Thomas (Tom) Gilbert Payne (1898-1988)
Born 16 February 1898 at Clunes, Victoria, son of Edward Payne and Alice née Harden. Married. Elsie Margaret Rawlings, 1937: two children Died. 26 April 1988, Clunes. Atheist.
- Joined ALP at Clunes 1915; moved to Prahran, Melbourne, c.1915, where he was apprenticed to shoe repairing.
- Active in anti-conscription campaigns 1916-17. Moved to Sydney, establishing shoe repair shop in Balmain. Joined Australian Socialist Party (ASP), becoming prominent ASP speaker at the Domain and on the coalfields; involved in the defection of the ASP’s Sydney Branch to CPA in 1922.
- Member of Clerks Union in early 1920s.
- Self-funded CPA delegate to Fourth Comintern Congress, Moscow, 1922, with Jock Garden and W.P. Earsman; travelled on passport ‘borrowed’ from a fellow member of the Clerks Union; removed from ship at Fremantle by Commonwealth authorities but smuggled back on board by sympathetic wharfies and seamen; at Southhampton was passed off as seaman; then to Russia via a Soviet cargo ship.
- Drifted from CPA in mid-1920s; active in Balmain branch of ALP in mid-1920s, serving as vice-president (1924).
- Leading figure in ALP Socialisation Units in early 1930s; official of Unemployed Workers’ Movement after 1930; with Stan Moran jailed in 1933 for abusing police.
- Rejoined CPA in 1933; sometime associate of J.B. Miles and Fred Farrell.
- In 1930s, operated boot repair shop in Glebe which was a hub of activist discussion and debate; tutor at local CPA classes; member of CPA’s Glebe branch for many years.
- Retired to Clunes c.1972, though returned frequently to Sydney as political activist. Characterised affectionately by Ian Baker as a model of correct behaviour: ‘non-swearing, sober in habit, well-dressed, well-read and extremely articulate’. Described by others as a ‘brilliant propagandist’.
Sources
A Davidson PhD thesis, p.469; Recorder, 74, 1975; Seamen’s Journal, May 1988, pp. 202-3; Guardian, 8 June 1988; Workers Weekly, 22 May 1925, 25 August 1933; Tribune, 11 May 1988.
Citation details
'Payne, Thomas Gilbert (Tom) (1898–1988)', People Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://labouraustralia.anu.edu.au/biography/payne-thomas-gilbert-tom-31925/text39381, accessed 7 January 2025.