Tom O'Lincoln (27 August 1947 − 12 October 2023) was an American-Australian
Marxist
Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...
historian and author, and one of the founders of the
International Socialist Tendency in Australia.
O'Lincoln attended
UC Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkele ...
in 1966 and joined the
International Socialists who had participated in the
Free Speech Movement two years earlier. He wrote first-hand accounts of the
Carnation Revolution
The Carnation Revolution (), code-named Operation Historic Turn (), also known as the 25 April (), was a military coup by military officers that overthrew the Estado Novo government on 25 April 1974 in Portugal. The coup produced major socia ...
in Portugal, the
Sandinistas in Nicaragua, the Philippines after the
downfall of
Ferdinand Marcos
Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. (September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was a Filipino lawyer, politician, dictator, and Kleptocracy, kleptocrat who served as the tenth president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He ruled the c ...
, the
USSR
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
under
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet and Russian politician who served as the last leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...
, and the
upheavals against
Suharto
Suharto (8 June 1921 – 27 January 2008) was an Indonesian Officer (armed forces), military officer and politician, and dictator, who was the second and longest serving president of Indonesia, serving from 1967 to 1998. His 32 years rule, cha ...
in Indonesia. He was a member of the
Trotskyist
Trotskyism (, ) is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Russian revolutionary and intellectual Leon Trotsky along with some other members of the Left Opposition and the Fourth International. Trotsky described himself as an ...
organisation
Socialist Alternative,
as well as its
electoral alliance
An electoral alliance (also known as a bipartisan electoral agreement, electoral pact, electoral agreement, electoral coalition or electoral bloc) is an association of political parties or individuals that exists solely to stand in elections.
E ...
party
Victorian Socialists, and an editor of the online journal ''Marxist Interventions''.
Death
O'Lincoln died on 12 October 2023, at the age of 76, after a long battle with
Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a neurodegenerative disease primarily of the central nervous system, affecting both motor system, motor and non-motor systems. Symptoms typically develop gradually and non-motor issues become ...
.
Bibliography
Books
Into the Mainstream: The Decline of Australian Communism ''Stained Wattle Press'', Sydney 1985.
''Bookmarks Australia'', Melbourne, 1993.
(Co-editor with
Rick Kuhn) ''Longman Australia'', Melbourne, 1996.
United We Stand: Class Struggle in Colonial Australia ''Red Rag'', Melbourne, 2005.
(Co-editor with Sandra Bloodworth), ''Red Rag'', Melbourne, 2008.
Australia's Pacific War: Challenging a National Myth ''Interventions,'' Melbourne, 2011.
* Neighbour from Hell, ''Interventions'', Melbourne, 2014.
* The Highway is for Gamblers: A Political Memoir, with Janey Stone, ''Interventions''. Melbourne, 2017.
Articles
Why there's nothing good about Australian nationalism ''Socialist Alternative'', Edition 124, January 2008.
*
External links
Tom O'Lincoln's website
References
1947 births
2023 deaths
Activists from Melbourne
American emigrants to Australia
International Socialist Tendency
Labor historians
Australian Marxist writers
Members of the International Socialists (United States)
Overland (magazine) people
University of California, Berkeley alumni
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