Uren, Thomas

Young years

Thomas Uren was born May 28, 1921 in a house on 40th Pagley Street in - a working suburb of Sydney in New South Wales ^{[3] [4]} . His paternal ancestors were Roots from Penzance ; he also had Jewish and English roots ^[5] . Father, Thomas Uren, was an unemployed jockey, and his mother, Agnes Miller, worked as a barmaid. Since, in addition to Tom, they had two more children - Jack (b. 1919) and Les (b. 1923), the family lived poorly ^{[4] [5]} . When Tom was five years old, the family moved to ^[4] .

Tom went barefoot to primary school ^[5] . Then he attended high school in ^6] , which he dropped out at age 13, during the Great Depression , in order to help his family by taking various temporary jobs ^{[7] [8]} . Thus, formally, Thomas Uren did not receive an education, and called his entire training “University of Unhappiness” ^[9] . In his youth, he was fond of cricket , played rugby for the Manley-Warring team, was a strong swimmer , and also began his career as a professional boxer in heavy and light heavyweight ^{[4] [6]} , which was facilitated by the fact that his father’s relative was the Australian champion middleweight champion Tommy Uren ^{[4] [10]} . Having succeeded in boxing, at the age of 19 Tom made an attempt to compete for the Australian heavyweight title ^{[11] [12]} , but lost to Billy Britt in a duel in Sydney ^[13] .

Military Service

Start

After the outbreak of World War II in September 1939 , in October Tom was drafted into the Australian Army - the . In May 1941, he was transferred to the ^[14] , namely to the 2nd / 1st heavy battery, and after three weeks at the quarantine station in Manley ^[15] , was sent to Darwin in a cattle carriage ^[4] , where he arrived in August and settled with his unit in the ^[16] . After taking leave, he again began to participate in fights ^[5] , and after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December , he landed with a unit in Kupang , on the western end of Timor , the eastern part of which was under Portuguese authority . Artillery was sent to the village of Babaoe, where a Japanese parachute landing was landed, whose attack was successfully repelled. Since January 1942, Australian positions have been bombarded daily. ^[16]

Captive

In February 1942 , in Kupang, Uren was captured after heavy and bloody battles with superior Japanese forces ^{[8] [17]} . He volunteered to go into battle in a car with a light machine gun in order to provide support for the 2 / 40th battalion of the Tasmanians, who went on a bayonet attack but fell under machine gun fire ^[18] . After nine months of imprisonment in Timor, he was transported to Java - in Tanjung Priok in Batavia ^[16] , and then sent to the construction of the Burmese railway ^[19] , where prisoners of war were physically abused and died thousands from starvation and disease ^[20] . For work that they had to walk six kilometers every day, the Japanese paid them a small allowance, making the case so that everything was in accordance with the provisions of the Geneva Convention ^[21] . During his time in captivity, Uren suffered from dysentery and malaria, having experienced about 100 of her attacks (on average, 4 days of illness for each decade) ^[22] , and all that he had was hope ^[11] . He spent 15 months on the railway line, working from 16 to 20 hours a day ^[21] , after which he was transported to Singapore - to , and from there to Bangkok ^[16] . Since January 1943, Uren served in the Konyu and Huntok camp under Lieutenant Colonel ^{[5] [17] [19]} , together with his assistant physicians andEwan Corlett ^[7] . For their meager allowances, they bought medicines and special food for the sick and weakened from the Thai and Chinese traders on the black market ^[19] , which they distributed according to the principle of necessity ^[8] , living in the camp according to the principle of compliance: the healthy looked after the sick, young after old, and rich after poor ^[19] . Uren later noted that this experience in his camp showed the superiority of socialism over the laws of the jungle that existed in the camp on the other side of the river ^{[8] [23]} , where the British died more often ^[24] , and “tired Dunlop had a huge impact on my life. He believed that we should take care of the sick and the weak and the old ” ^[25] . In total, during the construction period, by August 1945, a total of 8 thousand people were killed out of 13 thousand captured Australians ^[22] .

Exemption

In June 1945, Uren was transferred to Singapore , and then by boat to ^[21] - to Japan ^[19] . Three months before the end of the war, Uren was transported to a metallurgical smelter ^{[26] [27]} in Omut ^[19] , where he met the Japanese attentive and comradely attitude, although before that he was ready to “wipe all the Japanese off the face of the earth” ^[8] . On August 9, he observed a raspberry sky after the atomic bombing of Nagasaki ^[20] , being 80 kilometers from the epicenter of the explosion ^[19] . This event influenced the whole life and shaped the worldview of Uren ^[28] - he realized that the enemies are not the Japanese, but militarism and fascism ^{[25] [29]} . After the war, he largely abandoned Christianity ^[21] . After the surrender of Japan, Uren and his comrades went, first by train, and then by car, to Kagoshima , where the American troops were located, with which they flew to in the Philippines , and then to Manila . October 13, they arrived in Sydney on the aircraft carrier " HMS Formidable " ^[26] .

After the war

Tom Uren retired from military service on December 27, 1945 with the rank of scorer ^[3] . He spent Christmas in hospitals ^[26] . Tom settled with his parents. His father at that time worked at the Steel Mill and participated in the union movement ^[4] . He went to work there, again professionally began boxing, and having put himself in good physical shape, went to England through the Panama Canal as a fireman on a ship ^{[8] [30]} . Uren lived in the working suburbs of London , continued to train and began to participate in fights, winning in three and losing in two ^[31] , but was forced to quit because of his health condition ^[20] , in particular because of malaria attacks ^[30] . Uren moved back to Australia, and settled in in the west of Sydney with his wife. For about a year he was a handyman at the mill ^[11] , washed and swept the floors, as a result of which he became a trade union leader ^[30] . He later became manager at supermarket in , and in 1952 , after Ben Chifley 's funeral, he joined the Labor Party ^{[5] [20] [32]} . Having achieved financial independence and having saved up money, in 1954 he built his own house. At the same time, Uren became interested in the ideas and philosophy of the Catholic branch of the party, whom he met a year later, and inspired by it, bought two land plots and opened two of his small shops in Guildford. He later rented a village and butcher shop. Since 1955, he has been a member of the State Council and the Raid Federal Electoral Council. ^[32] In 1957, he won the preliminary selection in the Raid, having the opportunity to run for the upcoming parliamentary elections ^[23] .

Political career

In 1958, Tom Uren to the House of Representatives from ^[20] . He made his first speech in parliament on February 26, 1959 , devoting it to the history of the Labor Party and the lives of workers ^[33] . In parliament, he entered the left wing of the Labor Party under the leadership of , a man of "great intellect, compassion, and the pursuit of ideals," whom he called "a great speaker" and "our Fidel." At that time, they began to participate in the peace movement, constantly opposing nuclear tests and the American bombing of North Vietnam ^[34] . His political views were based on an understanding of justice and compassion taught by his mother ^[14] , books about Franklin Roosevelt ’s new course read in captivity, and the lives of Mahatma Gandhi , Martin Luther King , Ho Chi Minh and Nelson Mandela ^[5] . Uren’s favorite words from King were: “Hatred is always tragic. It violates the personality and scars the soul. It is more harmful to the hater than hatred should ” ^{[11] [25]} . In 1960 , when Paul Robson, whom Uren called "not only a fighter for justice for himself, but for the oppressed peoples of the world" ^[11] , spoke at the City Hall ^[35] , he told him - "Get up and fight with the bastards, Uren ” ^[11] . In the same year, Uren visited Japan with a peace initiative ^[36] , where he took part in a conference on the prohibition of atomic and nuclear weapons, giving a speech in which he said that the Japanese had an aggressive policy, but “the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki a crime against humanity ” ^[37] .

At this time, Uren was supported by , who was the leader of the Labor Party from 1960 to 1967 , and in 1963 , when Hough Whitlam thought to run for office, Tom thought he was too dependent on American foreign policy, and not voted for him ^[38] .

In 1963, he wanted to quit the party because it supported the construction of the US communications base in North West Cape ^[20] . In the same year, he filed a lawsuit for defamation by the news agencies Fairfax and Packer, who accused him of belonging to the Communists , and won the case, having received 43 thousand pounds in compensation ^[5] . With this money, he built two vacation homes under the names of “Fairfax Retreat” and “Packer Lodge” on the south coast of New South Wales ^[39] . At the same time, he personally collected trees from around the world and planted in a garden in Guildford, which made it a flowering and beautiful model for transforming Australia ^[40] . In 1964, Uren entered the Commonwealth parliamentary delegation at the first meeting ^[41] . At the 1965 federal conference of the party , with the help of Cairns and Uren, the policy of white Australia was abolished ^[34] , and in 1966 , the Holt government took the first step towards its abolition in parliament, and in 1967 the existence of Aboriginal people was recognized ^[42] . In the same year, Whitlam became party chairman, and in 1969 , opposed the Vietnam War, and previous differences were forgotten. ^[38] After that, Whitlam, who lived in the same district as Uren ^[11] , made him party spokesperson for Housing and Urban Policy ^[17] . In 1970, he took part in a demonstration against the Vietnam War, where he was beaten by a constable and went to court, but the application was rejected. Thinking that this issue was politicized because of his position on the war ^[28] , Uren refused to pay a fine of $ 80 for participating in an unauthorized demonstration, and chose 40 days of hard labor ^{[11] [17]} . From December 19, 1972 to November 11, 1975, Uren was in the and Whitlam ^{[6] [33]} . During this time, he initiated many projects that influenced the country's cultural life: the creation , the compilation of the , the acquisition and restoration of the abandoned urban areas of and ^[43] , reclamation of and the development of a network of Chipping Norton lakes ^[7] . Thanks to federal funding and his visionary policies, he took an active part in the creation of ^[44] and the decentralization of , and he also opened the first bike path in Australia, in Canberra ^[5] . As part of the projects of these projects, Uren played a key role in the development and preservation of the heritage movement in Australia ^[45] . He later noted that “the Wetlam government was not a socialist government, but it was a government of social values” ^[20] , but after a while it softened in relation to it ^[8] .

In 1976 , immediately after Whitlam's resignation, Uren was elected deputy leader of the Labor Party, but lost this seat after ^[23] : William Hayden became the chairman and became the deputy ^[17] . Opposing Indonesia ’s occupation of East Timor ^[20] , in the same year, Uren strongly decided to pass a resolution in favor of his self-determination at the Labor Conference, and at the same time he contributed to the hearings on this issue in the US Congress , being the patron of the Australian Association East Timor in New South Wales ^[46] . In 1978, Uhren again went to hard labor, refusing to pay bail after participating in an illegal rally in Brisbane ^[11] , explaining that “the transfer to prison was part of a protest against immoral and unfair laws to combat marches” ^[14] . He was only the second laborer arrested along with other activists during marches in Brisbane from 1977 to 1979 against mining and export of uranium (after Senator ) ^[47] .

In 1983, Uren called for the transfer of the party’s chairmanship from William Hayden to Robert Hawke , as he thought that the first, following Malcolm Fraser, would continue to deregulate the financial system and destabilize the union ^[20] . In the and Hawke, Uren, as and since 1983 , and since 1984 as Minister for Local Government and ^[6] , struggled with the desire to speak out against party politics, saying that Hawk embodied all that Hayden could not. Uren resigned as minister after , arguing later that leaders “lacked real compassion for the people they were supposed to represent” and called the years in the government “bloody” ^[20] . This was largely due to the fact that Uren for 10 years unsuccessfully tried to start the construction of the in , in addition to the first ^[48] .

In 1984, he became the , and held this position for eight years ^[5] . In March 1989, Uren wrote a letter , in which he said that former Japanese prisoners of war are dying faster than other veterans, demanding recognition of the categories of diseases and the introduction of a special pension, which was done in July of that year ^{[49] [50]} . In 1990, he led the parliamentary delegation to the Inter-Parliamentary Union. ^[41]

In the same year, Uren left parliament ^{[29] [51]} , holding out there for 32 years ^[52] , becoming the last World War II veteran to sit in the House of Representatives along with 13 and to be elected 13 times ^[33] : 1958, 1961, 1963, 1966, 1969, 1972, 1974, 1975, 1977, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1987 ^[53] . Over the years, he did not change his views, advocating the recognition of Cuba , Vietnam and Palestine , against the Persian Gulf war ^[20] . At the same time, he, along with leader visited Baghdad to convince Saddam Hussein to release 29 Australian prisoners ^{[5] [17]} , calling for a compromise in relations between Iraq and the UN ^[14] .

Community Activities

After his retirement, Uren became a life member of the Labor Party from 1993 ^[54] , was president of the from 1989 to 1997 and was his life member ^[22] , and continued to protect the environment, especially in light of the problems Sydney Bay ^[7] .

In 1997, Thomas Uren was awarded the honorary degree of Dr. from the ^[41] . In 1998, he entered the list of ^{[55] [56]} . In 2002 , Uren, a graduate of the University of Sydney ^[57] , received an honorary doctorate in architecture ^{[58] [59]} . In October 2003, Uren attended and delivered a speech at the funeral of Jim Cairns in Melbourne . ^[60] Uren said that "of all the wars of the 20th century ... World War II was a just war in the interests of the liberation of peace and freedom, in particular, for the Australian people and their future," however, he opposed the participation of Australia in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan , as he believed their “crusades” ^[19] . Although Tom was not a communist and at the same time did not sympathize with anti-communists, he was always committed to the ideals of socialism and peace, often quoting the Brazilian Marxist philosopher Paulo Freire , who said that “regardless of where the oppressed are, the act of love is a commitment to one’s case ” ^[17] . That is why Uren was one of the first to speak at meetings against the five-year detention of David Hicks at the American base of Guantanamo ^[61] .

In 2011, Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced that all other prisoners would receive an additional $ 500 in two weeks. Uren, as one of 400 survivors of 22,000 Australian Japanese prisoners of war, said this gesture symbolizes compassion and justice, which he values ​​above all else ^[39] . On April 25 of the same year, Uren, together with Governor General Quentin Bryce, visited the memorial in Thailand ^[62] , which he visited with Dunlop in 1987 , with Howard in 1998 and by train in 2005 ^{[63 ]} . Having celebrated his 91st birthday in 2013 , Uren noted that he was physically and mentally healthy due to “walking along the street and seeing the beauty of people's faces” ^[25] . On November 14, 2014, Uren was absent due to illness at the annual celebration of the formation of the Left Labor Party in Sydney’s Chinese restaurant ^[64] . Recently, he moved to a nursing home, where he was treated for diseases acquired in the years of captivity ^[38] . There he was visited by former Prime Minister Paul Keating, with MP and Senator .

Death

Circumstances

Thomas Uren died on January 26, 2015, Australia Day , aged 93, surrounded by his family in a nursing home in Sydney ^{[5] [14] [24] [65]} . After him, there remained wife Christina and her daughter Ruby, two adopted children Michael and Heather ^[66] .

Public Response

The deaths of Thomas Uren were answered by statesmen of different political camps ^[67] , past and present politicians ^[68] , who recalled him as a father, seer and political giant ^[69] . Labor chairman Bill Shorten described him as “the Leviathan of the labor movement” ^[70] and with his death as “the best of us”, it feels like “our light is dimmer on the hill” ^[71] , and Tanya Plibersek , who took his place as a deputy ^[29] , said that “he always emphasized to those of us to whom he so willingly gave his time, his wisdom and his experience, that there is no income from hatred, in personal relationships or in politics. He quoted Martin Luther King saying that hatred damages the soul ... We have all become poorer from his loss. He was very loved by the whole party, and we will miss him very much ” ^{[72] [73]} .

Anthony Albanese made a statement on behalf of the family of Tom Uren, noting that he “was enlisted in the Communists in the 1950s and 60s, but until the end of his life he listed Pope John XXIII and Martin Luther King as his main influences. Members of his family said that Uren met his death “with the same character and courage that he faced for the rest of his life” ” ^[75] . In his personal statement, he described his personality as follows: “Activist. Parliamentarian. Minister in the governments of Whitlam and Hawke. Ecologist. A fighter for peace and justice. Former prisoner of war. Progressive. A true believer in the Labor cause, ”adding that“ Tom Uren was a giant who left a wonderful legacy for the people he served and loved ... Tom Uren has been a mentor, inspiration, and father to me for the past 30 years. I, along with many other Australians, dearly loved him and we will miss him ” ^[76] . Later at a press conference, Albanese noted that “Tom Uren passed away in the world, and I spent time with him only two days ago. He left a huge legacy for our movement. He was a lover of people and society, and they gave him this love back ” ^[77] . called Tom “a prisoner of war, a world champion and a fighter for workers” ^[78] , “a very decent man, a beacon of integrity and a true true believer” ^[79] , and journalist said Uren was "an Australian champion for his military service and political loyalty. Thank you Tom for your lifelong devotion to issues that matter ” ^[80] .

Former Prime Minister Bob Hawke said, “Tom and I had disagreements from time to time, but I respected him very much; he was good as a minister. He was a very popular politician. I think that he was a man very eager for the leftist politics of the Labor Party, but he was not domineering in this. As a minister, he gave great practical effect to his convictions ” ^[81] . Former Prime Minister John Howard noted that “he appreciated Tom Uren very well. He was a truly committed laborer and a man of orthodox left wing. I respected his sincerity ” ^[82] . Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd wrote on his Twitter page , “Great Australian Life.” Soldier, warrior of progressive politics, champion of urban planning of future generations ” ^[83]

Minister of Veterans Affairs noted that “Uren was one of Australia's most respected politicians and will be sorely missed. He stood for his convictions, never doubting his constant struggle for peace and justice. I send my most sincere condolences to Tom Uren's family and friends during this difficult time. My thoughts and prayers are with them. ” ^[84] Ordinary Australians called Tom Uren “an example of heroism, modesty and humanity” ^[85] , “a role model for representatives of all parliamentary parties who should study and follow Uren’s approach” ^[86] , “a fighter in the full sense of the word: in boxing in the ring, in the theaters of war and in the house of government, "said Tom Uren knew suffering: poverty as a child, and war as an adult. He went to prison for his principles and served his people as well as a Labor politician. Are there any like Urena today? I doubt it ” ^[87] , and some even cited the film“ ”-“ You made it so that you are proud that we are Australians ” ^[88] .

East Timor’s Prime Minister Shanana Guzman, on behalf of the government, expressed sincere condolences to Tom Uren’s family, friends and colleagues, noting that “he turned his attention to the problem of Timor when very few politicians in Australia were ready to raise their voice in advocacy,” he “Powerfully spoke many times over the years of the struggle about what is happening in East Timor and consistently supported the Australian activists in solidarity with Timor,” and “East Timor will forever remember Tom Uren as something he who changed the history of our people through an extraordinary life as a benevolent person, a giver and a fighter for peace ” ^[46] .

Funeral

and farewell took place on February 4 at the ^{[89] [90] [91]} , where about 700 people came ^[92] , including MP on behalf of Prime Minister Tony Abbott , former prime ministers Paul Keating , Bob Hawke and John Howard , Australian Governor General Peter Cosgrove and New South Wales Governor , opposition leader Bill Shorten, rock musician Peter Garrett , and children and wife of Tom Uren ^[93] .

First, an indigenous Uncle Max Eulo fumigation ceremony took place ^[93] , after which the coffin with the body of Uren, covered with the national flag, garlands of flowers, his hat and medals ^[94] , accompanied by Timorese dancers with traditional funeral music, was brought into the farewell hall ^{[93] [95]} . The chairman of the ceremony, Uren’s deputy and friend Anthony Albanese made a laudatory speech in his honor ^[96] , as did his relatives ^[93] and politicians, including treasurer Chris Bowen, who called Uren the “lion” of the labor movement ^[95] . The memorial service, designed by Uren himself, included songs by singer and civil rights activist Paul Robson and singing songs from the union choir ^[94] . Two hours later, the coffin was carried out from the Town Hall through a crowd of supporters under the “ blues-style rhapsody ” of George Gershwin ^{[93] [94]} , after which in the afternoon of the same day cremation took place privately ^[92] .

The name of Tom Uren is the park located on Carani Avenue and Iris Street in ^[97] . In 2014, the portrait of Tom Uren by Mirra Whale of the ^{[98] [99]} . His other 1996 portrait by is in the ^[100] , and was acquired by her in 2001 ^[101] .

After the war, Tom Uren met Patricia Palmer, the sister of one of the prisoner camp comrades. On February 8, 1946, they were engaged, and after 13 months, in 1947 , they got married ^{[5] [26]} . They divorced in 1974 , but remained close, and Tom gave her almost all of his money, for which she bought a farm in Dorrigo . When Patricia was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1979 , they continued to live together in Sydney until her death in 1981 . They had two adopted children: Michael and Heather. In 1992, Uren married an musician and longtime friend Christine Logan, who had a daughter, Ruby ^{[5] [23]} .

Tom Uren liked to walk in nature ^[11] and watch the games of the football team “ ” ^[36] . He found joy in art, especially loving the works of ^[102] . One of his favorite films was the film “A Star Was Born ”, from which he quoted a phrase about how to become a great movie star: “Dreaming is easy, but it takes courage and hard work to make these dreams come true” ^[11] . Uren never pursued wealth, lived in a wooden house designed by architect , who loved very much, said he was a “representative of the people” and lived for the sake of a “human family” ^[103] .

For military service, Tom Uren was awarded the Star 1939-1945 , the , the and ^[104] .

June 13, 1993, Tom became an Officer of the Order of Australia "for serving the Australian Parliament through the development of cities, regions, the environment and society" ^[105] . On January 1, 2001, he was awarded the Centenary Medal "for services to the Australian community in Parliament" ^[106] . On January 26, 2013, Tom Companion of the Order of Australia “for outstanding service to society, in particular by contributing to the well-being of veterans, improving medical education in Vietnam, and preserving heritage sites of environmental importance” ^[107] .

On July 1, 2013, East Timor’s President Taur Matan Ruak awarded Tom Uren a ^[108] , which was received by his son Michael ^[46] .

In 1994, Tom Uren published his famous and highly regarded autobiography ^[109] :

• Tom Uren Straight Left . - Random House Australia, 1995 .-- 508 p. - ISBN 0091829984 .

In 2006, together with journalist published a biographical book about himself:

• Martin Flanagan, Tom Uren. The fight . - One Day Hill, January 1, 2006 .-- 174 p. - ISBN 0975770829 .

• Tom Uren. Biography and interviews (neopr.) . Australian Biography. Date of treatment January 28, 2015.
• Tom Uren. Video interview (unspecified) . The Thai – Burma Railway and Hellfire Pass. Date of treatment January 28, 2015.