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Sharpley, Cecil H. (Cecil Herbert)

Photograph

I was a Communist leader / by Cecil Sharpley. (Toorak [Vic.] : Joseph Swanson Wilkinson for Colorgravure Publications, [1949])

The headline on the front cover reads, "Revealing confession of an Australian red leader". After having appeared as a series of articles in the Melbourne Herald, the Adelaide Advertiser, and the Brisbane Courier-Mail, Sharpley's confessions were printed as a pamphlet in editions for the Herald, the Courier-Mail and the Sydney Morning Herald.

Before his defection in 1949, Sharpley was a member of the Victorian State Executive of the Communist Party. His revelations, particularly as they dealt with the Communist tactics of ballot-rigging in trade unions, led to the Victorian government setting up a Royal Commission.