Ted Bull, Communist, trade unionist, Secretary of the Victorian Branch of the Waterside Workers Federation, 1967-1979, speaks about his family background, including his grandparents who knew the Kelly Gang; childhood in Fitzroy; first job in a tobacco factory; the Depression; working in the fruit industry in the Goulburn Valley; jumping trains during the Depression; labouring on the Melbourne Boulevard project; joining the Communist Party of Australia (CPA) in 1933; cutting cane in north Queensland; memories of other swagmen, including two Aboriginal swagmen; the Free Speech movement of the 1930s; dole strikes; the Unemployed Workers' Association; relationship with the Yorta Yorta people; service as a corporal in Army transport companies during WWII, including transporting prisoners-of-war from Changi; being a Communist in the Army; Frank Hardy; failed attempt to go to Spain to fight with the International Brigade in the Spanish Civil War; marriage to Helen Lacey in 1950; and the Waterside Workers' Federation in Victoria and its control by the Industrial Groupers up to 1954.
Bull also speaks about working conditions on the waterfront in the 1950s; technological change on docks; various industrial disputes; the dock police; women workers on the wharves; the role of wives during strikes; relationship between politics and trade unions; the culture of the waterfront; CPA participation in state and local government elections; 1951 referendum to ban the CPA; Herbert Vere Evatt; Albert Monk; the split in the CPA; overseas travels to China and Greece; protests against the Springbok Rugby tour of Australia, 1971; anti-Vietnam War protests; the 1969 penal powers' struggle; Clarrie O'Shea; Ted Hill; and retirement in 1979.
Bull was born into a working class family in Fitzroy, Melbourne. He began working in 1928 after the death of his father. Bull travelled around Australia searching for work during the Depression. He joined the Communist Party in 1933 and remained a member for the rest of his life. He was elected secretary of the Victorian branch of the Waterside Workers Federation in 1967 and held the position for 12 years. He led the waterside workers in support of many non-industrial causes, including Aboriginal land rights.
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