Snowy Robinson

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DescriptionSnowy Robinson was a West Coast coal miner and Communist Party member. He was arrested during the Depression and jailed.
He escaped and, with the help of his gutsy Irish grandmother, kept one step ahead of the police.

Snowy camped in the scrub at the back of his grandmothers Wellington home. She’d hang the washing a certain way if the police were around, and another way if coast was clear.ContributorPeter Lusk

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PersonSnowy Robinson

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Date Created28th February 2025Comments
John Rosanowski
Communism, or Marxism, was seen by some in the mining industry on the West Coast - well before the 1917 Russian revolution - to be the answer to the poor work and salary conditions of the fairly unrestrained capitalism of the times. These people weren't nutters. They were well-read and had strongly held views. People have forgotten that elements of marxism were central to the Labour Party's manifesto until well into the 1920s.

Russ Chidgey
Lots of communists on the coast … na just kidding mostly great people with the very odd dodgy bugger here and there

Pete Lusk
Another CPNZ member on the Coast was Hardy Browning, a Blackball miner. When the mine was closed he did pottery at Taylorville. His wife Zona was a no-bullshit lady…she hailed from a militant Blackball family.

Pete Lusk
CPNZ member Hardy Browning took up pottery when Blackball Mine closed and he was unemployed. He made big chunky casserole dishes with slogans on the lid from the Chinese Revolution, eg Dare To Struggle, Dare to Win. I hope there’s still some of his political pottery around!

Marie Ewens
Sounds such a character!

Geoff Roberts
We had a Greymouth dentist Ron Taylor friend in the 50s who was involved with the communist party..he went overseas with his daughter June later in life to Albania before the fall of that country... Don't know if they returned to NZ or not

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Snowy Robinson

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