Summary

Alf Wilson, born near Warrnambool in 1878, was an itinerant rural worker, miner, seaman and wharf labourer. An autodidact, his memoirs depict his obsession with building his library. A visit to Melbourne's Yarra Bank prompted his interest in socialist ideas. He described Marx as 'undisputed' and his 'intellectual master' (45) Wilson became a member of the Melbourne Local of the Industrial Workers of the World. He was a prominent speaker at anti-conscription campaign meetings during the conscription referenda of October 1916 and December 1917, conducting rallies throughout Tasmania in 1916 and in Adelaide in 1917. After the IWW was declared illegal in August 1917, Wilson briefly joined the Australian Socialist Party then became very involved with the unofficial OBU, the Workers International Industrial Union, organizing for it throughout country Victoria. He later joined the Socialist Labor Party and returned to Melbourne where he conducted classes for the SLP and spoke for it on the Yarra Bank on Sundays, while working as Depression labour on the rockery and waterfalls around the Shrine. He insists in his memoirs that the SLP was the only party that adhered properly to Marxism; however, this party expelled him for failing to produce proper statements of accounts. He died of a heart attack while working on the Benalla sewerage works on 19 August 1937.

Resources

Books

• Wilson, Alfred William, All for the Cause: Being the Experience of a Socialist Propagandist [manuscript], Also includes three appended documents: Preface by T. Gilmore; "The Late A.W. Wilson", letter from T. Gilmore to the editor of the Age newspaper (c1937); Short biography of Wilson (possibly by Gilmore), c1938, 236 pp. PDF Details

Pamphlets

• Wilson, Alf, What conscription is wanted for, Adelaide, 1916. Image PDF Details