Tom and Audrey McDonald have shared a life of commitment together, promoting what they consider to be the political, social and economic interest of the Australian working class.

The vehicle for both these true believers was the Communist Party of Australia, especially as it operated through the trade union movement. While Tom laboured tirelessly with the Building Workers Industrial Union (BWIU), most of Audrey’s political activity was via the Union of Australian Women (UAW). In the early 1970s, when the CPA split, both joined the Socialist Party of Australia (SPA), a body which was formally recognised and endorsed by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU).