| Issy Wyner's parents migrated to Australia in 1914 via London from Latvia. They settled in Marrickville, Sydney, where Issy was born; the family then moved to Rozelle in 1920. Not long after they moved the short distance to Balmain where Issy would live for the next 88 years. |
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Isadore 'Issy' Wyner
(30.06.1916–13.08.2008)
Photo courtesy Wyner Family
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Issy Wyner grew up in a turbulent era. The world was in turmoil; 1916 was the middle of the First [Imperialist, as Issy would say] World War. The year after Issy was born the Russian Revolution occurred. In 1921 the Communist Party of Australia was formed and Samuel Wyner, Issy's father, was a founding member. His father's interest in politics was deeply ingrained in Issy at an early age. |
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Issy's early education was at Pigeon Ground (Gladstone Park) School in Balmain where he encountered his first taste of discrimination. A class photo from the 1920s shows a very dark child among all the white children. Issy said that this boy was picked on and called a Jew boy. Even though Issy was Jewish he did not get the same treatment as the dark kid and he went on to fight against all forms of discrimination. He offered support for Italian and Greek immigrants in the 1950s. Long before they became mainstream issues he was at the forefront of Aboriginal rights and the women's movement. |
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In 1932 Samuel Wyner was expelled from the Communist Party. After years of unemployment he disappeared, leaving the family to fend for itself. Issy attended Drummoyne High School where he won a bursary to Fort Street High School. Unfortunately the family could not afford the uniform, shoes or books. Issy was humiliated. He was also at odds with the school curriculum. When it was suggested that he read the work of John Maynard Keynes, he suggested Marx was a better alternative. |
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Issy left school aged 16 to become the head of the family of three brothers, a sister and his mother. His sister Marie tells of being badgered by Issy to do her schoolwork. He and his brothers George, Jack and Victor had an extremely close relationship. |
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Issy's lack of formal education did not slow him down. He went on to publish three books and many articles for magazines and local papers. He also taught himself music and languages and mentored a state chess champion. |
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By the age of 22 Issy had joined the Young Communist League and been expelled, and had joined the Unemployed Workers Movement led by Jack Sylvester who was a great influence on him. At this time he met another Balmain legend, Nick Origlass, with whom he formed a life-long political relationship. |
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During the Great Depression times were tough to say the least. People were thrown out of their houses and had to queue for the dole that provided only a subsistence level of living. Many roamed the countryside looking for jobs. These experiences left an indelible imprint on Issy of how the capitalist system oppressed and exploited working people. He got his first sense of collective strength in forming a group including Laurie Short which had the Elkington Park Baths in Balmain, later Dawn Fraser Pool, opened free to unemployed youth. |
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Issy got work in the public service punching dole books and was transferred to Newcastle. Later he worked on ships plying the coast. During World War II he was an ironworker at Morts Dock in Balmain; later he worked at Cockatoo Island and also at Morts Dock as a ship painter and docker. He was banned from Cockatoo for writing an article about working conditions there under the headline: Industrial Alcatraz. |
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In 1940 he met Ruby Bundy at a party held by Nick Origlass, celebrating the success of a strike led by Ruby of 40 laundry workers. Ruby and Issy married in 1942 and were together for the next 58 years. Ruby's selfless attitude toward other people and her eternal optimism complemented Issy's political views. She made him buy their first small house in Balmain. She liked popular music instead of the Red Army choir. When Issy went through a vegetarian period, Ruby made it clear she preferred the occasional meat pie. |
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After the war Issy became a vigilance officer in the Ship Painters and Dockers Union. He was later secretary, elected every year for 30 years. In the early 1980s the union was disbanded by the Hawke government's union amalgamation legislation. Issy dryly commented that he was now a life member of a dead union. |
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Issy published two books on his union's history; the first With Banner Unfurled covered the period up to 1900, the second Union Right or Wrong up until World War II. |
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After a brief flirtation with the Communist Party, Issy joined a group of Trotskyists that leaned more towards a revolutionary but democratic socialism than Stalin's totalitarianism. It soon became apparent that nothing could be achieved by a political splinter group. He and others joined the Australian Labor Party. |
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A 1960 edition of the Observer magazine described this group of Trotskyists as 'a sort of extreme left wing fringe group led by their brilliant speaker Izzy Wyner'. While in the Labor party he was elected to Leichhardt Council in 1959 with Nick Origlass. Both were later elected mayor. Within council there was a constant running battle with the right-wing factions of the Labor Party. Both Nick and Issy were, with their entire families, thrown out of the party when first they voted against caucus on an environmental issue and later supported Nick's nomination for state parliament. |
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While on council Issy fought many causes. These included chemical tanks being built in Balmain, coal loaders in White Bay, the ANL container terminal, Callan Park, Ballast Point and the preservation of Clontarf Cottage, not to mention the continual battle against over development on the Balmain Peninsula. He was accused of moving to the Right over the Mort Bay housing development. Issy countered that he was not opposed to public housing but was for open space on the Harbour foreshores. |
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His and Nick's legacy to local government was the concept of open council where the public could participate in meetings. They instituted this principle after their group won control of Leichhardt Council in 1971. This pioneering example of participatory democracy is still in use today. His last book Open Council was published just prior to his death. |
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In retirement Issy was constantly busy advising on campaigns and helping people research his library, now mostly lodged with the State Library of New South Wales. |
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Issy believed that mankind is inherently good and that, freed from the forces of self-interest, the world would be a better place. He made a number of political enemies, none of whom, however, could question his integrity. Nor could they shake Issy from his view that people have the right to have their say and be heard. |
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Larry Wyner is the son of Issy Wyner. He was born in 1940 and left school aged 15. He joined the ALP the following year but was subsequently expelled, along with the rest of the family, for supporting Nick Origlass's candidature for NSW parliament. Larry had a successful 44 year career in the Australian film industry. He still lives in Balmain.
<wynerpl@bigpond.com>
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