A Fight for Life in the Northern Suburbs
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A Fight for Life in the Northern Suburbs This resource provides an extended discussion of the Anti-conscription campaign in World War 1 as background to the digital story, A Fight for Life in the Northern Suburbs. Martin Bush Introduction The conscription referendums of 1916 and 1917 divided Australia, split the government and left an enormous legacy. The votes against conscription were the biggest success ever achieved by peace activists in Australia. These referendums were also of worldwide significance. They are the only occasions anywhere in the world that the citizens of a country have had a chance to vote on such an important policy regarding war and peace. This global impact was achieved through the work of many people organising and campaigning at a local level. A surprising number of the people, places and events involved in this history were connected to the northern Melbourne suburbs of Brunswick and Coburg, including politicians like Frank Anstey, labour activists like John Curtin and Frank Hyett, women;’s activists like Bella Lavender and Catholic Archbishop Daniel Mannix. This digital exhibition tells the story of the struggle over conscription during World War I as seen by these communities. Summary World War 1 was by far the bloodiest conflict in Europe for nearly three hundred years. In a little over four years, from July 1914 to November 1918, 10 million soliders and 6 million civilians were killed. Nor did the effects stop at wars end; the influenza edidemic that spread around the world at the close of the war, in large part due to the movement of soldiers, was even deadlier, killing between 50 and 100 million people. The political consequences of the war were as dramatic as the humanitarian ones. The map of Europe was redrawn. The war caused the old Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian Empires to disintegrate, changed the government of Germany, and triggered the Russian revolution. Australia was far removed from the battlefields of the War, but an active participant. Over 400 000 people served in the conflict, nearly 10% of Australia’s population at the time. Of these, 60 000 were killed and more than 150 000 wounded. Although Australia was by that stage an independent nation, it was considered by all political parties that as part of the British Empire Australia would follow the foreign policy of the United Kingdom. Therefore when the British government declared war on August 4 1914, it was automatically accepted that Australia was at war. At this time the conservative Liberal party was in government in Australia. However the War began during a federal election camapaign, and at that election the Australian Labor Party swept back into office under long-term leader Andrew Fisher. The political consequences of the war for Australian politics would be nearly as dramatic as they were in Europe. After one year of the War, Fisher had stepped down to be replaced as Prime Minister by Billy Hughes; by the end of the War the ALP had split, the conservative parties – now led by Hughes – were back in government. The ALP would remain out of power for a decade, and the issue that above all created this political crisis was the question of conscription. Labour movement opposition Enthusiasm for the War effort in Australia was initially high. Most Australians at that time saw themselves as patriotic members of the British Empire, and wish to assist. In the first six months of the War more than 50 000 Australians enlisted, confident that the War would be short and they would soon be back home. This early optimism attitude was as evident in Brunswick and Coburg as elsewhere. As the War developed it soon became clear that it was not going to end quickly. It was also clear that the armies were suffering heavy losses. Military and political leaders started to feel that they needed more soldiers, to replace those killed and wounded. Conscription started being suggested as a possible way of increasing troop numbers. Although the cabinet of the ALP government was dominated by politicians determined to prosecute the war to its fullest, many ALP backbenchers, members and trades unionists were more sceptical. Some were influenced by socilaist ideals and found it repugnant that working class men should be sent to fight a war to defend the profits of capitalists. Others supported the war effort but defended the principle of individual choice. These groups quickly became concerned about the possibility of conscription being introduced was raised early. The Victorian Trades Hall sent a delegation to see Prime Minister Fisher in August 1915 to argue against conscription. When Hughes, recently installed as Prime Minister, set off for Britain in early 1916, these concerns grew. Hughes was known to be more authoritarian in style than Fisher was, and it was also known that Britain was at this time considering introducing conscription, which might influence Hughes. In May 1916, the Victorian Trades Hall Council called an All-Australia Trade Union Conference in Melbourne to discuss the matter. The Conference voted overwhelmingly to oppose any attempts to introduce conscription, and a national anti-conscription committee was formed. This national executive was dominated by Victorians, and in particular men from the northern suburbs with John Curtin the full-tme organiser for the committee and both Frank Anstey and Frank Hyett on the excutive. The fears of the trade union movement were well-founded, for when Hughes returned to Australia he immediately moved for his government to introduce conscription. He made a tour of the states to convince the various branches of the labour movement to support him. The Victorian Trades Hall stuck to their resolvet o oppose conscription, as did those in New South Wales and Queensland. The South Australia Unions were nearly persuaded by Hughes, but In the end, Hughes was forced to a compromise: the government would not legislate for conscription but would instead put the question to a vote of the people in November 1916. Women’s movement opposition The Victorian labour movement persuaded other states to come out against conscription over the course of 1915 and 1916. However they had been working with other local organisations against conscription, and for peace, since the beginning of the war in 1914, and even earlier. Shortly after the start of the war the Victorian Trades Hall Council, the Victorian Socialist Party and several unions joined with a number of the dedicated peace organisations, which had existed in Australia since 1900, to form the Australian Peace Alliance. Particularly prominent in the Peace Alliance was the role of women’s organsiations, and in particular the Women’s Peace Army. This had been formed in 1915 by members of the Women’s Political Association to concentrate on anti-war activity. The WPA was led by Vida Goldstein supported by Adela Pankhurst and Cecilia Johns. Elsewhere in Australia, Eleanor May Moore in Sydney, and Margaret Thorp and Emma Miller in Brisbane were prominent women activists opposed to conscription. A less prominent, but hardly less active, figure was the head teacher of the Brunswick Girls’ High School, Bella Lavender. The women’s movement comprised a range of different viewpoints. For some, like Goldstein, a focus on women’s activism was a goal in itself; for others, it was just a component of the broader struggle of labour against capital. Apprtoaches to tactics, too, varied. “When public opinion is inflamed, there are two ways of seeking to influence it. One is to be provocative… The other is called education. It studies to avoid the particular phrase which will irritate listeners, and tries rather to draw them into discussion” Moore The Question of Peace p28. Bella Lavender herself embodied many of these differences. She had left the Women’s Political Association in 1913 to concentrate on labour politics, as a member of both the Victorian Socialist Party and the ALP, although she remained highly complimentary of Goldstein and the WPA. Women were not just strong activists, but also a major audience for both sides of the argument. Campaign materials targeted women’s roles as mothers in particular. This was espcially evident in songs, the use of which was a particular feature of these campaigns. The American song “I didn’t Raise my Son to be a Soldier” provoked a particularly strong response. At first pro-conscriptions responded with the altered version “I didn’t Raise my Son to be a Coward”, then the military censors tried to ban performances of the song entirely. Another particularly effective piece of campaign material for the anti-conscriptionists was the cartoon by Claude Marquet entitled “The Blood Vote”. On the other hand, accounts of mothers who had proudly sent their sons to war were a favourite staple for the mainstream press, almost all of which supported conscription. Religious positions Newspapers were not the only mainstream organisations to support conscription –all major protestant churches did as well. However a number of small churches were heavily involved in the peace movement. Former Presbyterian Minister Charles Strong had been an early founder of the peace movement, and his Australian Church remained against conscription throughout the war. The Minister of the Free Religious Fellowship, Fred Sinclaire was the first President of the Australian Peace Alliance. Quakers, such as Margaret Thorp in Brisbane were solid supporters of peace. The Catholic Church took a very different position to the mainstream protestant churches. Catholics, and in particular Irish-Australian Catholics formed a significant force of opposition to conscription. In this they were led by the Melbourne Catholic Archbishop, Daniel Mannix. In this regard, Australian Catholics were largely influenced by their attitudes to events occurring in Ireland.