PAULINE O’Reilly Leverton’s father Bill O’Reilly died when she was 12. Pauline set about collecting every piece of information she could find about her dad, a prominent member of the Communist Party New Zealand and national secretary of the unemployed workers movement. Only there wasn’t much to find.
“I looked in left wing publications to glimpse Dad’s name, but it was almost never there. When he died a lot of cards and telegrams arrived. One said, ‘When the history of the working class is written down, Bill O’Reilly will have an honoured name’, but that hadn’t happened,” says Leverton.
So she decided to write a book about him.
“I wanted my children and grandchildren to know that he was a brave man who fought for people’s rights,” she says.
The book Commo Bill: ‘People’s Poet’ was 19 years in the making, and is officially released this week. The book is a mix of history, biography and anecdote.
“It started out geared for academia but Dad would want it so other people could read it too.”
One interesting story tells of when O’Reilly was voted ‘Mayor of Thorndon’ in 1955. The election was one with a difference, where people voted with pennies, and everyone could vote as many times as they liked. Money raised was donated to sight-impaired Wellingtonians. Of the ₤5,393 raised in 1955, more than half was in votes for O’Reilly, one of five local candidates.
“It’s quite amazing he was chosen considering it was still a strong anti-communist climate. He was a warm and likeable guy. He was described as ‘truly loved’ at his funeral, and that language wasn’t used a lot in those days.”
Commo Bill: ‘People’s Poet’, book launch at 5:30pm, Waterside House, Level 1, December 16.

Excerpt from “The Mayor of Thorndon”, Bill O’Reilly, 1948
Thorndon’s the most democratic place in this fair and favoured land,
For here a bloke can cast his vote with a handle in his hand,
It doesn’t matter who you are, you may come from anywhere,
From Timbuctoo or Oamaru and help us elect our Mayor,
For we don’t stand on ceremony, we’re not the exacting sort,
And there’s never a mayoral candidate who isn’t a thorough sport,
So you will not find us mean enough to limit your votes to one,
For every vote you register like the rays of a friendly sun
Will warm the hearts of all blind kids who dwell in Wellington…