Alex Mitchell is a journalist with an extraordinary career investigating the political landscape, largely from a Trotskyist perspective. He begins his memoir with an ending: he and his partner Judith White leaving England and their many years of work for the Workers Revolutionary Party, he as reporter and editor of the party’s newspaper, and she as head of their book publishing program. It is July 1986 and they are going to Australia.
This is a big story, for Mitchell has led, so far, a big life. He was born in 1942 in Queensland to progressive-minded parents; his mother was a founding member of the One People of Australia League (OPAL), and encouraged activists like Roberta Sykes and Bonita and Eddie Mabo. His first job was as a cadet journalist on the Townsville Daily Bulletin in 1960:
My chief surprise was that at the end of each week I collected an envelope containing £6 (equivalent to about $120 today). They were actually giving me money for something I loved doing. I was still in disbelief when I gave up full-time reporting 47 years later. (13)
Continued at M/C Reviews: Culture and the Media.
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