Wilfred (Bill) McAra papers.

Peter Wilfred George McAra (1904 – 1989), known as Wilfred or Bill, was a long-time unionist and high-ranking official of the Communist Party of New Zealand (CPNZ), from which he was expelled in 1974. McAra was born in the Coromandel gold mining town of Waikino. On Black Tuesday , 12 November 1912, striker Frederick George Evans was killed during a fight between strikers, strike breakers and the police at Waihi. The impact of these events on McAra is evident throughout his life.

After working as a clerk and running his own building business in Auckland, McAra returned to the Coromandel in 1932 to farm. He joined the Labour Party and held office for several local organisations. The Depression yearsfired him with desire for political action to emancipate the working class . In the late 1930s, McAra moved to Wellington for a state sector job. He also joined the Amalgamated Carpenters and Joiners Union, serving as chairman of its Building Investigation Committee and as the union delegate on a Cabinet building committee. He was also instrumental in the establishment of the New Zealand Building Trades Federation. In April 1940, he began work as a paid organiser for the Carpenters Union.

In 1938, McAra joined the Wellington branch of the CPNZ. Throughout the 1940s he wrote political tracts and regularly contributed to the Industrial Worker, Union News and the People’s Voice, the CPNZ newspaper. In 1949 he was appointed editor of the People’s Voice, a position he held until 1954 and which required a return to Auckland. Living in Freeman’s Bay, McAra funneled his energy and flair for public relations into Party work. Employed as a Party organiser from 1954, he studied in China and the USSR for more than 2 years. From 1957, McAra was a member of the CPNZ National Executive and on assorted sub-committees.

In February 1974, McAra was expelled from the CPNZ after ongoing ideological and personal differences with other members of the Party executive. Wilsie was also expelled. By then aged 70 and 60 respectively, the couple had retired and were living in Whangamata. From there, they continued to disseminate Marxist / Leninist material through their own press and remained active in workers’ causes.

McAra married four times and had one daughter with his fourth wife. From 1962, he was in a permanent relationship with Diana Miriam Wilsie (1914 – 2002). Wilfred McAra died in Whangamata on 13 January 1989 aged 84.