Clement Gordon Watson (5 April 1912 – 17 April 1945) was a notable

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

, journalist and soldier. He fought in

World War Two World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated, with many nations mobilisi ...

, serving in the Italian campaign as a Private in the

2nd New Zealand Division The 2nd New Zealand Division, initially the New Zealand Division, was an infantry division of the New Zealand Military Forces (New Zealand's army) during the Second World War. The division was commanded for most of its existence by Lieutenant-G ...

Biography

Clement Gordon Watson was born in

Mangaweka } Mangaweka is a township on New Zealand State Highway 1, State Highway One (SH1) in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of the North Island of New Zealand. It is located between Taihape to the north and Hunterville to the south, has a population of ...

Wanganui Whanganui, also spelt Wanganui, is a list of cities in New Zealand, city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest nav ...

, New Zealand in 1912. His mother died when he was young and his father moved to

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

to run a plantation, so he was brought up by his aunt in

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

. He was an excellent student, winning a Junior Scholarship at Wellington College in 1929 and graduating from Victoria University College with a MA (second-class honours) in languages and literature in 1934. Watson was radicalised at university during the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

. He was a leader of the college's Free Discussions Club, whose newspaper ''Student'' was banned in 1933 after only two issues, attracting a lot of publicity. That same year, Watson would join the Communist Party of New Zealand, although he had been close to the party since 1932 when he joined the

Friends of the Soviet Union The International Association of Friends of the Soviet Union was an organization formed on the initiative of the Communist International in 1927, with the purpose of coordinating solidarity efforts with the Soviet Union around the world. It grew out ...

. By mid-1934, Watson was a member of the Central Committee. In 1936, he was appointed editor of the party's official newspaper ''Worker's Weekly'', which would be relaunched as ''People’s Voice'' in 1939. He would spend most of 1937 in the

Soviet Union 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 ...

, engaging in political discussion and attempting to gain funding for CPNZ. Althoughly staunchly against

fascism Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hie ...

, the CPNZ opposed the war. This would cause the Labour government to ban the party newspaper ''People's Voice'' in 1940. Along with Sid Scott, Watson would continue to publish the newspaper in a lava cave in

South Auckland South Auckland ( or ) is one of the major geographical regions of Auckland, the largest city in New Zealand. The area is south of the Auckland isthmus, and on the eastern shores of the Manukau Harbour. The area has been populated by Tāmaki M� ...

, near

Wiri Wiri is a mostly industrial-commercial focused suburb in Auckland, New Zealand. It was formerly part of Manukau City until the merger of all of Auckland's councils into the ' super city' in 2010. The area was named after the chief Takaanini W ...

. After the

German invasion of the Soviet Union Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along a ...

, Watson and CPNZ would switch to supporting the war. Watson would enlist in November 1941 as a private. He would serve in the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...

and then in the Italian campaign. He was killed in action near Faenza, Italy on the 17 April 1945, aged 33. He never married, but was engaged to a close companion from the 1930s, Mollie Render, at the time of his death. He was also a friend of writer

Elsie Locke Elsie Violet Locke (née Farrelly; 17 August 1912 – 8 April 2001) was a New Zealand Communism, communist writer, historian, and leading activist in the feminism and peace movements. Also available to subscribers at Oxford Reference Online'. P ...

, who would help publish a memorial collection of his works in 1949.

Legacy

In 1951, Watson's aunt Isabel Evelyn Spencer Watson established a scholarship fund in memory of her nephew. It provides $12,000 NZD per year for New Zealand students to study international relationships or social and economic conditions at a university overseas at Masters or PhD level. The Wellington branch of the now-defunct

Socialist Unity Party of New Zealand The Socialist Unity Party of New Zealand was one of the better-known communist parties in New Zealand. It had a certain amount of influence in the trade union movement, but never won seats in Parliament. The Socialist Unity Party was founded i ...

was named in his honour.

References

1912 births 1945 deaths New Zealand communists New Zealand military personnel killed in World War II People from Mangaweka 20th-century New Zealand journalists {{NewZealand-writer-stub