John Fisher

Who was John Fisher?

John Fisher was an Australian journalist and son of Prime Minister Andrew Fisher.

Fisher was born in South Melbourne to serving Prime Minister Andrew Fisher and Margaret Jane, née Irvine. The Fishers moved to London in 1915 when Andrew became Australian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. John was educated at Merchant Taylors' School and returned to Melbourne in 1930 as a cadet for Keith Murdoch's Herald. In 1934 Fisher was appointed publicity manager for the visit of Czechoslovakian communist Egon Erwin Kisch, who was prohibited from entering Australia by the federal government. Fisher was involved in having the ban overturned and returned with Kisch to Europe in March 1935, helping to translate Kisch's Australian Landfall into English.

In 1935 Fisher settled in Moscow, where he worked on The Moscow News and wrote for International Literature. He travelled frequently to Brussels, London and Berlin and supported the Republicans in Spain, helping organise Australian support for the Spanish Republicans. He was assistant foreign editor for the Labor Daily and the communist Tribune until it was banned in May 1940.