People Australia

Vic Elliott, n.d.

ANU Archives, NBAC N409-119-76

Eliot Valens (Victor) Elliott (1902-1984) seaman, trade union official and Communist

Birth: 12 September 1902 at Huntley, New Zealand, and named Victor Emmanuel, son of New-Zealand-born parents James Elliott (1873-?), wheelwright and Helena, née Grey (1884-). Marriages: (1) 26 August, 1930 at the district registrar’s office, Rockdale, Sydney, New South Wales, as Eliot Valence Elliott McPherson to native-born Violet Muriel Uhr (1908-1974). They had one son. (2) 24 September 1982 at Roseville, Sydney, to Kondelea (Della), née Xenodohos. Death: 26 November 1984 in hospital at Hornsby, NSW; usual residence Boundary Road, Roseville, Sydney. 

• Following the death of his father and twelve years later, his stepfather, he left school to his support family. Worked on railways, before going to sea, aged 17.
• He joined the Federated Seamen’s Union of Australasia (FSUA) —then covering seamen on both sides of the Tasman — in 1919. Saw much of the world in the process.
• Transferred to the Australian coast in 1922. Worked as a fireman and was union delegate on most of his ships. By 1924 had gained a reputation as a tough, cocky ‘Bolshevik’.
• In 1935 he gained prominence as a rank and file leader of an ill-fated and divisive strike. In 1936 he was elected the FSUA Queensland branch secretary and joined the Communist Party of Australia, in which he was a leading figure and member of the central committee until 1971, when he became a foundation member of the Socialist Party of Australia.
• From 1936 he was committed to rebuilding the seamen’s union, healing the wounds of 1935. He created the journal, The Seamen’s Voice, as a key instrument of reconstruction. In 1941 he was elected federal secretary of the Seamen’s Union, retaining the position until his retirement in 1978.
• In 1949 he became vice president of the Seamens’ and Dockers’ Department of the World Federation of Trade Unions.
• ‘Beneath his grim exterior, Elliott was a man of great compassion’. Noted for his internationalism and use of the political strike. Closely monitored by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation.
• Cause of death: mycardial infarct (24 hours), bleeding gastric duodenal ulcers (days), right sided pneumonia (days), and collapsed left lung (old tuberculosis) years. 

Sources
Fitzpatrick and Cahill, 1981; The Hummer, vol 8, February - March 1985; The Seamen’s Journal, May 1978, January 1979, December 1984, August 1991; Tribune (Sydney), 7 December 1984; Playford thesis; Ellis, 1949; NAA, A6119/XR/135 - A6119/XR/140.