in the famous Victorian Coal Miners’ Strike, which lasted 20 months. The miners were defeated, prominent men blacklisted, and Bob, accompanied by “Bill” Ambury, now of Granity, like many good industrialists before them, came to New Zealand under assumed names, and secured employment.
When I first met him, Bob was President of the State Miners’ Union, and under his guidance it was shaking off the apathy hitherto characteristic of it. Bob, even in those days, was the “Fighting Bob” who shook New Zealand to the foundations a few years later. My first meeting with him was when we discussed the formation of a Branch of the Socialist Party.
The impression I gained then was one that often impressed me in the years that followed—his wonderful capacity for detail. In planning a campaign, in outlining a policy, the most minute detail was never overlooked. Together, we formed Branches of the Socialist Party in Greymouth, Runanga, Brunnerton, Reefton, and Blackball.
I look back now with considerable enjoyment on the team work we displayed. I would open, outlining what we wanted done; Bob would follow in elaboration and exhortation. We would ask for questions, but regarded each questioner as an opponent, and proceeded to crush him for his temerity in language that could not possibly be misunderstood. Questions, therefore, were but few, for which we were duly thankful.
As was the case in Denniston, these little Socialist groups carried on an intensive propaganda. We did indeed build more firmly than we knew, for from them sprung the recruits that in later days made an army that was unparalleled in N.Z. or Australia.
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