legacy Increasingly ill, Sharkey ceded supreme control of the CPA to Laurie Aarons in June 1965. Thereafter he held a ceremonial post as the party's vice-chairman. He died of a heart attack on 13 May 1967 in Sydney. His body was cremated. Sharkey was lauded by many in his wartime and post-war heyday as a hero, but his reputation sank during the 1960s, along with the fortunes of the party as a whole. In a 1998 book, the historian of Australian Communism Stuart Macintyre (who had long since abandoned his own CPA membership) noted the hyperbolic way in which Sharkey was portrayed during the cult of personality period of the 1930s: "[Sharkey] was presented as a son of the soil, steeped in communist theory, yet always a man of the people. The list of his virtues was directed so unerringly to his limitations as to suggest parody. It was noted that 'like all the leaders of our Party, Comrade Sharkey was temperate in his habits'; in fact his binges in Moscow were notorious. He was a brilliant mass agitator; actually his oratory was leaden. He had an instinctive genius; yet when he took up Lenin's favourite pastime of chess, lesser party members had to be careful to lose." Footnotes Writings Nationalisation of Banking and Socialisation of Credit: A Critical Analysis of the Policy of the Labour Party, from a Lecture delivered in May 1933. Sydney: Communist Party of Australia, 1933. Nationalisation of Banking: An Analysis of the Socialisation of Credit: Lang's Part in the Signing of the Premiers' Plan. Sydney: Modern Publishers, 1933. An Appeal to Catholics: Democracy, Fascism, Mexico, Spain, Peace, War. Sydney: Modern Publishers, n.d. [1938]. Democracy for Whom? A striking Contrast: Democracy in Australia and the Soviet Union. Sydney: Central Committee, Communist Party of Australia, n.d. [c. 1941]. Manifesto: Communist Call to Defend Australia. Melbourne: Political Rights Committee, n.d. [c. 1942]. History: Communist Party of Australia, from a lecture by L. Sharkey. Twenty years of the Communist International. With Otto Kuusinen. Sydney: Communist Party of Australia, 1942. The Trade Unions: Communist Theory and Practice of Trade Unions. Sydney: N.S.W. Legal Rights Committee, 1942. Growth of Trade Unionism in Australia. n.c.: n.p., 1942. Australia Marches On. Sydney: N.S.W. Legal Rights Committee, 1942. The Soviet and the Japanese War. Sydney: N.S.W. Legal Rights Committee, 1942. For National Unity and Victory over Fascists, LIft Communist Party Ban. Sydney: Legal Rights