People Australia

Slater, Anna Joyce (Joyce), née Divers (1915-1990) Communist activist and journalist 

Birth: 22 August 1915 at Heacham, West Norfolk, England, daughter of Osborne Divers (1882-1954), a watchmaker and jeweller, and Irene Lillian, née Usher (1881-1941). Marriage: 2 February 1944 at Brisbane, Queensland, to James (Jim) Slater (1897-1978), labourer, trade union official and fellow Communist, born at West Bromwich, Staffordshire, England. They had one son. Death: 7 April 1990 in Fremantle Hospital, Western Australia; usual residence King Street, East Fremantle. 

• Moved with her mother and three sisters to Birmingham, aged 12. In 1929 she left school to work in a Dunlop rubber plant, working to build a trade union presence in defiance of management.
• Joined the British Labour Party aged 15, then joined the British Communist Party (BCP) in 1936 because of its support for the Republican cause in the Spanish Civil War. (Her mother, a devout Baptist joined the BCP the following year).
• Moved to Australia in 1938, joining the Communist Party of Australia (CPA) in the same year. In Brisbane she formed a life-long partnership with fellow CPA activist Jim Slater.
• She was sometime secretary of the Kurilpa branch of the CPA and a Communist candidate for the State seat of Kurilpa in September 1949 and March 1953 and the Federal seat of Griffith in December 1949.
• Worked as journalist for the Queensland Communist newspaper, Guardian, then became a frequent contributor to the CPA’s Tribune, distributing the paper at various sites, including the University of Queensland.
• Moved with her husband Jim to Fremantle, Western Australia, to be near her son and family in 1976.
• Cause of death: arrhythmia (seconds), myocardial infarction (2 days), gangrene (1 month) peripheral vascular disease (20 years), (contributory cause) hypertension. 

Sources
Tribune (Sydney), 25 April, 30 May 1990.