Conflict in the Unions: The Communist Party of Australia, Politics and the Trade Union Movement, 1945-1960 Douglas Jordan School of Social Sciences and Psychology Faculty of Arts, Education and Human Development, Victoria University January 2011 Doctor of Philosophy Declaration “I, Douglas Jordan, declare that the PhD thesis entitled The Communist Party of Australia and the Trade Union Movement, 1945-1960, is no more than a 100,000 words in length including quotes and exclusive of tables, figures, appendices, bibliography, references and footnotes. This thesis contains no material that has been submitted previously, in whole or in part, for the award of any other degree or diploma. Except where otherwise indicated this thesis is my own work”. Signature Date: 22 July 2010 Contents Abstract iii Acknowledgements iv Abbreviations v Chapter 1: Introduction and Literature Review 1 Chapter 2: Communism and the trade unions: an overview 22 Chapter 3: Peace is Union Business: The CPA and Peace Activism in the Early Cold War 70 Chapter 4: Industrial Action For Peace: The Communist Party Escalates the Campaign 119 Chapter 5: Calwells’ ‘Baltic Fascists’ Are Not Welcome: The CPA and East European Refugees 160 Chapter 6: “They will make splendid allies’ The CPA and European migrants 221 Chapter 7: ‘They have lit a fire that will – and should – blaze The CPA and the Aboriginal Rights Movement 246 Chapter 8: Conclusion 307 Bibliography 316 i Abstract This thesis examines the political activity of the Communist party of Australia (CPA) in the trade union movement between 1945 and 1960. It represents the first systematic scholarly analysis of this activity. The historiography of the CPA has generally focused on the industrial activity of CPA trade union members and has neglected this dimension. The thesis draws on CPA newspapers and journals, Congress resolutions, the publications of Communist-led unions and numerous secondary sources to argue that explicit political activity in the unions was often central to CPA activity in this period. The approach was consistent with orthodox Marxism, which regarded trade unions as a preparatory school for increasing the political consciousness of workers as a prelude to an anti-capitalist revolution. This political trade unionism distinguished the CPA from other political currents in the labour movement which may have accepted its militant unionism, but not its advocacy of political trade unionism. This thesis examines three areas of this political unionism: the attempt to build trade union support for the peace movement, the attitudes towards the post-war mass immigration programme and the emerging Aboriginal civil rights movement. The prevailing anti-Communist atmosphere generated by Cold War tensions limited but did not prevent, CPA trade union activists from pursuing political issues in their unions. These activists often faced criticism from the CPA leadership that they avoided raising political issues; a claim that this thesis refutes. Their activity was shaped not only by the CPA’s links to the Soviet Union, but also by Australian radical traditions. The relationship between these two factors was not constant but each was important in shaping the scope and nature of political trade union activism. iii Acknowledgements The writing of this thesis has been made possible by the assistance and encouragement of many people. Without this support, it is unlikely that the writing of this thesis would have been completed. I wish to acknowledge the following people for the contribution they have made to this project. Firstly, my supervisor, Professor Phillip Deery, whose encouragement, assistance and support during the long process of writing were invaluable. I also wish to thank Kevin Healy, whose knowledge and understanding of labour movement history helped to deepen my understanding of the period; Graeme Sparkes and George Myconos who provided proof reading skills and other forms of practical assistance; and Doris Leroy, a fellow Victorian University PhD student, whose constant support made an important contribution to the completion of the thesis. I am also indebted to the staffs of Victoria University Library, the Baillieu Library at the University of Melbourne, and the State Library of Victoria who responded quickly and efficiently to requests for material. List of Abbreviations AAF Australian Aboriginal Fellowship AASW Australian Association of Scientific Workers ACTU Australian Council of Trade Unions ADPPA Approved Defence Projects Protection Act ALP Australian Labor Party AEU Amalgamated Engineering Union AMIEU Australian Meat Industry Employees’ Union APC Australian Peace Council ARU Australian Railways Union ASIO Australian Security Intelligence Organisation AWU Australian Workers’ Union BLF Builders Labourers’ Federation BWIU Building Workers’ Industrial Union CAR Council For Aboriginal Rights CDRHWU Coastal Dock Rivers and Harbour Works Union CNDR Committee for the Defence of Native Rights COM Committee of Management CPA Communist Party of Australia CPGB Communist Party of Great Britain CPUSA Communist Party of the United States DRC Democratic Rights Council EYL Eureka Youth League FCAA Federal Council for Aboriginal Advancement FCAATSI Federal Council for The Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders FIA Federated Ironworkers Association HCRU Hotel Club and Restaurant Employees Union IRO International Refugee Organisation IWW Industrial Workers of the World JCCFAS Jewish Council to Combat Fascism and Anti-Semitism NAWU North Australian Workers’ Union NTCAR Northern Territory Council for Aboriginal Rights RSD Rolling Stock Division SEC State Electricity Commission SMWU Sheet Metal Workers’ Union SUA Seamen’s Union of Australia UWM Unemployed Workers’ Movement WAASRE West Australian Society of Railway Employees WFSW World Federation of Scientific Workers WFTU World Federation of Trade Unions WPC World Peace Congress WST Wireless Signals & Telegraph WWF Waterside Workers’ Federation Chapter One Introduction and Literature Review Introduction This thesis examines the attempts of the CPA of Australia (CPA) to inject Marxist ideas into the Australian trade union movement between 1945 and 1960. It will evaluate the character, levels and efficacy of political activity conducted by CPA union activists. Specifically, through an examination of the Communist press and a wide range of diverse secondary sources, it will investigate CPA union activists’ efforts to build trade union support for the peace movement, their attitudes to the post-war mass immigration programme, and their support for the emerging Aboriginal civil rights movement. Because of the prevailing Cold War atmosphere, almost any issue associated with the CPA was viewed with either suspicion or outright hostility. Yet, these activists consciously chose to pursue their political goals as Communists. Theirs was a generation shaped by the Great Depression, the rise of fascism and World War Two. These experiences had instilled in them both a consistent anti-capitalist outlook and a blind admiration for the Soviet Union and its leadership. This duality was to shape their political activity in the trade unions. In 1944-45 the CPA reached the peak of its popularity which included the leadership of a significant section of the Australian trade union movement. It was confident that this would continue into the post-war period. However, within two or three years much of this support was eroded due to a combination of national and international factors. The 1950s was a time when the CPA was isolated from much of the Australian labour movement and its advocacy of political trade unionism found only limited support beyond its own periphery. By 1960 there were signs that this isolation was slowly coming to an end. In 1954 the split in the Australian Labor Party (ALP) removed many of the extreme anti- Communists from the ALP and opened up new opportunities for collaboration between members of the two parties. In 1958, the establishment of the Federal Council for Aboriginal Advancement (FCAA) with broad trade union support, saw the issue of Aboriginal human rights become an important issue in Australian and international political debate. The trade union panel at the 1959 Melbourne Peace Congress witnessed the start of the return of non-Communist led unions to active involvement in the peace 1 movement which echoed some of the earlier traditions of the Australian labour movement. These developments allowed the CPA to move back towards the mainstream of the Australian labour movement. Thus, the study of the period between 1945 and 1960 can provide important new insights into the nature of CPA trade union activity in an era when it faced many difficulties in gaining support for its policies. The significance of ‘political’ trade unionism has often been underestimated in the relevant literature. Ian Turner, for example, a CPA member from the mid-1940s to the late-1950s, believed that ‘…most communist trade unionists were militant trade unionists first and communists second. The party often complained about it’.1 Tom Sheridan has suggested that many Communists were ideologically illiterate and ‘relatively unsophisticated intellectually’.2 While these claims were true for some individuals, it cannot be applied to the majority of Communist union activists. Yet, during the Cold War trade unions became a battleground between the competing ideologies. This had a particular resonance in Australia due to the relatively widespread influence of the CPA