- The Guardian
- Issue #2168
Beryl Miller remembered
Comrade editor,
Thank you for the coverage of Beryl Miller’s life in Guardian #2166. The solidarity shown in the support Beryl and Alan Miller gave throughout their lives is a great example of what a communist activists can achieve.
They were always present supporting causes of concern for peace, women, local and international issues. In the Florey electorate Beryl and Alan supported Frances Bedford, a local State member for over 20 years in campaigns to save the Modbury hospital, and the transport system, and were always there to give out how to vote cards for Frances and assistance.
It is thanks to people like Beryl and Alan that we have the Modbury hospital back under government control. Beryl and Alan were very active in selling the Guardian and earlier the Tribune so people could learn how they were being exploited in the capitalist society.
It was so impressive when both Beryl and Alan, both in their eighties, gave physical support helping collect, sort and pack medical and educational materials into containers for Cuba and Vietnam over several weeks. Their support was very much at grassroots level. In the Union of Australian Women (UAW), Beryl was key to keeping the organisation going and achieved a lot for women for many years. In 1975 several of us joined the UAW and found it always not only interesting but active. It is thanks to Beryl that I was able to attend the Beijing Women’s Conference.
Dr Bev Hall
Comrade Editor,
I remember Beryl Miller well. She and Alan were always part of our lives, and part of an era when so much happened. There were attempts to have the party declared illegal and active surveillance from ASIO. The Party’s influence in the Trade Union movement was huge.
Beryl and Alan worked wherever the Party needed them, at times uprooting and moving to where they were more needed. They worked at local, state, national, and international levels. They sold the Party paper (Tribunes/Guardians) at factory gates in the early hours when workers were clocking on. They were active in strike and women’s committees, taking on important roles and providing critical support to the Party. Beryl attended conferences and events all over the country and indeed the world.
The women in the Party from the time of formation right though to recent times were remarkable and their support and contributions invaluable.
Beryl and Alan were involved when Paul Robeson toured, and when union leader Clarrie O’Shea was jailed. My mother and Beryl were directly involved when O’Shea did a speaking tour following his release. Beryl and her partner Alan were active right through to the fight against apartheid and Mandela’s release. They contributed to the Party, and anti-war and peace movements from their youth – as members of the Eureka Youth League and Young Socialist League through difficult times that the Party went through and subsequent rebuilding. It was a lifetime commitment and contribution.
Our Party would not be the Party it is without them. They were our Elders and the keepers of so much knowledge. I realised that after my mum died. Someone asked me a question – it was something I would have asked mum about for her first hand knowledge. I thought “Oh shit I’m now that generation in the eyes of our younger and newer Comrades!” …
It’s the end of an era.
Vale Comrade Beryl.
Sally Mitchell,
South Australia
