Ralph Siward Gibson (19 February 1906 – 16 May 1989) was an Australian communist organiser and writer.

Life

Gibson was born in

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, England, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, located mainly in the London Borough of Camden, with a small part in the London Borough of Barnet. It borders Highgate and Golders Green to the north, Belsiz ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

W.R. Boyce Gibson William Ralph Boyce Gibson (15 March 1869 – 2 April 1935) was a British-Australian philosopher. He was an advocate of personal idealism.Grave, S. A"Gibson, William Ralph Boyce (1869–1935)" Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of ...

and Lucy Judge, ''née'' Peacock. The elder Gibson was appointed to the chair of philosophy at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

in 1911, and the family moved to

Toorak Toorak () is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Stonnington local government area. Toorak recorded a population of 12,817 at the 2021 census. The name ...

, before relocating to Mont Albert in 1918. The younger Ralph attended Glamorgan Preparatory and Melbourne Church of England Grammar schools before graduating from the University of Melbourne (where he was a resident at

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

)Salvete
The Fleur-de-Lys, no. 24 (Oct. 1924), p. 10. in 1927 with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

(Hons) in history and politics. In 1925 Gibson was one of the founders of the university Labor Club and was active in the Labor Guild of Youth. He returned to England in 1927 and received a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

from the

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

in 1930. He was an organiser for the

British Labour Party The Labour Party, often referred to as Labour, is a List of political parties in the United Kingdom, political party in the United Kingdom that sits on the Centre-left politics, centre-left of the political spectrum. The party has been describe ...

at the 1929 general election before returning to Australia in 1931 to work as an extension lecturer for the Workers' Educational Association in 1931. Gibson became disillusioned with the Scullin government and its failure to deal with unemployment, and joined the

Communist Party of Australia The Communist Party of Australia (CPA), known as the Australian Communist Party (ACP) from 1944 to 1951, was an Australian communist party founded in 1920. The party existed until roughly 1991, with its membership and influence having been ...

in January 1932. Gibson was a full-time party organiser for forty years. He was gaoled in 1933 for three weeks after addressing an illegal street meeting. On 16 March 1937, after returning from the World Peace Conference in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, he married Dorothy Alexander in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

. They settled in Oakleigh. Gibson was a member of the central committee and editor of the communist newspaper the ''Guardian'' from 1943 to 1948. He was the principal witness before Justice Lowe's royal commission of 1949–50 into communism in Victoria, and was little moved by

Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and the Premier of the Soviet Union, Chai ...

's revelations about

Stalinism Stalinism (, ) is the Totalitarianism, totalitarian means of governing and Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union (USSR) from History of the Soviet Union (1927–1953), 1927 to 1953 by dictator Jose ...

in 1956. Gibson published ''My Years in the Communist Party'' in 1966, and following his wife's death in 1978 published a memoir of her, ''One Woman's Life'', in 1980. He later published ''The People Stand Up'' in 1983 and ''The Fight Goes On'' in 1987, two exhaustive histories of communism in Australia and the world. He died at East Malvern in 1989 and was cremated.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gibson, Ralph 1906 births 1989 deaths People from Hampstead People educated at Trinity College (University of Melbourne) University of Melbourne alumni Communist Party of Australia members Writers from Melbourne English emigrants to Australia Alumni of the University of Manchester People from Oakleigh, Victoria People educated at Melbourne Grammar School