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Since joining the Communist Party in 1941, Ron Smith has led protests, written pamphlets and on several occasions stood for parliament, campaigning against "capitalism and war". He tells his story to Jerome Cvitanovich.
Smith saw the Communist Party as being a leading force in Socialism, that which would develop the power of the working class. Party members were open to persecution for their political beliefs and on occasion imprisonment for such crimes as being in possession of the party’s paper, ‘The People’s Voice’.
Smith’s views were shaped by his upbringing through the depression and the stigma attached to unemployment. He talks about the inferiority complex he experienced at school which made him work harder to prove himself.
Smith’s father was a supporter of the Labour Party who rallied an anti-war feeling and opposed conscription. He explains how the movie, ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ had a large impact on his thinking about war.
In the lead up to the war Smith was forced to train with the Wellington Cadets at Wellington College, aged 14. He describes how conscription split the Labour Party and the bitter feeling that surrounded Peter Fraser, who had once served time in jail for opposing it, but was now leading it.
After three months of intensive training, refusing orders got him two weeks in Waiouru Military Jail. Whilst inside he was approached by an Irishman, Private Gallagher to join the Communist Party. Smith discusses how the party paper had been made illegal in 1940 because of its opposition to the war.
He explains how he acquired a copy of ‘The People’s Voice’ secretly, whilst working as a cadet in the Income Tax Department, and all the books he’d read up until then suddenly fell into place. Smith describes how it was the responsibility of the movement to create Socialist change and end capitalism.
Following the outbreak of war, party members met, and their movements were monitored by police and the Internal Affairs Department. Smith openly associated himself with the party while working in the army. After the Cold War, Smith says members were easy targets for ‘Red-baiting’.
In 1949 whilst working for the public service, Smith stood for Island Bay and was known for handing out pamphlets at work discussing economics, wages and trade union business. He retells a story about how this led to him being summoned to the office of the Director of Price Control’s for questioning.
Smith also describes how he was turned away from an American Press Conference on nuclear weapons because he represented 'The People’s Voice'. In 1943 he says the Federation of Labour and Labour Party Conferences called on the government to restore the legality of the paper which it did.
In 1951, against the law of the time, Smith supported the wharfie’s wives and children and printed and distributed watersiders bulletins for the duration of the watersider’s dispute. He saw the media as capitalist enterprises run for profit.
In 1961 Smith describes how he was 'Red-baited' by the newspaper, 'The Truth' with a headline, ‘Red Public Servant off to China’ which questioned if the government’s Trade and Industry Department realised they had a communist in their midst.
Although Smith stood for Parliament five times with little success, he believed in offering an alternative political option. In his opinion the capitalist system was fundamentally wrong. He now sees the world moving closer towards providing equality and security for the working people.
In the 1960s the national executive expelled Smith and the Wellington committee over sectarian disputes and Smith's political energy shifted into the peace movement. Most recently Smith was arrested during a protest for trespassing at Waihopai Military base near Blenheim in 1987.