In late March 2024, and handful of us local SE Qld Wobs made a day trip out to Samford. We went to meet-up with an awesome, elderly wobbly from Melbourne. She happened to be in Queensland visiting family, so it was a unique opportunity to spend an afternoon in the pub sharing stories.
It’s always inspiring to hear the stories and experiences of other wobblies, especially the older generations who have been doing it for decades. They’ve seen and done everything. Theoretically we can bang on about this being part of a culture of sharing oral history.
The working class traditionally didn’t write down our histories and experiences. We share these with friends and family through chatting about stories we share. Similarly the indigenous peoples did the same, except with the formality of ritual and continuity.
Middle class academics make it their career to write down and publish histories. These writings can be a way shaping the past through an ideological lens depending on their personal ambitions, paycheck and agenda. The history of the radical Queensland working class is frequently ignored and not discussed. Who was taught about the Brisbane General Strike of 1912 in school?
“Who controls the past now, controls the future
Who controls the present now, controls the past
Who controls the past now, controls the future
Who controls the present now?”
Testify – Rage Against the Machine
This is why we find these sort of afternoons in the pub with our older fellow workers so valuable. The stories you wouldn’t read about. Getting to together face-to-face is a way to overcome the alienation of a techno-capitalist society. Organic grass-roots organising is based on this principle.
Plus she gave us an awesome pile of her DIY homemade patches! Very cool.
