Judah Waten (1911-1985) was born in Odessa Russia/now Ukraine, oldest child of Solomon Waten and Nechama Press. The family first migrated to Palestine and then to Australia, arriving in 1914 in Perth.
In 1925 the Watens moved to the vibrant Jewish community in Carlton where my mother, Judah’s first cousin on the Press side, lived. Judah attended University High, where the school magazine described him as our red, roaring, radical revolutionary. He joined the Australian Communist Party-CPA while still studying.
In 1927 Waten was a student teacher but was fired, so he made speeches at Yarra Bank and at factory meetings. Travelling to New Zealand in 1929, he became editor of NZ Communist Party’s journal, Red Worker.
By 1931 Waten left for Europe with Bertha Laidler, daughter of socialist bookshop manager Percy Laidler. In Paris Waten published articles in avant-garde magazines, and in London he was co-editor of Unemployed Special newspaper. Note Waten was not a Depression Communist; his interest in radical politics preceded the 1930s crises that drew others. Nonetheless he was arrested for speaking at a London rally and served 3 months in Wormwood Scrubs Prison.
Waten returned to Australia in June 1933 and resumed both political work and bohemian lifestyle. He was a regular at the Swanston Family Hotel, a meeting place for young artists, writers and radicals. His friend and fellow author Alan Marshall, even more famous than Waten, also wrote about the unemployed and battlers. In 1935-6 he travelled with revolutionary artist Noel Counihan from Melbourne northwards to Brisbane, living off Counihan’s portraits of local identities.
Judah Waten (left), Russian guest writer (centre), Alan Marshall (right),
Alien Son (1952)
Distant Land (1964)
Time of Conflict (1961)
This case was shocking. The resulting novel, The Unbending (1954), was published by the union-centred Australasian Book Society/ABS, covering Jewish migrant stories, with a political story of WW1 conscription debates and industrial disputes. The book was praised by the major critics, but elsewhere the novel’s politics produced outraged critiques.
Just when many intellectuals were leaving the CPA after Soviet intervention in Hungary, Waten rejoined and began writing regularly in the communist press on cultural matters. While on good terms with mainstream literary figures eg Vance and Nettie Palmer, he conflicted with others over the Soviet Union.
In 1958 Waten joined Manning Clark on a Fellowship of Australian Writers tour of the Soviet Union. He criticised Clark’s subsequent book Meeting Soviet Man (1960) for being too critical of the Soviet Union, but they remained close friends.
Waten returned to the theme of Jewish immigration with Distant Land (1964). Season of Youth (1966) was a portrait of the young artist, while So Far No Further (1971) focused on second-generation migrant children of Jewish and Italian families. Time of Conflict (1961) told political tales. Most problem for Waten was his denial of Russian anti-Semitism.
In 1965 Waten visited his birthplace, inspiring his book From Odessa to Odessa (1969), an auto-biographical travel book. Subsequent books included a photographic history The Depression Years (1971); children’s book Bottle-O! (1973); Classic Australian Short Stories (1974) edited with his close friend Stephen Murray-Smith; short stories, Love and Rebellion (1978); and lastly Scenes of Revolutionary Life (1982).
Murray-Smith had married communist fellow-student in a civil ceremony, Nita Bluthal. Nita’s family from Russia/now Ukraine arrived in Princes Hill pre-war, the same Melbourne suburb and school as my mother! Both sets of parents disapproved of the match so the newlyweds escaped to Europe, to see the new democracies of eastern Europe.
In 1966 Waten became a reviewer-critic for the Melbourne Age and in 1970 for the Sydney Morning Herald. He was awarded an Australia Council writer’s fellowship (1975) and later the Patrick White award, and served (1973-4) on the Literature Board of the Australia Council. His novels published in English were translated into 10+ languages.
When Judah died in 1985, Manning Clark and Geoffrey Blainey spoke at his memorial service at the Victorian Arts Centre. See David Carter (ed), Judah Waten: Fiction, Memoirs, Criticism (UQP 1998).
at a writers' gathering in Australia.
Uni Melbourne
Back in Melbourne Waten met leftwing schoolteacher Hyrell Ross. Judah and Hyrell were expelled from the CPA in 1942, for promoting a government of national unity to defeat Fascism. And from 1942-5 he worked in two Commonwealth Departments! Despite family disapproval, he married Hyrell in 1945 in a civil ceremony.
He had earlier met the painter Yosl Bergner and the Yiddish writer Pinchas Goldhar, whose works he translated and published through Dolphin Publications (1945-4), a firm he shared with artist Vic O’Connor. They co-edited Twenty Great Australian Stories (1946).
After WW2 Waten joined the Jewish Council to Combat Fascism & Anti-Semitism. This Council became controversial because of its perceived communist sympathies and was unbelievably disaffiliated by the Victorian Jewish Board of Deputies in 1952. Although he remained vocal on Jewish matters and was still writing his Jewish family history, Waten left the Council after he was awarded a Commonwealth Literary Fund/CLF grant for 1952.
Goldhar encouraged him to write stories based on his own experience as an immigrant, published as Alien Son (1952), the ?first Australian novel from a non-Anglo migrant. Because Alien Son was a set text in many Matriculation English classes then, cousin Judah came to my school to address the students. But he was the heaviest, tallest man in Melbourne; and scared me. [My mother said he was the biggest baby ever born in Russia - 7.25 ks!]
Unforgettably re-created in Waten’s story Mother (1950), mum’s aunt Nechama had a profound influence on Judah. Family was central. In 1951, Waten was awarded a CLF grant for a novel about the integration of a Jewish migrant family, but the award provoked infamous attacks in federal parliament in Aug 1952. The anti-communists charged that the Commonwealth Literary Fund was being used to fund communist writers. Prime Minister Menzies defended the CLF but instructed that all future fundees should be investigated by Security.
Back in Melbourne Waten met leftwing schoolteacher Hyrell Ross. Judah and Hyrell were expelled from the CPA in 1942, for promoting a government of national unity to defeat Fascism. And from 1942-5 he worked in two Commonwealth Departments! Despite family disapproval, he married Hyrell in 1945 in a civil ceremony.
He had earlier met the painter Yosl Bergner and the Yiddish writer Pinchas Goldhar, whose works he translated and published through Dolphin Publications (1945-4), a firm he shared with artist Vic O’Connor. They co-edited Twenty Great Australian Stories (1946).
After WW2 Waten joined the Jewish Council to Combat Fascism & Anti-Semitism. This Council became controversial because of its perceived communist sympathies and was unbelievably disaffiliated by the Victorian Jewish Board of Deputies in 1952. Although he remained vocal on Jewish matters and was still writing his Jewish family history, Waten left the Council after he was awarded a Commonwealth Literary Fund/CLF grant for 1952.
Goldhar encouraged him to write stories based on his own experience as an immigrant, published as Alien Son (1952), the ?first Australian novel from a non-Anglo migrant. Because Alien Son was a set text in many Matriculation English classes then, cousin Judah came to my school to address the students. But he was the heaviest, tallest man in Melbourne; and scared me. [My mother said he was the biggest baby ever born in Russia - 7.25 ks!]
Unforgettably re-created in Waten’s story Mother (1950), mum’s aunt Nechama had a profound influence on Judah. Family was central. In 1951, Waten was awarded a CLF grant for a novel about the integration of a Jewish migrant family, but the award provoked infamous attacks in federal parliament in Aug 1952. The anti-communists charged that the Commonwealth Literary Fund was being used to fund communist writers. Prime Minister Menzies defended the CLF but instructed that all future fundees should be investigated by Security.
So Far No Further (1971)
This case was shocking. The resulting novel, The Unbending (1954), was published by the union-centred Australasian Book Society/ABS, covering Jewish migrant stories, with a political story of WW1 conscription debates and industrial disputes. The book was praised by the major critics, but elsewhere the novel’s politics produced outraged critiques.
Just when many intellectuals were leaving the CPA after Soviet intervention in Hungary, Waten rejoined and began writing regularly in the communist press on cultural matters. While on good terms with mainstream literary figures eg Vance and Nettie Palmer, he conflicted with others over the Soviet Union.
In 1958 Waten joined Manning Clark on a Fellowship of Australian Writers tour of the Soviet Union. He criticised Clark’s subsequent book Meeting Soviet Man (1960) for being too critical of the Soviet Union, but they remained close friends.
Waten returned to the theme of Jewish immigration with Distant Land (1964). Season of Youth (1966) was a portrait of the young artist, while So Far No Further (1971) focused on second-generation migrant children of Jewish and Italian families. Time of Conflict (1961) told political tales. Most problem for Waten was his denial of Russian anti-Semitism.
In 1965 Waten visited his birthplace, inspiring his book From Odessa to Odessa (1969), an auto-biographical travel book. Subsequent books included a photographic history The Depression Years (1971); children’s book Bottle-O! (1973); Classic Australian Short Stories (1974) edited with his close friend Stephen Murray-Smith; short stories, Love and Rebellion (1978); and lastly Scenes of Revolutionary Life (1982).
Murray-Smith had married communist fellow-student in a civil ceremony, Nita Bluthal. Nita’s family from Russia/now Ukraine arrived in Princes Hill pre-war, the same Melbourne suburb and school as my mother! Both sets of parents disapproved of the match so the newlyweds escaped to Europe, to see the new democracies of eastern Europe.
In 1966 Waten became a reviewer-critic for the Melbourne Age and in 1970 for the Sydney Morning Herald. He was awarded an Australia Council writer’s fellowship (1975) and later the Patrick White award, and served (1973-4) on the Literature Board of the Australia Council. His novels published in English were translated into 10+ languages.
When Judah died in 1985, Manning Clark and Geoffrey Blainey spoke at his memorial service at the Victorian Arts Centre. See David Carter (ed), Judah Waten: Fiction, Memoirs, Criticism (UQP 1998).
20 comments:
I read your cousin's book Alien Son and Alan Marshall's I Can Jump Puddles in high school English classes and enjoyed them both. Thanks for reminding me
In September 1951, a referendum was held in Australia which sought approval to alter the Australian Constitution to give Parliament the power to make laws regarding communism and communists, so that the Parliament would be empowered to instate a law similar to the Communist Party Dissolution Act of 1950.
Yes the referendum failed, but it should have been a warning to Waten and others that Australian authorities were becoming increasingly intolerant of communism.
Hi Hels - what an interesting cousin to have in the family ... and a series of books to read to broaden our minds (non-family members or non-Australian) about various aspects of life - I'd like to read them sometime. Thanks for letting us know about Judah Waten - fascinating ... Hilary
Very interesting Hels. I read this in bed this morning and then read around it. I have never come across him before, I am surprised at myself. I will look out for his books, I would like to read the semi-autobiographical/travel one Odessa to Odessa. I am now wondering how he would stand on Putin and the invasion of Ukraine were he alive now given his enerring support and love of the old Soviet Union. Rachel
Ex-Pat
Right! In years 11 and 12 I also read My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin; My Brother Jack by George Johnston; The Harp in the South by Ruth Park; and Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay. All wonderful novels, but Alien Son added that very special immigrant experience.
Student
Democratic Australians could never believe that Parliament would ban left wing political parties in this country - this was a country whose settlement and growth was based on the hard labour of the working classes, and our commitment to equal opportunity. Fortunately the referendum DID fail, albeit by a small amount.
I am guessing here, but I imagine Judah Waten and his ideological colleagues would have continued with their passions in any case. Perhaps they would have changed their parties' names. My parents and grandparents moved to the Labour Party because of Stalin's brutality, and stayed there for the rest of their lives.
Hilary
we all had to broaden our reading horizons *nod*. My reading in the early years of High School consisted largely of Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, Anthony Trollope, Louisa May Alcott etc so I had a lot to experience and learn at Uni and after. Don't you love blogging :)
Rachel
Odessa to Odessa is well worth reading. When Waten went back to his birth city as a 60 year old man, he visited everywhere, interviewed Russian writers, discussed education, analysed politics and examined anti-Semitism. A very good review of the late 1960s.
But 2022 is probably very different, as you note. Russian citizens who lived in the part of the nation that became Ukraine in 1991 will feel very ambivalent. On one hand, Russia was a the major part of the Allies success against the Nazis and their Ukrainian supporters. On the other hand, the Russian army is now slaughtering Ukrainian civilians.
I like the covers of his published books displayed in your post. The first two covers: Alien Son and Distant Land are very relevant to the title of the books. The communist russian Jew, arriving in Australia, the continent considered to this day by the Europeans, as the 'end of the world'.
DUTA
spot on! The colleagues not only gathered together socially, they also worked with each other professionally - designing and painting the book covers, publishing, giving exposure in the bookshops, teaching literature in schools, writing reviews in newspapers etc. Thus his closest colleagues (Yosl Bergner, Pinchas Goldhar, Vic O’Connor, Manning Clark, Stephen Murray-Smith, Geoffrey Blainey, Noel Counihan, Alan Marshall etc) are names fans knew very well.
What an interesting relative to have and his achievements were many. It was a very difficult time for those with communist or socialistic ideals in the fifties and sixties. Some turned blind eyes, some barely believed the evidence and others just moved on, perhaps somewhat depressed.
Andrew
My mother's paternal family had no money to talk of, but they were very active in Labour politics and very very active in Jewish organisations. There were heaps of cousins!
My mother's maternal family was extremely small, but very educated and very culturally prominent. I will write a new blog post, soon, about another of my mother's cousins who made his mark on world music.
What a wonderful Tale and you obviously have much to be proud of in your heritage . I have often wondered about the Jewish history of Carlton and Princess Hill . I live in Brunswick in a house which has always been in Jewish hands . I still have original old mezuzahs from the late 1800s on the doors I remember going to the auction of the old Brunswick Synagogue which is now a lovely old house near Methven Park in Brunswick . Everyone thinks of this area in terms of Italians but it has such a long history before they came along .
It seems to me that your post also shows a surprising ( to me ) tolerance of people with radical views in the granting of literary fellowships . etc . That makes me proud yet again of the overall tolerant society that Australia is although there is certainly room for improvement .
mem
You are quite right about Carlton and Princess Hill. They were beautiful suburbs straight after WW2, not wealthy but full of family members who arrived before the war. Someone always went down to Port Melbourne when a ship pulled in between 1956-55, and if a parent or uncle wasn't available to provide housing, the new comer would be invited to board with Carlton or Brunswick families until he could afford normal rent. There were plenty of kosher butchers, kosher bakeries and cake shops, formal synagogues and home based prayer centres, Yiddish newspapers and Kadimah Cultural Centre.
But I am not at all sure about the community being totally tolerant of people with radical views gaining literary fellowships etc. Australia was happily seeking British and Dutch migrants who were white, Protestant and hardworking, but was more cautious about non-whites, non-Protestants and unemployable adults. Mind you, Australia was still more welcoming than most other countries.
sorry mem, I meant migration between 1946 and 1955.
Boa tarde minha querida amiga. Parabéns pelo seu trabalho e matéria.
Hello Hels , Do you know are there any Jewish histories i=of this part of town ?
mem
I would recommend "Carlton: a history" written by Peter Yule (Melbourne Uni Publishing, 2004). The book starts from the Gold Rush, so you may not want to concentrate on the earliest history :)
Luiz
I am glad you enjoyed the post. Migrant history is important across the New World.
Graeme.
I was taught by Hyrell Waten at Camberwell High School in 1959. She was an inspiration and superbly confident about her positive views on the value of aboriginal culture and its communal harmony. Like Judah, she was tall and upstanding, and commanded complete respect in the classroom of rampant 14-year-olds. She wore grey suits and bobbed her hair -- never any make-up.
Graeme
I am so glad she was an excellent teacher at Camberwell High and she certainly was tall, upstanding, quietly dressed and had excellent political views. Plus she wrote very well and spoke in public very well.
My family was a bit worried about their marriage because Hyrell was Australian-born, Protestant and English speaking, while Judah was Odessa-born, Jewish and spoke Yiddish and Russian. Judah was definitely the Australian novelist who was the voice of Australian migrant writing, but it didn't seem to bother Hyrell. They were both left wing and seemed very happy together.
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