Frederick John Riley (18 May 1886 – 2 April 1970) was an Australian political activist and trade unionist. Riley was born at Stirling in South Australia to blacksmith Frederick Riley, an early Labor Party activist and local councillor, and Susannah, ''née'' Williams. He left school at twelve and worked as a labourer. During a period in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

he was involved in socialist circles with

Harry Holland Henry Edmund Holland (10 June 1868 – 8 October 1933) was an Australian-born newspaper owner, politician and unionist who relocated to New Zealand. He was the second leader of the New Zealand Labour Party. Early life Holland was born at G ...

. He was imprisoned for a week at Wollongong in 1914 after ignoring a policeman's demand to stop addressing a free speech public meeting. He became secretary of the Australian Peace Alliance's Victorian council in 1916, and was often fined over involvement in brawls at anti-

conscription Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...

demonstrations; on one occasion he received a fine after protecting female speakers, including Vida Goldstein, from off-duty soldiers. A founding member and later secretary of the Y Club socialist discussion group, he participated in the 1919 Melbourne waterfront strike and helped negotiate a settlement. He married Alice Ann Warburton, ''née'' Large, on 27 April 1920 in a civil ceremony. In 1922 he was appointed secretary of the

Manufacturing Grocers' Employees' Federation of Australia Manufacturing Grocers' Employees' Federation of Australia (M.G.U.) was an Australian trade union existing between 1906 and 1988. The union was first established as the Federated Candle, Soap, Soda & Starch Employees' Union of Australia, before ch ...

and became a highly successful union leader. From 1931 to 1932 he was President of the Trades Hall Council, and he served as president of the Victorian branch of the Australian Labor Party from 1941 to 1942. In 1942 he became an adviser to the Commonwealth prices commissioner. His wife had died in 1940, and on 17 July 1943 he married Annie Elliott Warn. Riley was a member of the ALP's

anti-communist Anti-communism is Political movement, political and Ideology, ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, w ...

right wing and was refused admission to the 1955 federal conference; despite his non- Catholicism he joined the Democratic Labor Party, of which he was Victorian president from 1960 to 1961, when he retired from public life. He died in 1970 at Reservoir.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Riley, Frederick 1886 births 1970 deaths Australian trade unionists Australian Labor Party officials