BY PAUL BENEDEK
The socialist movement lost an inspiring campaigner when Socialist Alliance member and Green Left Weekly supporter Jim Dooley died in Gosford, on the NSW Central Coast, on September 15, aged 73.
Jim, who had been a longtime, active member of the Labor Party, was even more politically active in his final years. Jim joined the Socialist Alliance in 2002; only a week before his death, he said that the alliance "has given me big hopes again for socialism in Australia".
Jim's passion and dedication endeared him to many in the alliance. Typical was his large, selfless donations to the Socialist Alliance during the state election campaign, even though he was a pensioner living in a caravan park. Having slipped his contribution to another alliance member, Jim asked that it not be announced because he was not one for fanfare.
Jim became known to Socialist Alliance members as he regularly travelled from Gosford to Sydney to attend political events. His activism kept him young. He helped out all day on election day, and demonstrated his commitment to progressive causes by coming to Sydney for conferences, public meetings and rallies.
The last time many of us saw Jim was at the International Socialist Organisation's Marxism 2003 conference in early September and at the anti-World Trade Organisation demonstration on September 13. His enthusiasm enlivened the Sydney Socialist Alliance branch meetings he attended. At his last meeting, Jim cooked an amazing dinner, which he transported by train from Gosford. He refused to take any money to cover the expenses he had incurred.
Jim had ambitious plans for establishing a Socialist Alliance branch in Gosford "within a couple of months", with several other alliance members in the Central Coast area. The first public event organised by Socialist Alliance members in Gosford was a brilliant success. On September 1, more than 100 people attended a screening of Michael Moore's The Big One. Jim was very proud of his first article for Socialist Campaigner, the monthly bulletin of the Socialist Alliance (see < http://www.socialist-A HREF="mailto:alliance.org/newsletter/2003_9/gosford.shtml"><alliance.org/newsletter/2003_9/gosford.shtml>).
Jim's funeral on September 18 reflected the life of struggle he had lived. Paul Kelly and Kev Carmody's song, "From little things, big things grow", was played and several of his nine children paid tribute to his life. One story revealed that Jim had stood and applauded in a cinema during a screening of Ali, when the actor playing the boxing legend Muhammad Ali exclaimed, "No Viet Cong ever called me nigger!".
Items important to Jim were placed on his casket, including a copy of Green Left Weekly, anti-war badges and a book by Tolstoy. The scores of family, friends and comrades who attended Jim Dooley's funeral had a common respect for the beliefs he held so dearly and articulated so passionately.
Jim's passing is a tragic loss to the socialist movement and progressive causes. But every person Jim came into contact with was inspired by his lifelong struggle for human liberation. Jim's example makes us more determined to continue with his struggle for a better world.
From Green Left Weekly, September 24, 2003.
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