James Crawford (6 February 1908 – 11 November 1973)Healy 2000, 65Obituary Jim Crawford – Playwright of the Working Class 1974, 7 was an Australian playwright and commentator who wrote political plays, feature articles for newspapers and was very involved in many social and political groups. He was best known for his plays Rocket Range and Billets and Badges. Crawford wrote twenty-four plays and twenty-one skits which are known about. Some of the plays were turned into radio dramas. Crawford also wrote numerous newspaper articles in relation to political and social problems at the time which led him to be well respected in the community.Crawford 1971
Crawford was born in Manchester, England, in 1908 and arrived in Australia in 1924.Crawford 1971, 1 As a playwright, Crawford was influenced by William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe. He was also greatly influenced by the Communist Party of Australia and the ideals it stood for. In an article written by Crawford about Elizabethan Theatre he wrote that "In the Elizabethan Theatre, Marlowe spoke with the voice of the radical intellectual. Shakespeare spoke with the voice of the people." From the themes of the plays written by Crawford it is clear he has tried to emulate both Marlowe and Shakespeare.Crawford 1964, 4
Crawford was an important member of the Roving Reds Revue Company, New Theatre Club and Realist Writers Group. He also made contributions to several other groups. Crawford also spent time in the Army Services after marrying Ursula Hills in 1938. After his divorce from Ursula, Crawford married Pamela Crawford (née Seeman) in 1949. Crawford continued writing right up until his death at Greenslopes Hospital on 11 November 1973.Obituary Jim Crawford – Playwright of the Working Class 1974, 7
History
Early years James Crawford was the son of John 'Oakden' Potter, a civil engineer, and Janet Keer, who was originally from the island of Arran. He was born in Manchester, England on 6 December 1908 as John Oakden.Healy 2012 Crawford was the youngest of the family with four other brothers and sisters. Crawford's mother died when he was eleven years old, leaving his eldest sister to run the household, as Crawford's father travelled for work. Whilst attending a school in Manchester, Crawford began to develop an interest in Shakespeare which he was taught to perform instead of reading it out aloud.Crawford 1971, 1
In 1924 Crawford finished up at his grammar school with the intention of traveling.Obituary Jim Crawford – Playwright of the Working Class 1974, 7 At the young age of 16 he found himself on a ship destined for Australia, and arrived on its shores in 1924.Healy 2012 Crawford had originally intended to travel to Canada, however, his father suggested Australia because of the warmer climate.Crawford 1971, 2 Crawford described his younger self as a "starry eyed idealist". Once in Australia, Crawford worked as a stockman on a cattle station known as 'Kamileroi'.Healy 2012 For the next five years, he worked as a station hand in the Gulf Country. Working in the Gulf Country alongside the Indigenous Australian people and seeing the brutal way in which they were treated spurred Crawford's passion for equal rights.Obituary Jim Crawford – Playwright of the Working Class 1974, 7 His empathy for the Indigenous Australians can be seen in this quote taken from an interview, "the Aborigine has always been a very good, humane person".Crawford 1971, 4 Crawford's first brush with the law was because he gave meat (intended for white people) to Aboriginal stockmen while he worked as a butcher. He considered himself lucky as he was not thrown in gaol but given a warning by the police. He used this personal experience as inspiration for his plays.Healy 2012 With the intention of travelling around Australia, Crawford undertook menial work to make the necessary money. Although his time working and travelling around Australia was an experience, Crawford stated "you wouldn't get me back there".Crawford 1971, 4
Crawford left for New Zealand in 1929 and stayed there until 1932.Crawford 1971, 4 His intention was to travel to South America and then head back to England, but when boarding a ship that was supposedly going to Valparaíso, it landed in Australia. Australia was going through the depression which forced Crawford to join the unemployed bagman.Obituary Jim Crawford – Playwright of the Working Class 1974, 7
Career, writing, associations During 1932, Crawford joined the Unemployed Workers Movement, which was active in protests in Cairns and participated in riots in Mackay.Obituary Jim Crawford – Playwright of the Working Class 1974, 7 While unemployed and living at the 'Bagman's Camp' in Victoria Park, Brisbane, he gave lectures on William Shakespeare to his unemployed acquaintances.Crawford 1971, 6 Whilst based at the camp Crawford was introduced to The Communist Manifesto and after reading and agreeing with its political standpoint joined the Communist Party of Australia in 1934. Jim regarded himself as a socialist and was very impressed by Engels' work which was the Origin of the Family and Private Property and the State (1984). These inspirations gave Jim knowledge about Aboriginal law and society. Crawford also studied the science of Marxism and Leninism.Obituary Jim Crawford – Playwright of the Working Class 1974, 7
Jim Crawford helped found the Roving Reds Revue Company with fellow bagmen. The group was also known as The Proletarian Players. The Roving Reds Revue Company was described as the most sectarian group that had ever existed in Australia.Crawford 1971, 6 This group was created for two purposes; to raise money for the Unemployed Workers' Movement and also to criticise the Australian establishment in every possible way.Lowenstein 1978, 45 However, this theatrical group only lasted for a short while due to the competition with the Student Theatre.Arrow 2002, 161 Crawford originally wanted to become an actor, however, being told he was superior in playwriting he began writing for the company.Piffard 1946, 3 Yet, Crawford stated that he was chosen to become the playwright for the Roving Reds as he was known to "quote the second soliloquy of Hamlet" while drunk.Lowenstein 1978, 45 Crawford travelled on his bike around Australia to explain the reason for the Proletarian Revolution.Crawford 1971, 7 His travels gained him the nickname the 'Anarchy Bull-Bearing Bum' .Crawford 1971, 7 While travelling, he had various jobs such as working on cotton farms in Callide Valley (Queensland), cutting wood for bakers' ovens in New South Wales, milking cows and packing tomatoes.
In 1935, Crawford went to Melbourne where he stayed for eleven years, excluding the five years he spent in war service. He was involved in groups during his time in Melbourne such as the Left Book Club, the Victorian Communist Party, The Unity Theatre and the Worker's Voice, which was the forerunner of the Victorian Guardian.Obituary Jim Crawford – Playwright of the Working Class 1974, 7 During pre-war period, the Worker's Voice had the largest circulation of any Communist Party paper in the Southern Hemisphere.Crawford 1971, 8 During the years he worked as a journalist, Crawford passionately helped to expose the struggles of the times. For example, he helped to expose the spy mission of the German naval submarine commander, Count von Luckner also known as the 'Yachtsman adventurer'. Luckner was a Nazi who travelled around the world spying for Adolf Hitler.Crawford 1971, 8 Due to his participation in the 'No Scrap Iron for Imperialist Japan' demonstrations in Melbourne, Crawford spent two days in the jail cell that Ned Kelly was incarcerated in just before he was hung. Alan Marshall and Crawford interviewed Hewlett Johnson, The Red Dean of Canterbury, together for the Worker's Voice. The Red Dean, also known as Dr Hewlett Johnson, was the dean of Canterbury in 1931 and has been described as "one of the most famous men in the world".London Review of Books 2011, 1 Marshall noted Crawford as being an outstanding journalist and one of the best at the Worker's Voice.Marshall 1983, 34
On 8 August 1939, Crawford married Ursula Mary Hill using his birth name John Oakden-Potter.Healy 2012, 1
While working at the Victorian Guardian newspaper, he wrote a weekly column under the name Jim Crawford.Healy 2012, 1 In 1940, he adopted the name 'Jim Crawford' by deed poll as he became well known through his weekly column. In the same year, Crawford had to go underground when the Australian Government outlawed the Communist Party. Because the Victorian Guardian Newspaper wrote about Communist issues, it was also prohibited.Crawford 1971, 7 Crawford wrote illegal newspapers in Communist follower's basements.Healy 2012, 1 His friend Cecil Sharpley used to deliver the supplies. As Crawford was still involved with the illegal newspaper he was continuously on the run from the police. Towards the end of the war he discovered that Sharpley was the one who exposed his involvement with the newspaper. It was only when the Soviet Union entered the war that the ban on the Communist Party was lifted and the paper became legalised. However, due to the censorship of the war period, the paper had reduced in size.Crawford 1971, 8
On 21 January 1942, Jim Crawford enlisted in the Australian Army Medical Corps.Healy 2012, 1 Crawford wanted to enlist earlier but he had not been medically fit.Crawford 1971, 8 When Crawford grew tired of peeling spuds he was discharged in September and worked as a stoker in the Royal Australian Naval Reserve, serving aboard mine-sweepers guarding the B.H.P steel works at Whyalla.Piffard 1946, 3 While working as a stoker, Crawford founded a Worker's study group. Crawford also spoke at War Loan Rallies. At one rally he spoke on a platform with future Australian Prime Minister, Harold Holt, who shouted Crawford to a double whisky after his speech. Jim was charged with mutiny for organising to stop work of naval stokers until they were paid trade union rates. They stood firm and gained the Union rates they were after, however, Crawford was transferred to New Guinea to the Naval Depot HMS Ladava.Crawford 1971, 7 In 1944, he experienced the bombing by the Japanese in New Guinea. He also served aboard an Icelandic fishing trawler converted to minesweeper HMS Beryl. While working on the minesweeper Crawford had to shovel coal into the furnace. This coal shovelling had caused permanent damage to Crawford's lungs and he developed emphysema.Crawford 1971, 8 In January 1945, he was discharged from the navy with a pension as he was suffering from a duodenal ulcer.Healy 2012, 1 Once discharged from the navy, he arrived back in Melbourne and wrote for large newspapers, such as the Sporting Globe and the Melbourne Guardian.Obituary Jim Crawford – Playwright of the Working Class 1974, 7 He worked for the Melbourne Guardian for ten years, writing mostly about political issues.Piffard 1946, 3
The separation of the war had caused damage to his relationship with his wife and he divorced Ursula, in 1946. During the latter part of 1948, Jim worked with the Queensland Guardian in Brisbane on a temporary basis. He lived in Brisbane for the rest of his life.Crawford 1971, 7 In 1948, Crawford got a serious case of pneumonia and was given up for dead. However, he managed to pull through and got married six months later to Pamela Mary Seeman on 22 December 1949. Pamela was an artist, and once married they bought several acres of rainforest on Tamborine Mountain and settled on the mountain.