SYDNEY’S REDS.
I WAY. MEN SERENADE ORMUZ
FOREIGNERS LEAD. SYDNEY, Dec. 27. The Orient liner Ormuz left the wharf at Woollooinooloo yesterday aft, rnoou to the singing of “The Red nag.” both ashore and among the tiremen in the locastle. it was tne c iinax to an organised revolutionary demonstration, which was accompanied by some drunkenness and disorder. bin fortunately passed off without a serious brawl. “Tree cheers for de l.\Y.\V.!*’ "Down •id Avelock Yil.son P’ A swarthy foreigner who led the -Raging of 'The Red F'ag” beioiv the Ormuz left the wharf, shouted this out. to the indignation ot a bluejacket troni one ol the Australian cruisers. The xailoi was emphatic. “They pulled my ,brother putt on strike, but do they keep him:' No! ; have to keep him !" There had obvious'y been a good deal of drinking among some of the fit omen belonging to the Ormuz. and their I riends ashore. Hot tvs of beer were handed about on the wharf, and various degrees of intoxication were in evidence. The iiremen lined the bulwarks betw cii decks ior’atd. One youth with a shock of red hair, who had not had time to get out of his sliore clothes. ut w iLIi his legs hanging over the side, and strummed a kettle-drum. Vermillion Hags, which looked as il ,kov had been commandeered from street excavations weie waved on either side of him. Those in this part of the ship were singing “The Red Flag” contiimous'y. though stewards and others who watched from the deck above apparently iiad no sympathy with the demonstration. A more organised programme was carried out at the foot of the mam gangway amidships. Here ten or a dozen stalwart men. all sober and acting in imism. like the “choir” associated with the T.AY.AV., before the suppression of that body as a criminal organisation, sang the old I.W.YY. songs —‘•You’ll get pi e in the sky when vmi die.” “Solidarity.” and others.
NO ARfiTTMF.NTS. Tlicv entered into no arguments—the .swarthy foreigner who was the choir’s leading bassq sang with calm insolence into the face of the little bluejacket whose brother bad been stranded bv the strike. When a quartermaster on the deck caked out, ‘Td like to turn a sixe aindor on you,” it was left for .someone else in tlm crowd to retort. It was noticeable tlmt the stewards who were being lopatriated. and as a send-off to whom the demonstration was intended, keot very quiet. H. Lyddall. who bad been secretary of the strike executive, stood inconspicuously with the other passengers against the rail. He wore a new suit if’ grey, and looked anything lint a “distressed seaman.” He came to Aus- ■ ra'ia as a musician-steward on the Drama, and was one of those stranded
when .she left. H<> married after being a few weeks in Sydney, and says his wife will join him in a tew weeks’ time, and that they will return to Australia in March to settle. The first red flag to appear at the pa.it of the ship where the ordinary passengers and their friends—there were not many of them —were congregated was carries! by a very drunken man. who looked like a ship's fireman. Anparent’y he was a belated member of the stokehold crew, for when he staggered up the main gangway, and s rayed near the top. an officer took bis arm and helped him aboard, stdl brandishing his flag. Cheers for “the revolution” were given on the wharf at the forepart of the ship, the man who called for them waving his cap so violently that it flew from his hand. There was near y a free light here. A (o.r.ple of drunken seamen ashore held up their caps for money to 11 1 .' men on hoard. Tile fust got a rap on the lcnckles with a drumstick. The second got a crack oil the wrist with the staff to which a rod flag was nailed. Moth made furious efforts to grasp the. feet of the men seated on tli t > bul-warks-and pull them down on to the wharf. If they had succeeded t lie re would have been trouble, for both sides weie drunk. One got a grip of the boot of the man with the kett’edruni. A shower of blows with the ied flags drove the attackers off. however. .Never during the demonstration had the symbol of the brotherhood been waved so enthusiastically.
HOT T
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Bibliographic details
Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 11 January 1926, Page 7
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740SYDNEY’S REDS. Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 11 January 1926, Page 7
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