South coast comrades tells the life stories of nineteen members of the Communist Party of Australia living in Wollongong, NSW, between 1920 and 1991. These rank-and-file members of the Party, active in a variety of working class organisations and movements for social change, dared to fight for a world without war, for a society based in cooperation and personal freedom, and for an economy organised for and by the people.

They came from different countries but united to build a fairer, saner, more just world. What drew them together over seven decades was their  opposition to global capitalism, their concern for workplace justice and their desire to abolish class, race and gender divisions.

They were not theoreticians but were practical in applying socialist ideas and strategies in their working lives and areas of activism. They all believed that ordinary people like themselves, working together, could achieve revolutionary change.