Edgar Argent Ross (20 November 1904 – 16 November 2001) was an Australian journalist, trade unionist and communist organiser. Ross was born in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

Bob Bob, BOB, or B.O.B. may refer to: Places *Mount Bob, New York, United States *Bob Island, Palmer Archipelago, Antarctica People, fictional characters, and named animals *Bob (given name), a list of people and fictional characters *Bob (surname) ...

and Ethel Ross, who were based in

Broken Hill Broken Hill is an inland mining city in the far west of outback New South Wales, Australia. It is near the border with South Australia on the crossing of the Barrier Highway (A32) and the Silver City Highway (B79), in the Barrier Range. It is ...

. Bob Ross, a newspaper editor, was also a foundation member of the Socialist League and the Social Democratic Vanguard, which influenced young Edgar's political development. The family later moved to

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

and, briefly,

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, but Edgar attended University High School in Melbourne before becoming a cadet journalist in 1922, joining the Australian Journalists' Association. He was a sporting editor for the

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, ...

-based ''Industrial Advocate'' and wrote book reviews for the ''Socialist'', both of which were edited by his father. By 1925 he was a subeditor with the ''Barrier Daily Truth'', the newspaper of the Workers Industrial Union of Australia. Around this time he joined the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms the f ...

and developed a close, sometimes prickly rapport with

Ernest Wetherell Ernest "Ern" Wetherell (26 March 1893 – 31 March 1969) was an Australian politician and a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1949 until 1965. He was a member of the Labor Party and held numerous ministerial positions betw ...

, editor of the ''Truth''. In the late 1920s he supported Wetherell and union leader Dick Quintrell against an attempted coup by racial exclusionist Richard Gully. Ross was soon president of the local Militant Minority Movement, and he joined the

Communist Party of Australia The Communist Party of Australia (CPA), known as the Australian Communist Party (ACP) from 1944 to 1951, was an Australian political party founded in 1920. The party existed until roughly 1991, with its membership and influence having been i ...

(CPA) in 1933, which brought with it active membership in the

Movement Against War and Fascism The Movement Against War and Fascism (MAWF) was founded in Australia in 1933, as an Australian chapter of the World Movement Against War established in 1932 by the Comintern. The international movement was instigated by Willi Münzenberg the Germ ...

. Around this time he married Patricia Josephine McLauchlan. In 1935 Ross became editor of the Miners' Federation journal, the ''Common Cause'', in which role he would continue until 1966. He vigorously supported the successful campaign for the forty-hour week and was a mining group representative on the New South Wales Labor Council Executive from 1936 to 1966. From 1939 to 1940 he was the lead writer in the ''

Labor Daily The ''Labor Daily'' was a Sydney-based journal/newspaper of the early to mid 20th century. An organ of the Australian Labor Party, it was published in Sydney by Stanley Roy Wasson after the ailing ''Daily Mail'' was absorbed by Labor Papers Ltd, w ...

''/''Daily News'', and while the Communist Party was banned in the early 1940s he was a member of the

State Labor Party The State Labor Party, also known as State Labor Party (Hughes-Evans), was an Australian political party which operated exclusively in the state of New South Wales (NSW) in the early 1940s. The party was initially a far-left faction of the Austr ...

. The SLP amalgamated with the Communist Party in 1944 and Ross was confirmed as a member of the CPA's central committee. In September 1948 Ross participated in a public debate with Fr P. J. Ryan of the Catholic Social Studies Movement on the nature of communism, attracting an audience of 30,000. He supported the 1949 coalminers' strike, and in 1951 headed the New South Wales Senate ticket for the party. He visited the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

and China in 1955 and was the Australian delegate to the 22nd Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1961. A Soviet loyalist, he rejected the CPA leadership's reforms in the late 1960s and early 1970s and was expelled from the party, joining the new Socialist Party of Australia. He was the Moscow correspondent for the party's newspaper, the ''Socialist''. Ross also published several works of labour history, including ''The Russian Revolution: Its Impact on Australia'' (1967), ''A History of the Miners' Federation of Australia'' (1970), ''Of Storm and Struggle'' (1982), and ''These Things Shall Be! Bob Ross, Socialist Pioneer: His Life and Times'' (1988).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ross, Edgar 1904 births 2001 deaths Australian communists Communist Party of Australia members