My Friend, Mentor & Comrade

By Tom Curphey

The death of Bill Andersen came as a shock to me because I had only spoke with him by phone a few days before he had the heart attack. He had been my friend and comrade over 50 years.

It is difficult to comprehend that he will no longer be with us although we will cherish the memories that each has of our association with this wonderful human being.

Bill was a man who devoted his life to fighting and organising for a better life for his people. He believed in a society where those that produced the wealth would enjoy the benefits of their labour; where there would be no unemployment and people would have access to health and education and decent housing as a right. Society should provide all this for its people.

He believed in world peace and worked tirelessly in this noble cause. We relied on his vast knowledge and Marxist understanding which he used to explain the many problems facing working people and ways to organise to help solve these problems.

He firmly believed that the working people organised,could over come many of the problems facing them and could build a just society.

I shared his views. He was a man of great integrity and humanity.

I think there is one instance which explains his character. We were

spending a day at the beach with his family. There was a fairly big surf running when a swimmer got into difficulties. Without hesitation Bill swam out to the man and held him up until lifesavers were able to rescue them both. Bill came close to losing his own life. That was the sort of man he was.

Bill remained true to his principles until the day he died and was still National President of the National Distribution Union.

He was a dedicated Communist who believed that socialism was the only solution to the working people's problems. Bill was my friend , mentor and comrade and a great leader of the New Zealand working class. His death is a great loss.