People Australia

Moses Baritz, n.d.

Moses Baritz (also known as Moses Barrett or Barritz) (1883-1938) journalist, lecturer, music critic and Socialist 

Birth: 1883 in Manchester, Lancashire, England, son of Jewish parents from born Valkervisk, Russia, Barnet Baritz (1847-1887), milkman, and Anna, née Vyanski (1848-1944). Marriage: 1921 at Chorlton, Lancashire, to Bessie Minshull (1877-1937). Death: 29 March 1938 at Jewish Hospital, Manchester, England. 

• English citizen active in Socialist Party of Great Britain.
• Arrived in Australia in November 1918, after being deported from the United States. Gave rousing speech at Sydney Domain, November 1918 for Australasian Socialist Party. Was well received for attacking De Leonite model of revolutionary change, continuing campaign for several months.
• To Melbourne, where he was less well received, conducted furious exchange with Meredith Atkinson of Workers’ Educational Association. The ‘small portly, athletic young Jew’ who was also a wrestler, successfully resisted burly interjector’s attempts to remove him from speakers’ platform. Influenced many activists during his short period in Australia.
• In 1920, he established a branch of the Socialist Party of Great Britain in Melbourne.
• Interested in classical music and attended concerts without paying by brushing past usher shouting ‘Press’. Able to quote long passages of Marx and Lenin, including references to edition being cited, ‘a terror to anyone he took on...’
• Returned to England where he continued socialist agitation, lecturing in Manchester 1937.

Sources
Recorder, February 1993.