' rsed the moderateTH C bureaucrats f rworkingwith blood-sucking api ta l ists. '

I t ls possib le that he wa s unemployed because of b lackl ist ingthrough a lot of this per iod. Hi s pol i t ics certa in ly made him Invalu-able to therout of workerst , but a thorn in the hands of Trades

Hal l of f ic ia ls an d opportunist r laborr pol i t ic ians wh o apparent ly ai led

to se e th e connectionsbetween trade unionsand the unemployed'

Dr . A.G.Ser le in hi s art ic le rThe UnemployedMovement of 1890t

refers to th e unsuccessful work of the Social Democrat ic League

with the unemployed n 1BB9and torseveral thin meet lngsrorganised

by Fleming In 1890. He says th e movement oo k on a di f ferent tone

when Rosa took it up In 1890, an d le d a rhlghly or ig inal carnpalgn

of f rotest ' . His 'h ighiy or lg inal i st rategy ls no more than Flemingrs

an d othersr tactic of strol ' l lng processions, bu t Serle l lke many

academic researchers,obviously hasntt done hi s homework'

Serle atso re ferred to th e very strongly supported rAntl-Unemploy-

ment Leaguer which ,f or years had campalgnedr or a f ee labor

exchange. Elsewhere, F leming is credi ted wi th beginning th e Ant i -Unempioyed League in 1889, an d Rosa the Labor Liberat ion League

in tgbO, 'which Slar le only just manages o ment ion as get t ing ' l i t t le

support '. He credits Knipe an d carpenter with leading th e Anti-

UnemployedLeaguet6Asi tnappens,CarpenterquickIydisappearedal togetherandboth

Knlpe and'Rosa *ere shown to be opportunists, he f i rst going to

jal l fo r f raud, th e second obbying fo r Par l iament under var ious dis-

guises bu t consistent ly fa i l lng to impress. l t is a lso possib le that

hosa *a s an establishment sp y an d agent provocateur. Both in any

case ar e f ly-by-nlghts as far as the unemployed ar e concerned'while

Fleming an d John Whi te ar e consistentcampaigners'

In August, 1890, th e unemployment movement wa s overtaken by

th e Marl t ime Str ike an d radical an d anarchlst focus shi f ts north '

RoSa

rdrops

outl, ostenslblyfo r tbusln-essreasonst,an d many agitators

were forced to leave town to find jobs. Fleming chooses o stay'tChummyt is credi ted, wi th Pet r ie, with br inging th e semi-secret

Knlghts oi Labor to Melbourne.Thls ls usual ly-?Io*n. .bywa y of

a Fet r ie cal led publ lc meet ing in October, 1890' ' n th e occaslon

of the visit of w.w.Lyght, u.s. Knights of Labor' organiser to the

antlpodesP Churchward suggests a unlted front operat lng around

lggo-3 between th e single Taxers, Knights of Labor and the unemploy-

ed against th e Protect ionist bureaucrats of the T.H.C. an d certain

sect io.-ns f th e P.P.L. movement. churchward insists that Fleming

wa s on e of the tw o chief spokespersonsor th e Knights of Labor

in Melbourne up to 1895 though he also recordstnFleming aying that

th e "Knlghts of Labor ha d li t t le inf luence because of ceremonial

mumbo-jumbo". F leming st ruggled to have the Knights of Labor

admitted to th e 1891 Labor conference an d to have it affiliated

to the T.H.C. in 1893. lt was opposed aff i l iat ion,part icular ly by

Trenwith, on th e grounds that as a secret organisat ion it could no t

be organised indust r ia l ly. He gave a f igure of 30 members' which

Fleming did no t disputeat the t ime. He at tempted to have the const -

i tut ion of th e T.H.C. amended to admit th e Knights of Labor bu t

lost the vote1Th e point at error in the churchward story of th e Knightsof Labor

is i ts arr ival in Aust ra l ia. Lyght wa s in Melbourneby July ' 1890'

perhaps to organise branches,bu t an Assembly of th e Knights of

Labor had been established in Metbourne in June, 1889. Andrews



was not impressed:rThe Knights of Labor is a l r ight fo r anyone who had no ideasof th e struggle between Social ism and Capital bu t no good fo rSocia l ismr.2 l

Andrews was then sounding out the possib i l i ty of establ ishing aCommunist -Anarchist roup, as the A.S,L. (Melb. ) broke up. Certa in lyth e program of the Knlghts of Labor as summarised nlLaborts Pion-eering Daysr isntt quite as bad as Andrewts assessment,but i t iscerta in ly not anarchic:

-secur ing al l unearned ncrementrof the land by taxat ion;-old ag e pensions;-equal pa y fo r both sexes;-governmentownershipof any means of t ransport ing ntel l igence,passengersr f re ight t and of the mines;-State f i re insurance;- indust r ia l egls lat ion;-a nat ional monetarysysteml-free school books;- indust r ia larb i t rat ion;-co-operat ive inst i tut ions,etc.

Internat ional ly,anarchistshad long been associatedwi th the Knightsof Labor. In the USA the Knightstof f ic ia l lyf adopted the Single-Taxphi losophywhi le st i l l wrest l ing wi th the quest ion of anarchist socia l -ism; thus the single-tax debate became the vehicle for th e thrashingou t of the argumentsbetween the cent ra l isersand the decent ra l isers.In Melbourne vi r tual ly nothing is known of the Knights f rom June'

1889, unt i lMay,

1892, whenFleming, represent ing them, chai red

th e f i rst publ ic, outdoors May Day gather ing in Melbourne.Meet ingswhich can be cal led Ma y Da y Meet ings had been held in lB90 and1891 in th e par l iamentary rooms of radical MP Dr Maloney wi thFlem ng as Treasurer of some sort of celebrat ion comm t tee. I sus-pect that th e rLi t t le Doctorrchaperoned th e ear ly Knights meet ingsalso. F leming supported Max Hirsch, President of the main SingleTa x organisat ion n Aust ra l ia, in the VOBU22fromMarch 1891 begin-ning a personal associat lon ast lng at least unt i l 189633 ecauseofth e people In at tendanceat and support ingFleming at the 1892 Ma yDa y gather ingand the people involved n th e related groups t wouldseem reasonable o suppose loose radical / l ibertar ian oal i t ion operat -Ing on a number of f ronts3o

In September, 1890 Fleming was elected for the f i rst t ime to bedelegate of th e VOBU to the THC, but he cont inued his lack of

concern wi th th e Eight -Hour Da y celebrat ion regarding t as a sham.Twelve months later he was elected, unopposednPresldent of the

VOBU for a 6-month term, an d for a s lmi lar per iod as President

of the Fitzroy branch of the ProgressivePoli t ical League, the fore-

runner of the ALP. Around the same t ime also, the Democrat ic Club

in LonsdaleStreet resurfaced,as a gatheringpoirt for radicals3sFlemlng, In the V.O.B.U. and T.H.C. supported nter-colonla lst r ik-

ers, female organlsat ion, nd agi tat ion fo r plece work rates as oppos-ed to a rn in imumwage whlch the employerswere af ter . On a numberof occasionshe as President .asked leave to vacaterthe chai r tat

V.O.B.U. meetlngs to attend rurgent buslnessrelsewhere. This would

appear to be largely P.P.L. business,bu t could have been less publlc

act lv l ty. Certa ln ly 18 9 ls a comparat lvelyqulet year fo r Melbourne'

especli l ly for U.w.f. Then, there occurs a great burst of rstreetr

act ivity, perhaps Indicat lve of a perlod of clandestlne organisat lon'

or else Just frustrat ion an d anger.F i rst ly, pre-dat ing th e Act ive Servlce Brigade ln Sydney was the

r lndust r ia l Armyr. TherAust ra l ian Workmanr fo r December 5, 1891

ha s th e fol lowing i tem probably ro m Fleming:rThe very iatest here ls ther lndust r ia l Armyr. lt pu t ou t an

announcementon Thursday, rReading of the Art ic les of Wa r

Mobl l isat lon of Troepsr. As soon as the Army ls suf f lc ient ly

strong, Soclety on th e Bellamy basis, is to be established inVictor ia. Then i t wi l l march north to the redempt ionof N.S.W.

an d Queensland.On Sunday afternoon they drew up in l ine of

battle at Studley Park. They cal led to their ranks all workers

i r respect ive of occupat ion. They would organise me n pol l t ica l ly

an d industrial ly. They would have a labor sheet and a Labor

Bureau, through which members could ge t employment f ree of

charge. Next week they promlse to have a march past ' a f irst

class band an d a blg banner.rNeedless to say the grandiosealms remalned unachieved.Th e sub-

sequent appearance however of the Salvage Corps battling bail i f fs'pol ice an d landlords to selze back furni ture of faml l ies unable to

pa y rent suggestswhere th e energy wa s golng by the wlnter of 1892.

Ftemingts susplclonsabout Rosa had in February come to a head

as the two competed fo r pre-select ion n the Fi tzroy PPL. Al though

th e contest eventually became physlcal and though both fal led togain pre-select lon th e last ing penalty was the st lgma attaching toianarchlsmt as conservat ive candidates an d persons with scores to

seti le with Rosa heaped abuse on hi m and by assoclat ion al l labor

reformers,cont inuing th e ranarchist rhyster ia generated by the Hay-

market t r ia l and execut ion. In the short term Fleming also lost the

Presidency f the Fl tzroY PPLTThe conservat lve opposi t ion alarmed, began to reta l iate di rect ly

with Fleming as a pr ime target . At an Apri l F i tzroy Town Hal l meet -

ing cal led to d iscuss he elect ion of r labourr membersof par l iament '

a lertain Mr Best, a lawyer an d M.L.A. for the area said ragitators

of the Flemlng type should be extermlnated l ike rabbi tsr . F lemlng

go t up to reply, was thrown of f th e plat form, rose again with help '

an d moved a motion, that wa s passed, to the effect that Lawyer

Best and capi ta l ist candidate Tucker were unf i tto represent th e

workers. Outside th e hal l a f ur ther meet ing wa s held ' 400 people

were enrol led in the P.P.L. and only then di d Fleming go home to

be d where he remalned or a week wl th a sprainedankle an d a bruls-

ed hip3'Reports of th e salvag, l agi tat ion, which cont inues unt i l the end

of July, contain more ment ions of grass-roots nl t la t ive than before

or later. women hold thel r ow n organlsat ionalmeet ingsan d ar e more

prominent whl le the ga p between th e mi l l tant unemployedand theprotect ionist THC bureaucrats becomes fa r more obvious. Th e police



often intervene, Trenwith, recently elected leader of the VictorianLabour Party, is publ ical ly repudiated at F leming-chal red meet ings'groups forcibly recover furniture from warehouses,and canteens an dsoup-l ines are established as part of self-help networks. ln al l ofth is Flemlngrs Inf luence ls obvlous. He was also worklng on behal fof the Broken Hil l miners then on strikels act ions stepped up whenunion leaders were arrested and jai led in September-October.

Ear ly in 1893 he worked wi th Mrs. Rose Summerf ie ld rom Sydney,or ig inal ly Rose Stone, f rom Melbourne, eorganising he female boot -making machin ists.Complaints against h im to the Trades Hal l Counci land V.O.B.U., generatedby his attacks on do-nothing labort represent-at ives were ef fect ively neut ra l ised by a V.O.B.U. meet ing clear ly

on his side.At a Knights of Labor meet ing in 1893,Chummy moved th e mot ion

for what was subsequently he f irst May Day procession n Melbourne.At th e meet ing af ter the march, Max Hirsch, Presldentof the Single-Tax League off iclated fo r th e 5,000 people present an d heard deleg-ates f rom th e Knights of Labor (F leming), th e Democrat ic Club,the Single-Tax League and the Unemployed move motions. Chummyrsmotion read:

rThat this meeting demands egislat ive recognlt ion of the absolute-ly equal r ights pol i t ica l ly of every adul t member of the commun-Ity; strenuously protests against monopoly an d privl lege In everyguise; and that whi le declar ing the sol ldar i ty of the interestsof al l workers everywhere, pledges itself to strive for the sub-st i tut ion of a co-operat ive for the present lmmoral wage systemof labort.

W.Dudley F lynn an d Dr. Maloney are also r ight ly credi ted withbeing cent ra l ly Involved in the organisat ion of th is f i rst May Daymarch, bu t no-one has matched th e consistencyof Chummyrs part ic-ipat ion thereafter. At least into th e 1940ts he was a feature everyyear th e march was held, and f rom about 1905 his f ag rAnarchyt

and his bel l were associatedwith it .He t ravel led to England n July 1893 at h is aged fatherrs request

to see hlm, an d in November, back in Melbourne reported on UKcondi t ions part lcular ly wi th regard to the Int roduct ion of machlnesan d th e replacement of me n with women an d boy-labour. He tookup his Yarra-Bank meetings again and spoke regular ly e lsewhere.Dur ing 1894, 95 and up to Apr i l 1896 he spoke up to four t imesa month on behal f of the Single Tax. Abrupt ly, these meet ingsstop,coincid ing wi th Jack Andrewrs return south. Then on e meet ing InOctober and one in December when they stopped for good. rBeaconr

January 1896, re jects a let ter f rom Andrews cr i t ica l of the SingleTa x and encouragesFleming not tots l ip backrto anarchism. Hi sinvolvement wi th t rade unions af fa i rs cont inued, he being part ly

responsible for the Executive and Co-operat ive Committee of theV.O.B.U. recommending n June 1895 that thu V.O.B,U. adopt thepr inclp le of Vi l lage Set t lement and Co-operat ion.He also cont inuesto press for a co-operat ive boot factory. Not a lot is achleved inthese areasf malnly becauseof a lack of resources.

In September hat same year, at a very b lg meet lng at Melbourne

Town Hal l to conslder t the sweat ing evl l r he and John Whi te moveda mot ion that the Mayor, Si r Arthur Snowdenwho was to chai r thegathering, no t be permitted to do so because of remarks he hadmade support ing very lo w wages. Upon their resolut ion belng carried,th e Lord Mayor ordered th e hal l c leared and th e llghts turned out .rTocslnr (Andrews) for 27 July 1899 suggests that because of thisact ion, White an d Fleming forced words to become deeds an d broughtth e Factor lesLegislat ion whosefame is wor ldwldet l

Towards the end of 1895.with Whi te an d Andrews, he, F leming,part ic ipated in an at tempt to revive th e Melbourne Anarchist Club,This came to nothing. Crowds had dwindled also on the Yarra Bank,but authorlt ies continued to harass speakersSt

No mention of Fleming appears In reports of th e 1896 May Dayevents, bu t in 1897 he ls back again. In that year, Trenwith appearedto be inst rumental in having him dismissed, forclng hlm to openhis own bootmakingshop. This hdd occurred in simi lar fashion tnreeyears before. From V.O.B.U. records i trs clear that the bootmakingindustry and unlons are ln a bad way and rChummyt ls no t gett lngmuch support in batt l lng against the structural changes taking placeor the attempts (usually successful) by employers to pe g or reducewages. He reported to the V.O.B.U. in August 1897 urging unionsto support the unemployed and continued his attacks on Trenwlth,some of which end in physlcal clashes.

ln 1898 he led th e May Day processiondown the footpaths in theface of a ban on street marches by the Melbourne City Council .ln 1899 along wlth delegates from th e WomenrsLand Reform League,th e Vil lage Sett lers Assoclat lon, Our Fathers Church, the SundayFree DiscusslonSoclety an d th e Unemployed Committees, he organis-ed the march and preparedresolut ionsl2

In July, 1899 he and John Whl te were arrested for sel l lng theworkerstpaper Tocsinron Sunday,becoming embrol led in an at temptby the detect ive force to close down a paper which was invest igat lngthei r involvementwi th sl y grog and bet t ing shopsP

Later in th e year he delivered a eulogy to l: lenry George, SingleTa x guru, despite tTocsinr having pointed ou t that George had repud-iated th e Haymarket 12 at a t ime when he was in a posi t ion tomobi l isegreat support .

In h is bootmaking work he is descr ibed n 1899 as a rmakerr no tarf in ishertbut as Merr l f ie ld says, he st i l l found employmentdi f f lcu l tto getr so by t902 he again had hls own shop, in 6 Argyle Place,Car l ton. This remainshis home and workshopunt i l h is death.

To take what seems an average year for hi s union lnvolvement,th e records fo r th e Operat ive Bootmakers Unlon for 1889 show Flem-ing elected that year to the 8-Hours Commit tee, nomlnated alsofo r the new union executive (was on old executlve) and elected aT.H.C. delegatel Subsequently he same year, he was elected to theexecutive of the Trades Hall Council l5 n that posit ion he agreedwl th other speakers hat unionism ls on the decl ine In Victor ia andsaid h is own t rade was In a very bad way wi th unlon members uf fer-in g great distress. The T.H.C. adopted his motion to appolnt a Comm-it tee to devlse re-organisat ionS6he 'Tocsinr, for 11 July 1!01 records

{

110



that the Organising COmmit tee ha d managed o br ing a number ofunions into existence an d strengthen many old ones.

A letter f rom J.W.F. in an 1899 Tocsin3Thows another area ofhis agitat ion. He asks th e paper to note the release of Sarah Robert-son whose only crime wa s poverty (she then tabandonedher chi ldt).F lemlng, Whi te, Edwards, and Herold, assisted by Fl tzgerald, MissPurnell and Mrs. Beeby managed to ge t her sentence shortened byfive months. When sh e came out she was rskln an d boner.

ln 1901 he ls reported to be very l l l , Andrews fo r onesbelievinghe would not recover. But he does, with the ald of money raisedfor hlm3eand et s stralght back Into work, part icularly as chairpersonof the unemployed movement. He an d White were receiving donations

for rel lef an d Fleming wa s part of a deputat ion to the Lord Mayor,In Apr l l 1901, wl th Labor M.P. ts, fo r permlsslon l) to have a Ma yDa y Processlon.Th e Lord Mayor refused their request fo r Sunday,but on Chummyrs request grants a Wednesday.Flemlngrs centralposlt lon ls acknowledgedby hl s belng glven the task of moving No.lResolut ion on No.1 Platform (opposlng war, wagedom, etc, sendingfraternal greetlngs, etc.). The mover of No.3 Resolut ion on the 2ndPlatform was Symes.

Also In May, Flemlng took hls unemployedagltat ion to th e polntof rushlng onto Melbourners Prlncers Brldge to halt the GovernorGeneralrs Lord Hopetoun)carriage whlch was crosslng through tcheer-

In g crowdsr on hls wa y to open the f irst Federal parl lament. Hope-toun told th e police not to Interfere and l istened to Flemlng pu tthe case fo r the unemployedf Later, on the evenlng of ttne Ol gspreadr (the Exhlbl i lon Banquet),Flemlng represented he unemployedagaln by st ro l l lng Into the hal l , had'ra f r lendly confab wi th one ortw o Labor members wh o greatly enJoyed he ldea, (then) proceededto Iuxuriate in th e toff iest part of th e whole assemblage.Hi s pres-ence wa s a grief of mind to Detect ive Macnamany wh o assiduouslyta i led h im up for 3 hours an d a hal f . At the end of that t ime Flem-in g go t t ired of the sport an d considerately gave th e off icer anopportunity of showinghi m th e door.. . t tal

Th e depart ing Governor-General ater tentrustedt J.W.F. with th edistribut ion of gif ts of food an d champagne o the unemployed.LordHopet-oun ad apparently been told by G.M.prendergast hat Chummywa s tthe most honest ma n I knowr an d that he had an unof cialdirectory of unemployed.,There is , again, some uncertainty aboutdetai ls fo r th is storyr as George Bla ik ie says th e gi f ts came fromthe Governor-Generalas a kind of round-aboutslap at the establish-ment fo r refusing to pa y Hopetounwhat he thought he needed.

In an y event 1/ - wa s given to each married ma n wh o attendeddistribut ion day, June 24, 1902, outside Flemingrs shop, and 6d toeach single man. Th e next day 30 0 bott les of champagneaugmentedby 6 hogsheads f 'Fight ing Beerr from Shamrock Brewery were distri-buted. Though it went smoothly fo r a whi le, th e dist r ibut ion of thebooze became a r iot , according o some. F leming, wh o nei ther srnok-ed or drank lost some days in the task bu t took none of the moneyfo r himself eitherl2on a more pract ical level, Hopetoun is creditedwith pressuring the government to speed up government work proj-

ects. Out of the or ig inal encounter came a f r iendshipwhich enduredaf ter Hopetoun returned to England. Whi le st i l l in Aust ra l ia" he i$said to have visi ted Chummyrs house, which wa s buil t with rnone!,he loaned to Chummy, the house bear ing t l re name rHopetoun'whencompletedf

In 1901, another at tempt had been made to st i f le tthe Bankr speak-ers and i t rs clear that by th is t ime Fleming on his Freedom plat forrnwa s al ready an inst i tut ion. He conducted he meet ingson the yarraBankfa nd cont inued his work' there, on what was vi r tual ly a pr ivatestand unti l his death. F leming and Whi te also kept the Free Discuss-io n Society going, F leming using th is venue to speak on the ParisCornmune n March, 1902fA let ter f rom him to Tocsin,26

Septernber1901 says that the T.H.C. f ag "i s at hal f -mast fo r PresidentMckin leyrs death, why? and why not on al l occasionswhen workersar e shot down, etc?rt In November, he moved a mot ion that theT.H.C. t 'protest against the reduct ion of o ld age pension rorn 1O/-to B/ -" . F leming wondered why people ha d not r isen against th emove, and at tacked Trenwi th an d others. Pewen in tRandornaniat

ment ioned ha t Flemingrs mot ion at T.H.C. to debar t rades unionistsf r0m becoming professionalsold iers lapsed, and comments that itshould have been passedunanimously.

I t would seem that af ter a long per lod of working wi th t rade unionan d shal l we sa y t legi t imatetchannels,hi s uncompromising narchismreasserted i tsel f . Th e rPeoples Dal ly ' (of l9O4) records'Arrarchy,It s Teachingand ObJects 'by him which begins a ser les of exchangesthrough th e paper resul t ing in h is being expel led f rom the T.H.C.for at tacks on Labor par l iamentar iansou(dis loyal tyo Labor) . He

spokein support of communist anarchism at th is t imeaTandof dynamiterovercomingdual opposi t ion of pol ice and mi l i taryr f On rthe Bankt ,according to th e Dai ly Telegraph he referred to Labor Par l iament-ar ians including Dr. Maloney, as tyrants, said people should sc-. izePar l iament House,burn t i t le deeds o property and erect an anarchistcommuni ty. He also spoke of an at tempt to ra ise funds to tour Vic-tor ia and to rent a room as his headquartersn the ci tyXe

On hi s being expel led, F leming rdemandeda hear ing. . . then ecameheroicr :

r. . .1 am going to be. expel led because am an anarchist . I amin the company of Tolstoy, Spencer an d th e most advanced hink-er s of the wor ld. Workers wi l l never ge t thei r r ights whi le theylook to Par l lament . A general st r ike would be more ef fect ivethan al l th e Parl laments n th e world. lhave go t a f ine st lck

and lamgoing

to use i t . Expel me i f yo u l ike. lam an anarch-ist . We have been hanged n Chicago,elect rocuted n New York,gui l lo t ined in Par is and st rangled in l ta ly, and lwi l l go wi thmy comrades. I am opposed to your Government and to yourauthor i ty. Down wi th them. Do your worst . Long l lve Anarchyr.

Other pr ivate publ icat ions included a Mani festo and a responseto a letter f rom Kropotkin which i tsel f is a resul t of F lemingrscon-t inuing contact with the internat ionalanarchist movernent .As tAnarch-

ls t Leaf let No.3tF leming publ ishedKropotkints et ter which he cla im-ed ha d been suppressed y the l ' . l l .C. l 'he parnphlet eads In fu l l :o

12



1

rComrades,-in " fol iowlng letter wa s suppressedby Messrs' Barker

-an d

Scott an d th e executive of th e Councll ' In falrness to Mr ' Dob-

son, cn e of the executive, I wlsh to state he expressedsurprise'

asheheardnoment ionof the|et terat theExecut |veMeet ing '

"f tnougnMr . Scott had one, tw o weeks before th e meetlng an d

Barker several daYs.Barker informed the Council that th e Executlve di d no t think

it wise to read it to them. While th e Barkers an d Scotts ar e

scheming after fa t Parl iamentary jobs, wlth si x or eight pounds

aweekincometowhi|eawaythet imeonsof tcushionsseatsl

[nu'rir"r ' of th e workers ls almost beyond endurance.Workers

awat<etFree yourself from Polit ical Shysters' Donrt votel Declare

fo r th e General Strike. 'The Polit ical Labor Partyrs dead slowr-

To m Mann.

rComrade Mann girded a good deal at his masters of the TradesHal l . He dared them to make a martyr of hi m fo r worshippingopenly instead of . secret ly at the sacred shrine of anarchy.. .To m passionately mbraced th e re d f lag of anarchy which hungl imp on the breezeless lat form. . . ts l

In 1908, cont inuing he work, rChummyran d Percy Laid ler , a Marx-ist , le d the unemployed nto Federal Parl iament , stopping i t fo r 1thours.s2

In 1907,according o her .autobiography,'L iv ing My Li fer , Chummyha d invi ted Emma Goldman to tour Aust ra l ia and had raisedmoney for her fare. She says that at th e t ime she could not havefaced the long journey alone, but 12 months later, deeply involved

with Be n Rei tman,she made preparat ionso go .lBen was wi ld wi th the idea of Aust ra l ia; he could talk of no -thing else and wa s eager to start at once. Bu t there were manyarrangements o make before I could go on a two-years tourr,

Their departure fo r th e tnew landr was set for January, . |909,an d

1500 pounds of literature was despatched.A struggle for free-speechin San Francisco forced a postponement ,and in the MelbournetSocia l ist tin Apr i l , rChummyrannouncedhat Emma had lef t Vancouv-er on the rMakuraron 26 March for Aust ra l ia. Bu t she had not em -barked.

A report in the London-based Freedomr for May 190g emphasisesth e cost of t ravel as the impediment , to an Aust ra l ian tour at thatt ime, ye t also refers to ta n ominous report that th e police are striv-in g to hunt her altogether ou t of the States. '

In fact , sh e had received a te legram at the last minute which,

sh e cla imed in her memoirs,meant a l lowing the Government o alterhe r plans an d make he r a vl r tual pr isoner n the Uni ted States unt i lthose same authorit ies decided to deport her to Russia te n yearslater. From an abandoned marriage of years before sh e ha d gainedwhat sh e thought was US ci t izenshipbut the lmmigrat ion Departmentha d revoked her husbandtspapers on a technlcal i ty In order to de -clare her an al ien. Thus i f she had left the count ry she may nothave been permi t ted to return. No t wishing o take the r isk of becom-In g a stateless personshe says sh e cancelled the trip,

rl t was a bit ter d isappointmentmuch m tigated f or tunately, bythe undaunted pt imism of my hobo manager. Rei tman) '

Th e quest ion here of Rei tmanrs part in Emmars decision is anlnt r iguing one. Recent ly, Candace Falk, no w director of a mammothat tempt to document Emmars l i fe, found a cache of love let tersbetween th e two in a music-store t runk in Cal i forn ia. Falk found,in the let ters, how, at the t ime th e Aust ra l ian our was being arrang-ed r sh e an d Rei tman were at odds over h is promiscui tyan d her appar-en t inabi l i ty to cast h im aside or to ge t him into context .

rAl though Emma's espousalof the ideal of free love kept herf rom condemninghi s behaviour on pol i t ica l grounds,he r let tersrevealed a tor tured ef for t to reconcl le he r bi t ter d isappointmentan d anger wl th her ideology. . .Aust ra l ia eemed to prornlse anescape from the forces sapping her spiri t , and by conslderinggolng without Ben, sh e acknowledged ha t he wa s one of th ose

Viola, Etable, France.

Bromely ' Kent .Dear Comrade'

Thankyouverymuchforyour let ter .Th|ngsmustbeworsethan I t irought, if the labor organisat ions ar e entirely in the

hands of poli t icians. I have st i l l th e hope that apart from those

Workingmenwholaythei rhopes|ntoPar|iament therearemenwhow| | |understandthat theprogressofLaborUnlonsisnotpo| | t ics,butwhat |nLat |ncount r ies|sdescr ibedbytheworking-me n as Direct Act ion.

ooyoufol |owthemovement inFrance?TheSyndica| (TradesUnion)-movement whlch for a number of years wa s In the hands

ofpo| i t |ca|Sociat ists ' lsnowfreeingthesebonds, .andweseerealiy a new birth of what wa s th e Internatlonal Workingmenrs

AssoiiaUon before th e Franco-Gerrnan war; their ai m is the

DirectAct ionagaInstCapI taIandPhi I ist ineRuIe.Evenwhenthey want to obtain something f ro m Parl iament they think

qui [e r lght _ that it would be better to lmpose thei r wi l l , by

strikes etc, Instead of begglng. They preparet as yo u know' th e

General St r ike fo r May 1 ' 1906.What ar e yo u doing in Aust ra l ia

for th is eventual i ty? lt is t ime to th ink of it ' I would be so

happy to go to Austral ia an d to help th e Labor Movement in

any. -way.ButsinceIhavehadanat tackof theheart lhaveha d to give up al l lectur ing. Ar e you receiving regular ly 'Free-

domt? There is a general revival of the movement n Europe.

With best brotherlY greetings'P.KroPotkin.

la m fo r a fe w weeks in France bu t return to Bromley about

1Othof September. lThis is ProbablY 905.

To m Mann, as chummyts reference above shows,wa s another agitat-

or with internat ional connections wh o wa s less than impressedwith

Aust ra l ia. Th e snide piece, rAnarchistsat Homer reported a meet ing

held by Fleming, Whi te an d Mann with 20 0 or so others ' bu t which

T.H.C. speakersdecided o boycott. Apparently an elect ion wa s due:

14



forcesr.Falk quotes from one of Emmars etters to Reitman as she struggl-

ed with th e need to continue he r public efforts an d persona, while

racked with a deep pessimism hat threatened he r l l fefs work:rLlfe is a hideousnightmare, ye t we drag it on and on and f ind

a thousand excuses for i t . . . l am strongly contemplat ing giving

up everyth lng. . .andgolng to Aust ra l ia, t ravel l ing a fe w years

alone. I ca n ge t th e money tomorrow, thls minute, l f I can onlypull up strength an d go . I want to do it ' as I see in that th e

salvat lon out of my madnesst.Falk concludes that lt was Emmars Indeclsiveness nd submlsslon

to Reltmants tpower to determlne he r emotional stabl l l tyt that kepther in the United States.

On the other slde of th e world an d well away from an y knowledge

of the emot lonal lnterplay, ye t obvlously st i l l In contact by cable

and letter tChummyt continued to believe that a trip wa s possible.

ln a letter to he r of 16 December 1909' he wrote:twi th regard to yo w vlsl t lam dolng al l lcant .

She clear ly di d not cont radict h im for in rMother Earthr, the maga-

zlne sh e edited in the US , nearly twelve months later, sh e quoted

from another of hi s letters:rComrades in Sydney and Adelalde are anxious fo r yo u to come'

an d are organising Into committees to ralse funds an d arrange

meetings.You can look forward to a successful ourr.

In Melbourne, he baby of two unmarried members of a local anar-

chist group wa s named Goldman by 'Chummy' at h is speaking plat -

form on the Yarra Bank. Towards the close of the ceremonytCathol ic rowdies rushed th e plat form throwing stones, howl ing ' l lke

hyenasr and attemptlng, as they had before' to destroy thls venue

for d ivergent opin ions. In hls 70ts, near ly 30 years later rChummy t

was st i l l being roughed up by the same sorts of people.

He could not have known that at about the tlme he was christenlngthe baby, Rel tman wa s heading Into probably th e rnost t raurnat lc

experience of hl s l i fe, and one which probably ended any chance

there was of Emma leaving him fo r Aust ra l ia. lnrL lv ing My Li fe '

she describes how, nearly three years after th e free-speech ight

that caused the Austral ian-tour postponement In 1909' her lecture

tour brought her back to th e same area' In part icular to Sa n Diego.

There, at th e helght of another burst of ant i-radical hysterla' a group

of Vigi lantes abducted Reltman at gun-polnt, stripped an d beat hlm'

burnt the let ters r lWWr into h is skin, tarred him and comprehenslvelyhumi l iatedhim. lt wi l l be some t ime, perhaps never ' before historyca n make conclusions about the consequences f such an experience

on the emot lonal state of the two, and on, for examplet heir wl l l lng-

ness o leave the United States.But how mlght Austral ian soclety have dealt with the phenomenon

of Emma Goldman in l ts midst , urg ing bi r th-cont ro l an d f ree love'

opposing conscrlpt ion an d joining forces with the antipodean scourge

of re l ig ious b igot ry and labor opportunism? Would Aust ra l ia have

been a means to refresh her spiri t , would i t have proved equally

as brutal, or would sh e have quiet ly sl ipped into a far less contro-

versia l and far rnore pr ivate role, seeking as she said In 1909, togive up everyth lng?

Also in 1909, Fleming ha d cont inued act ive on behal f of HarryHol land ja i led dur ing an indust r ia l st ruggle ln Broken Hi l l , throughth e ReleaseLeague. Meet ingscont inuedeach month, col lect ing moneyfor Mrs. Hol land an d chi ldren unt l l Hol landrs2 year penal sentene,ewa s reduced and he was released n OctoberP

He wa s act lve In the ant l -conscr lpt lonst ruggle dur ing the f rstWorld War, belng wlth the IWW prepared to take def lnlte at i l tudes.In Port Melbourne Town Hal l for example, he spoke on 'the RichManrs Wa r and the Poor Manrs F ight r . Dur ing th is per lod he wa s

frequently arrested, jal led an d threatened with being deported byth e authorlt ies, or thrown Into th e river by roughs and on at leastone occasion wa s thrown in, belng saved by Laidlerf l He formed someconnect ion wi th th e Paris-basedGroupes DtEtudes Sclent l f lquewhichbrought together, as th e Austral lan Anarchlst Group, a network ofotherwlse lsolated act ivists and anarchist sympathisers In Sydneyand Melbourneduring what was a very low polnt for anarchlsmF

I haventt ye t been through al l th e newspapersor possible$sourcesof letters for th e period 1900 to 1950 when JWF died, an? therels much ye t to be found ou t about this man.

tA s he became older he fel t he had a propr ietary cla im on th eda y (May Day) an d insisted on leading lt wlth his f ag (red,ranarchyr ln whi te dlagonal ly across l t ) . The May Day marchan d celebrat ion wa s revlved af ter some years in 1924, and JW,after Percy Laidler unsuccessful ly ried to talk him out of lead-

Ing i t , walked about half a block ahead'i7Ron Testro wrote later:rCounter demonstrat ionswere often staged by the lrish and onon e occasion one l r ish bandsman hl t Chummy over the headwi th a t rombone.Fleming counter at tacked by rent ing th e Hibern-ian Hal l for h is Anarchist meet ings.The Hall at this t ime wasprivately ownedr.58

In th e thi r t les when the Communlst Party wa s th e maln factorIn organlsing th e Ma y Da y l t d id not welcomerChummyrand hl sflag leading lt . So, he started a block ahead, going so slowly themarch caught up wi th h im, or somet imes he started back In th eranks and gradually edged to th e front.

In 1933, he was invi ted to make what may have been his lastpublic speech,apart rom those on th e Yarra Bank. The C.P. CongressAgainst War an d Fascism asked him to address he delegates.Charact-

er ist ical ly he provoked cr i t ic ism by, among other th lngs, taking theorganlsers o task for thei r doct r inai re approach.

There ls also heresay evidence that he continued talking to univer-sity students up to the 1939-45Wa r an d to have formed an Anarchistgroup. ln a 1933 let ter to Net t lau he cla imed to have celebratedthe memory of the Haymarket anarchlststevery yeart s ince thei rassassinat ionn 1BB7.sn

Smith and Bertha Walker both record the sadnessof the almostalone JWF get t ing older but cont inuing o do what he could, in part ic-u lar mainta in inghi s pi tch on rthe Bankt .

16 17



riiiriliI

r. . .Every Sunday unti l hl s death"' he took hl s stand under a tree

at theYarraBankandsummonedafewcron|eswithatat teredcow-Oell. Draped on th e branches of th e tree above were tWo

faded re d ttags witn iAnarchy' and. rFreedomr worked on white'

Th e ll tUe rn"n *if f l nl s trousers rol led at th e cuffs would preach

In a quaver lngvot ;e"t

tn " inequl t iesof governmentan d rel lg ion '

wi th hl s mrrxv-evls-Ji ieo

beyond hi s l isteners he would tel l

of th e comlng reign of earthly happlness nd brotherly love'9o

He died at home"aged

86 , oi Zslza January 1950' in somewhat

,quujlo-'"onoiiront: t . . .noie of hl s personal effects were of an y value

i-i iui=.-.o"*t . 'Recordei,

-1962' shows Ji m Coull an d Percy Laldler

;;;;;;;i"* of Ftemtng's wil, ht s cottasean d money

soinsto two

Engl lshrelat lvesandaProfessorJoad,whl lehispapersweretaken

by pollce9l|ontheeveofMayDayaf ter(h isdeath) itwassudden|yreca|| -

ed that Flemtng ni O ast<eOha t hi s ashes be scattered on the

Yarra Bank on il f"V b"V' fn"y di d no t have th e ashes-' al d Lald-

r"i"ir i t t i""t ty 'ools lt matter what ashes they are?r A member

of th e Butchersi-

Unlon took th e hlnt an d came along wlth a

large blscui t tl n f ; i . - (Laid ler) go t up an d made a-speech about

Flemlng, punctuat lng lt wl th th e throwing ou t of handfuls of

asheswhich blew In th e Melbournewind al l over th e crowdt.62

r...to th e very en d respected an d esteemed by th e radical ele-

ments In the labor movement becausehe wa s sincere' courageoust

inOetattgaOle... ernarO OrDowd wa s no t th e onty ma n wh o learn-

ed something f; ; ; h l rn. Percv Lald lor" ' to ld mo that a number

of me n promlnen! In the taOor movement ha d learned f romrChummyrFlemlng'P

Bo b James'October' 1985.

REFERENCES

1. Merr i f ie ld Notes, La Trobe Library, source perhaps rTocsinr lT

October, 1901. Death Cert i f icate says he wa s 86 in 1950.2. Tocsin, l7 October, 1901.3. L iberator, 1885,p. 553.4. L iberator,pp . 777,789,871.5. L iberator, 17 July, 1887, 6 November 1887 (p.401. ) ,20 November

1BB7 p.aa0)

6. Honesty,February,1889,p.5.7. Richmond Cour ier , June 29 1889, quoted in Aust ra l ian Radicaln

13 July,1889, p.1.

B. B.James, rAnarchism an d Pol i t ica l Vio lence in Sydney and Mel-bourne, 18B6-1896r A, La Trobe Uni, 1984.

9. Recordernewslet ter Melb) Vol .1,No.S nd No.60.10 . Aust ra l ianWorkman,6 June 1891,p.2.

1 . Commonweal January 18,1890; L iberator, February 8 and 22,March 8 and 29,1890.

12 . F.Smith, rFree Thought and Rel ig ion in Victor ia, 1870-1890'MA ,Melb. U, p.257;

13 . Liberator, 17 October, 1886.14 . AG Stephens, rAutobiographies f Aust ra l ian and New Tealand

Authors and Art istsr unpubl ishedMs. in Mi tchel l L ibrary.15 . VOBU recordsbegin 7 September,1885,at Labor Archives, ANU.16. Recorder newslet ter ; a lso K.Kenaf ick, unpub. Ms on Blackburn

and Curt in, ANL, pp.909+.17 .

'Agereport in J.Harr is, rThe Bi t ter Fight ' p.61.

18 . rLaborrsPioneer ingDayst p,136+.This is mainly about New Zea-land.

19. L.Churchward, rThe American Inf luence on th e Aust ra l ian LaborMovementr ,Histor icalStudies,Vol .5, p.264,fn.

20. Commonweal nd WorkersAdvocate, 15 Apri l and 21 Apri l , 1893.21 . Aust ra l ian Radical , June 1,1889.22. Socia l ist ,July 6,1907;VOBUecordsrrHummerr May 1892; Col in

Wi l l iams rBr ief History of Ma y Da y Celebrat ionst .23 . rBeacon'journal of the Single Tax Movement ,Henry George Leag-

ue , Melb.24. rProgresstnewslet ter for Land Nat ional isat ionSociety and Free

Trade Democrat ic Associat ion,VSL.

25. See also Honesty, August 1BBB,p.9B.26. See James as above.

2T. tHummer'16 Apr i l 1B92, rTruthr10 Apri l 1892, and Andrewsin rTocsinr17 OctoLrer 901.

28 . rMelbourneHerald ' , 28 July 1892,

'Hummerr 1B June 1892, 2 July 1892; Br isbane Workert 16 July1892,p. 4 MelbourneHerald 1 August 1892.

29 . VOBU minutes 17 June 1895.30 . rBeaconrOctober, 1895 also.31 . tCharnoion'14 December B95 p.206.

il

i

l1

lr.li

18



32 . 'Tocsin ' 27 APri l 1899.

33 . 'Tocsint8 June' 22 March, 13 July 1899'

34 . tTocsin ' 14 s"p[ "*o"t - iags; 2i September 1899; 23 November

1 99.35 . rTocsinr14 December1899'

i6 . 'Tocsin ' 8 February1900;7 December1899'

37 . rTocsintB June 1899.

38 . tTocsinr10 .JanuarY1901'

39 . tTocsin ' 1B APri l 1901.

40 . tTocsinr9 Ma Y 1901.

4l . rTocsin '16 Ma Y 1901.

42 . 'Age' 25,26 June 1902.43 . tThe Aust ra l ianCommonweal th 'B'F i tzpat r ick ' p 'p ' 92 '93'

44 . rTocsinr26 September19Ol '

45 . 'Tocsinr13 March 1902.

;6 : ;p*pi " t Voice ' g-

apr i l 1904, 'Dai ly Telegraph' 4 Apr i l 1904'

14 APri l 1904.47 . tPeoplersDai lyt 25 February 1904'

48 . rDai ly Telegraphr Apr i l 1904.

49 . 'Dai ly Telegraph'9 Apr i l 1904'

50 . Dwyer Col lect ion,Mi tchel l L ibrary, ML Q335'8 '

51 . Port Fai ry Cazet ie, 24 November ' 1903; se e also Avr ich in

'Freedom'23 JulY 1977'

52 . rsol idar i tyForevert P.13,PP 62-65'

53 . 'sol idar i tYForeverr ,P.BB'54 . Se e Labor car i . l ' ! v

--8,1915,p8;Argus, 14 July, 1915 an d Al f

Wi lsontsMernoi rs, .a ' , p 'p ' 93-94' Melb ' Uni ' Archives'ss . ir s p"tpniet , 'wr,at ls Anarchism etc)" Sydney'1912;

56 . Se e Argus Indexe.g. 1915-16'

57 . rsol idar i tYForeverrP.236'58 . Argus, B oecember, - igaS,see. lso.Melb ' Herald ' 7 July ' 1947'

59 . FtJming to Nett lau, 3 September '1933' lSH' Amsterdam'

60 . F.B.Smtn tnesis, bZ-gZ.'t

SS S is given, erroneously,as th e death

date.61 . Executorof Estate in letter to Merr i f ie ld 26 March 1962'

62 . rsol idar i tYForeverrP.271'63. Kenaf ick,P.465.

20

chummy fleming, a brief biography

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