DOCSLIB.ORG

“Socialism Is the Only Way to Meet the Ecology Crisis" - Jack Mundey, National Leader, CPA Senate Team

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
“Socialism Is the Only Way to Meet the Ecology Crisis VOTE RED FOR A GRBN AUSTRALIA “Socialism is the only way to meet the ecology crisis" - Jack Mundey, national leader, CPA Senate team. Australia is among the world's rich countries. Society should be able to meet the economic, social and human needs of all, and generously to help the underdeveloped world. BUT .... IN F L A T IO N erodes workers' hard-won living standards while PR O FIT S soar to all-time records PO LLU T IO N is destroying the environment around us, resources are wasted in needless consumption, our cities are choked and destroyed - all in the interests of P R O F IT IN E Q U A L IT Y is growing, despite the Labor Government: U N E Q U A L distribution of W EALTH ; U N E Q U A L opportunity in education and social welfare; U N E Q U A L rights for women, blacks and migrants. D E M O C R A C Y is eroded by the capitalist controllers who own the media and manipulate opinion. Capitalism is a mess which can only be cleaned up by mass people's action for real social change. The Communist Party is the only party contesting the elections on a S O C IA L IS T POLICY, THE O N L Y A L T E R N A T IV E TO CAPIT ALISM .. THE ISSUES ARE CLEAR ........ The Liberal-Country Party-DLP alliance represents the narrow class interests of the wealthy and powerful, bitterly opposed to A N Y change which threatens these interests. They have used their Senate majority to block even the mild reforms of the Labor Government, given a mandate in 1972 to carry them out. PUT PAID TO CONSERVATISM - VOTE CPA FOR THE SENATE - PUT LABOR BACK! A S A h JS T FOR AGAINST THE UNEQUAL SOCIETY FOR RADICAL REDISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH In this so-called "Lu cky Country", with a Gross A new wage structure for a social minimum wage Domestic Product of $8,000 per person in the work­ sufficient to meet people's needs, paid to all force in 1973: workers irrespective of sex or age 200.000 are V E R Y RICH - the TOP DOGS, who own, Restriction of high incomes to NO MORE THAN control and run the economy. Their wealth grows all FO U R T IM E S this minimum, through a radical / the time, through boom and recession. Inflation doesn't taxation policy which taxes capital assets and not worry T H EM - it just increases their capital gains. just income; abolition of all direct taxes on the minimum wage, and indirect taxes on necessities 500.000 are RICH ..... these are the upper middle of life class FA T CATS, whose incomes keep ahead of inflation. Stabilise prices and beat inflation by stopping monopoly pricefixing and socially wasteful spend­ ing such as on armaments, freeways, huge comm­ 1.500.000 are VERY POOR, with a family income of ercial buildings and advertising under $70 a week. 1,000,000 are POOR, with family incomes around $70 a week. Inflation is disastrous for Social control of investment to meet people's this 20 per cent of Australians. real needs and rational world development The remaining 10,000,000 people are caught in the Shorter working time, to be taken either in rat race of dull work and overtime just to keep up shorter week or year, with educational and with inflation. cultural opportunities for all workers. FOR SOCIALIST AUSTRALIA The Labor Government is NO T socialist, despite all the conservative scare stories. In fact, the capitalists are doing very well under Labor. Mr. Whitlam sees the Labor Government as a partner of Big Business, aiming only at reforming capitalism.. The need is to change capitalism, not reform it. Only socialism can create a truly human society, with new social values and priorities, based on co-operation instead of competitive individualism, eliminating poverty, sexism and racism. This would create conditions for a new and truly hum­ an morality. AGAINST FOR W O R LD IM P E R IA L IS M which spends huge FOR NATIONAL LIBERATION AND PEACE sums on keeping down the peoples of the A FO R E IG N P O LIC Y of full moral and Third World, wages war against national lib­ material support for all national liberation eration revolutions, and perpetuates the arm­ movements aments race R EC O G N IT IO N of the Provisional Revolut­ GLARING UNEQUAL DISTRIBUTION of ionary Government of South Vietnam world resources which condemns two-thirds of the world's people to poverty, famine and E Q U A L D IST R IB U T IO N of world resources disease between all peoples AUSTRALIA'S CONTINUED SUPPORT for EN D IN G TH E US A L L IA N C E and getting the Thieu regime, the US puppet. Australia all US bases out of Australia is still tied to US policy, and still has milit­ ary bases on its soil, in preparation for EN D IN G A L L N U C L E A R T E ST S and des­ nuclear war. truction of nuclear weapons. T M\ AG AIN ST FOR P O LLU T IO N by capitalist industry FOR A NEW LIFE STYLE H U N G R Y D E V E L O P E R S killing our cities C L E A R A IR and clean water P U B LIC T R A N S P O R T left to die while the costly car chokes our cities CITIES FOR PEOPLE to live in DESTRUCTION of the environment by Big Business A FREE, EFFICIENT public transport system R E C K L E S S P L U N D E R of resources to make profits C O N SE R V A T IO N of the natural environment for SO M E C A R E F U L U SE of resources in the interests of A L L WASTEFUL and NEEDLESS production with low SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY and PRODUCTION to quality goods, inbuilt obsolescence. be used for the R E A L needs of ALL.. A3M N ST FOR D O M IN A T IO N by the FEW in their own interests C O N T R O L by the M A N Y in the interests of B O S SE S ' C O N T R O L and capitalist power -- con­ society and the individual trol by a few Top Dogs and Fat Cats of people's W O R K E R S ' C O N T R O L in the factories and lives offices; student-staff control of universities and C O N T R O L of what we see, hear, and read, by schools; people's control of their own the wealthy and powerful few communities G R E A T E R D E M O C R A T IC RIGHTS, civil and C R E E P IN G R E S T R IC T IO N S on rights and liber­ personal liberties -- really democratic elections ties; censorship; growth of spying and snooping with proportional representation and the right into personal affairs; discrimination on grounds to recall elected representatives. Election of all of class, sex and race; gerrymandered elections; public officials, managers and administrators, B U R E A U C R A T IC government. with limited tenure of office. AGAINST FOR O W N ER SH IP and C O N T R O L of the nation's life­ W O M EN 'S L IB E R A T IO N with equal rights and opp­ blood by the wealthy and powerful ortunities; one rate for the job; abortion on request; W O M E N 'S SE C O N D C L A S S ST A T U S and their free, safe contraception; 24-hour child care centres oppression as a sex; lack of community child care S O C IA L IS E D M E D IC IN E -- free health care for all, facilities with emphasis on prevention of disease C H A O T IC M E D IC IN E and health for private profits REALLY FREE EDUCATION open to all - equal CO ST LY, E L IT IS T E D U C A T IO N and state aid to opportunity for all children - state aid for ST A T E wealthy schools which need it least schools which need it most B L A C K R IG H T S and dignity - black land rights R A C ISM and D IS C R IM IN A T IO N against black and and black control of black communities coloured people F U L L R IG H T S FO R M IG R A N T S - recognition DISCRIMINATION AGAINST MIGRANTS in employ­ of qualifications - right to cultural and community ment, housing, education independence -- special training and language programs D IS C R IM IN A T IO N against homosexuals LIBERATION for homosexuals VOTE CPA FOR THE SENATE! PUT LABOR BACK! ROUT REACTION! Every vote for the C PA Senate team warns the owners- main differences with Labor's policy are: controllers that people are demanding militant action for The Labor Government ACCEPTS CAPITALIST radical social change - FO R S O C IA LISM : A S O C IE T Y VALUES AND WORKS WITHIN THE SYSTEM FOR PEOPLE, NOT PROFIT.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Recorder 298.Pages
    RECORDER RecorderOfficial newsletter of the Melbourne Labour History Society (ISSN 0155-8722) Issue No. 298—July 2020 • From Sicily to St Lucia (Review), Ken Mansell, pp. 9-10 IN THIS EDITION: • Oil under Troubled Water (Review), by Michael Leach, pp. 10-11 • Extreme and Dangerous (Review), by Phillip Deery, p. 1 • The Yalta Conference (Review), by Laurence W Maher, pp. 11-12 • The Fatal Lure of Politics (Review), Verity Burgmann, p. 2 • The Boys Who Said NO!, p. 12 • Becoming John Curtin and James Scullin (Review), by Nick Dyrenfurth, pp. 3-4 • NIBS Online, p. 12 • Dorothy Day in Australia, p. 4 • Union Education History Project, by Max Ogden, p. 12 • Tribute to Jack Mundey, by Verity Burgmann, pp. 5-6 • Graham Berry, Democratic Adventurer, p. 12 • Vale Jack Mundey, by Brian Smiddy, p. 7 • Tribune Photographs Online, p. 12 • Batman By-Election, 1962, by Carolyn Allan Smart & Lyle Allan, pp. 7-8 • Melbourne Branch Contacts, p. 12 • Without Bosses (Review), by Brendan McGloin, p. 8 Extreme and Dangerous: The Curious Case of Dr Ian Macdonald Phillip Deery His case parallels that of another medical doctor, Paul Reuben James, who was dismissed by the Department of Although there are numerous memoirs of British and Repatriation in 1950 for opposing the Communist Party American communists written by their children, Dissolution Bill. James was attached to the Reserve Australian communists have attracted far fewer Officers of Command and, to the consternation of ASIO, accounts. We have Ric Throssell’s Wild Weeds and would most certainly have been mobilised for active Wildflowers: The Life and Letters of Katherine Susannah military service were World War III to eventuate, as Pritchard, Roger Milliss’ Serpent’s Tooth, Mark Aarons’ many believed.
    [Show full text]
  • August 5, 1976 / 3W *
    August 5, 1976 / 3W * PEACE AND FREEDOM THRUI NONVIOLENT ACT¡ON Seeking a Human Perspective on Housing How the'Vietnam War lsn't Over for Somã People Bird-Brained Schemes in the Pentagon Are Alternative lnstitutions the Way to Social Change? August Ir The 31st Anniversary of Hiroshima; For observances, see Events, page 17 1. \ ¡.ç "dltfiþ't'* *---lr^ ,qsl{r^-.{¡se***, å{-!¡t- ,l I am convinced that his present she cites show that he is not a pacifist, .¡ detention by the Lee Kuan Yew govern- perhdps) but they say nothing about the ment is for punitive reasons and NAEP. fgpPression of politicians who oppose 2) The WA\{-WSO is fïlled with hrs government. people who were in defense work. Just I appeal to all peace loving people all because a person once did defense work over the world to-once again help does not mean that hej or she only.does achieve the release not õnly ofmy evil thingb. husband Dr. Poh Soo Kai, but aliother 3) Iknow very little about the BECOMING REAI political prisoners such as Dr. Lim Hock world, but I doubt business that sub- are two ways, in thè stories at least. Siew, Said Zahari, Ho Piow and manv sidiaries of large corporations have their There others who have been in prison for m'ore first is like Pinocchio, and l've done it, projects.dictated to them by their þarent The than 13 years. I demand the PAP companies, or that the parent Through good works, and self-denial, and an enterpr¡s¡ng governrñent allow my husband to to companies have total access to the Conscience, and the only reward ' August 5,1976 l,Yol, Xll, No.
    [Show full text]
  • Full Thesis Draft No Pics
    A whole new world: Global revolution and Australian social movements in the long Sixties Jon Piccini BA Honours (1st Class) A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at The University of Queensland in 2013 School of History, Philosophy, Religion & Classics Abstract This thesis explores Australian social movements during the long Sixties through a transnational prism, identifying how the flow of people and ideas across borders was central to the growth and development of diverse campaigns for political change. By making use of a variety of sources—from archives and government reports to newspapers, interviews and memoirs—it identifies a broadening of the radical imagination within movements seeking rights for Indigenous Australians, the lifting of censorship, women’s liberation, the ending of the war in Vietnam and many others. It locates early global influences, such as the Chinese Revolution and increasing consciousness of anti-racist struggles in South Africa and the American South, and the ways in which ideas from these and other overseas sources became central to the practice of Australian social movements. This was a process aided by activists’ travel. Accordingly, this study analyses the diverse motives and experiences of Australian activists who visited revolutionary hotspots from China and Vietnam to Czechoslovakia, Algeria, France and the United States: to protest, to experience or to bring back lessons. While these overseas exploits, breathlessly recounted in articles, interviews and books, were transformative for some, they also exposed the limits of what a transnational politics could achieve in a local setting. Australia also became a destination for the period’s radical activists, provoking equally divisive responses.
    [Show full text]
  • Australian Left Review No. 108 1988
    1990s FEMIN. STUART HALL ON THE NINETIES LAURIE CARMICHAEL INTERVIEW XMAS READING: FICTION FROM MOYA SAYER-JONE5 BARBIE DOLLSi JH REVIEW1 PETER CAREY CRISIS ^CITIES £ IS i JacK Mundey on the Urban Blight INTERNATIONAL B O O K S H O F* MARXISM GAY LIBERATION ENVIRONMENT - I FEMINISM POLITICS THE INTERNATIONAL BOOKSHOP CARRIES AUSTRALIA'S LARGEST RANGE OF BOOKS ON POLITICAL AND SOCIAL ISSUES. BOOK EDUCATION NEWS..A QUARTERLY LIST OF ECONOMICS N EW BOOKS IS AVAILABLE ON REQUEST. MAIL ORDER SERVICE PROVIDED, ALSO SECOND HAND LEFT BOOKS, JOURNALS, ETC. HISTORY Jr RECORDS MEDIA PSYCHOLOGY ******* 2ND FLOOR 17 ELIZABETH STREET MELBOURNE 3000 » TELEPHONE 03 614 2859 AUSTRALIA ifT K F Itt LU W '* ' N T E N n c r v w KEVIE UNIVE* BRIEFINGS 5 ^ r » « u K i 2 B 108 1988: THE YEAR IN REVIEW The year ministerial Incomes took a dive in Qld, o racism came back into vogue, Bill Hayden exchanged tourist map for top hat, political debate hit new lows in Editorial >^oilective: the USA, and Aboriginal people found nothing much changed. ALR surveys the year that was, Sydney: Eric Aarons, Hilda Andrews, Malcolm Andrews, Letter From Ephesus: Quayie Soup David Burchcll, SteveCatt, Lyndell Is it true that Mickey Mouse wears a Dan Quayie Fairleigh, Gloria Garton, Jane watch? inglts. Carfolta McIntosh, Peter McNiecc, Karen Vanec, Profile: Peter Carey Melbourne: Lousie Connor, Jim Crosthwaite, James Gray. Sue FFATURES El McCrcadie, Pavia Miller. Anitra Nelson, Ken Norling, Olga Silver, A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE 8 Janna Thompson. From the early Seventies to the eve of the Nineties, Brisbane: Nicola Doumany.
    [Show full text]
  • Whitlam's Children? Labor and the Greens in Australia (2007-2013
    Whitlam’s Children? Labor and the Greens in Australia (2007-2013) Shaun Crowe A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of the Australian National University March 2017 © Shaun Crowe, 2017 1 The work presented in this dissertation is original, to the best of my knowledge and belief, except as acknowledged in the text. The material has not been submitted, in whole or in part, for a degree at The Australian National University or any other university. This research is supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program (RTP) Scholarship. 2 Acknowledgments Before starting, I was told that completing a doctoral thesis was rewarding and brutal. Having now written one, these both seem equally true. Like all PhD students, I never would have reached this point without the presence, affirmation and help of the people around me. The first thanks go to Professor John Uhr. Four and half years on, I’m so lucky to have stumbled into your mentorship. With such a busy job, I don’t know how you find the space to be so generous, both intellectually and with your time. Your prompt, at times cryptic, though always insightful feedback helped at every stage of the process. Even more useful were the long and digressive conversations in your office, covering the world between politics and philosophy. I hope they continue. The second round of thanks go to the people who aided me at different points. Thanks to Guy Ragen, Dr Jen Rayner and Alice Workman for helping me source interviews. Thanks to Emily Millane, Will Atkinson, Dr Lizzy Watt, and Paul Karp for editing chapters.
    [Show full text]
  • Derridean Deconstruction and Feminism
    DERRIDEAN DECONSTRUCTION AND FEMINISM: Exploring Aporias in Feminist Theory and Practice Pam Papadelos Thesis Submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Discipline of Gender, Work and Social Inquiry Adelaide University December 2006 Contents ABSTRACT..............................................................................................................III DECLARATION .....................................................................................................IV ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................V INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................... 1 THESIS STRUCTURE AND OVERVIEW......................................................................... 5 CHAPTER 1: LAYING THE FOUNDATIONS – FEMINISM AND DECONSTRUCTION ............................................................................................... 8 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................... 8 FEMINIST CRITIQUES OF PHILOSOPHY..................................................................... 10 Is Philosophy Inherently Masculine? ................................................................ 11 The Discipline of Philosophy Does Not Acknowledge Feminist Theories......... 13 The Concept of a Feminist Philosopher is Contradictory Given the Basic Premises of Philosophy.....................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Meredith Burgmann: Vale Jack Mundey: a Hero of the Australian Left
    OBITUARY VALE JACK MUNDEY A HERO OF THE AUSTRALIAN LEFT Meredith Burgmann Jack Mundey was a significant figure in the history of world environmentalism and a giant in the story of the Australian labour movement. His leadership of the NSW Builders Labourers’ Federation (BLF) in the 1960s and 1970s showed what a truly progressive union could look like. The mainstream media have concentrated on his leadership of the Green Bans and they way in which he, with Joe Owens and Bob Pringle and the rank and file men and women of the BLF, saved the face of Sydney. These are indeed great successes but it was also the way in which he changed the union which we as the Left should contemplate. John Bernard (Jack) Mundey was born in Malanda, northern Queensland, in 1929. He came down from the Atherton Tablelands in the 1950s to play rugby league for Parramatta. Failing to make the cut, he ended up ‘on the tools’ as a building worker. Confronted with a corrupt and complacent union leadership, Jack fought hard to democratise and radicalise the union, joining the Communist Party along the way in 1957. He became Secretary of the BLF in 1968. Many of the truly democratic practices that he introduced to the union were borne out of this long struggle for control. He fought for the meaningful involvement of all members in union activities, including the large and diverse migrant cohort; he introduced ‘limited tenure of office’; tied organisers’ pay to the industry award and instituted the practice whereby officials did not get paid during industry strikes.
    [Show full text]
  • The Aboriginal Struggle & the Left
    The Aboriginal Struggle & the Left Terry Townshend 2 The Aboriginal Struggle & the Left About the author Terry Townsend was a longtime member of the Democratic Socialist Party and now the Socialist Alliance. He edited the online journal Links (links.org) and has been a frequent contributor to Green Left Weekly (greenleft.org.au). Note on quotations For ease of reading, we have made minor stylistic changes to quotations to make their capitalisation consistent with the rest of the book. The exception, however, concerns Aborigines, Aboriginal, etc., the capitalisation of which has been left unchanged as it may have political significance. Resistance Books 2009 ISBN 978-1-876646-60-8 Published by Resistance Books, resistanceboks.com Contents Preface...........................................................................................................................5 Beginnings.....................................................................................................................7 The North Australian Workers Union in the 1920s and ’30s.....................................9 Comintern Influence..................................................................................................12 The 1930s....................................................................................................................15 Aboriginal-Led Organisations & the Day of Mourning............................................19 Struggles in the 1940s: The Pilbara Stock Workers’ Strike........................................23 The 1940s: Communists
    [Show full text]
  • Left Unity in Australia
    Left Unity in Australia https://internationalviewpoint.org/spip.php?article663 Australia Left Unity in Australia - IV Online magazine - 2001 - IV331 - May 2001 - Publication date: Thursday 3 May 2001 Copyright © International Viewpoint - online socialist magazine - All rights reserved Copyright © International Viewpoint - online socialist magazine Page 1/3 Left Unity in Australia The newly formed Socialist Alliance (SA) was officially launched on April 10, 2001 at public meetings in Sydney and Melbourne, the two largest cities in Australia. Around 300 people attended the meeting at the Sydney Trades Hall. The standing-room-only Melbourne meeting attracted a similar number to the inner suburban Brunswick Town Hall. Both meetings enthusiastically backed the Alliance project and many of those who attended joined SA on the spot. The meetings heard greetings from a number of prominent figures, including the legendary Jack Mundey, the militant leader of the Green Bans movement in the late 1960s and early '70s; Ellen Kleimaker, the women's officer of the Victorian Trades Hall Council; and Annie Delaney, of the Textiles, Clothing and Footwear Union. Victorian Metalworkers' union leader Craig Johnston was due to speak but was absent due to serious illness. The Socialist Alliance is an unprecedented development in Australian left politics. Nine socialist groups - many of which have previously been at loggerheads - have agreed to unite to field a joint slate for this year's federal election. Almost all of the socialist groups, including the two largest, the International Socialist Organisation and the Democratic Socialist Party, have joined. The larger parties have stressed that they will not seek to dominate by weight of numbers.
    [Show full text]
  • Electoral Rolls) Bill
    NSW Hansard Articles : LC : 07/05/2003 : #47 Page 1 of 5 City Of Sydney Amendment (Electoral Rolls) Bill. Ms SYLVIA HALE [2.34 p.m.] (Inaugural speech): I commend you, Madam President, for affirming that a reference to a "maiden" speech is both archaic and anachronistic. It is equally inappropriate to confer on members of this House the honorific "Honourable". The term is an unwarranted remnant of our colonial past whose usage should be dispensed with. I am delighted that Ian Cohen, Lee Rhiannon and I have chosen not to adopt it. I start by paying my respects to the Eora people, the original inhabitants of this land, who have suffered so calamitously at the hands of their white dispossessors. My dismay at their ongoing maltreatment is, however, tempered by the knowledge that three years ago this month a quarter of a million Sydneysiders walked across the Sydney Harbour Bridge to demonstrate their support for reconciliation and an end to the injustices inflicted on the traditional owners of this land. As Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission Commissioner Pat Thompson said soon after, "When people march in such numbers, I know which side of history I want to be on." Six weeks ago the same determination to acknowledge and protest the suffering that was about to be inflicted on innocent people saw up to half a million people take to the streets of Sydney to condemn the United States-led aggression against Iraq. The obsequiousness of the Australian Government has brought shame and dishonour upon us all. Despite this I am inspired that so many Australians have been prepared to declare so forthrightly that what is being perpetrated is "not in our name".
    [Show full text]
  • AUSTRALIAN BIOGRAPHY a Series That Profiles Some of the Most Extraordinary Australians of Our Time
    STUDY GUIDE AUSTRALIAN BIOGRAPHY A series that profiles some of the most extraordinary Australians of our time To m Uren 1921–2015 P olitician This program is an episode of Australian Biography Series 5 produced under the National Interest Program of Film Australia. This well-established series profiles some of the most extraordinary Australians of our time. Many have had a major impact on the nation’s cultural, political and social life. All are remarkable and inspiring people who have reached a stage in their lives where they can look back and reflect. Through revealing in-depth interviews, they share their stories— of beginnings and challenges, landmarks and turning points. In so doing, they provide us with an invaluable archival record and a unique perspective on the roads we, as a country, have travelled. Australian Biography: Tom Uren Director/Producer Frank Heimans Executive Producer Sharon Connolly Duration 26 minutes Year 1997 Study guide prepared by Roger Stitson © NFSA Also in Series 5: Charles Birch, Zelda D’Aprano, Miriam Hyde, Ruby Langford Ginibi, Mungo MacCallum, Dame Margaret Scott A FILM AUSTRALIA NATIONAL INTEREST PROGRAM For more information about Film Australia’s programs, contact: National Film and Sound Archive of Australia Sales and Distribution | PO Box 397 Pyrmont NSW 2009 T +61 2 8202 0144 | F +61 2 8202 0101 E: [email protected] | www.nfsa.gov.au AUSTRALIAN BIOGRAPHY: TOM UREN FILM AUSTRALIA 2 SYNOPSIS " Tom says he did not hate the Japanese. Who or what did he hate and struggle against for the rest of his life? Tom Uren, ‘the conscience of Parliament’, is one of the best-known and most-respected Labor politicians of his generation.
    [Show full text]
  • BLEAKLEY Middlesex University, UK
    Volume 15, Issue 3, 458-474, 2021 Unconventional Labour: Environmental Justice and Working-class Ecology in the New South Wales Green Bans PAUL BLEAKLEY Middlesex University, UK ABSTRACT The New South Wales union movement embraced the principles of heritage and conservationism in the 1970s through the imposing of “green bans” – a strategy wherein union members refused to work on construction projects that were a threat to the state’s natural or built environment. Led by radicals like Builders Labourers’ Federation leader Jack Mundey, the green bans were seen in several sectors as a departure from the traditional “Old Left” priorities of securing workers’ wages and conditions. Rather than a hard shift towards radicalism, this article proposes that the green bans were instead reflective of an already existing conservationist tradition in the New South Wales union movement. This reinterpretation is predicated on a content analysis of extant historical material such as contemporaneous news articles, personal memoirs, transcripts of political speeches and archival documents related to the policing of left-wing activism in the 1960s and 1970s. The results show that an existing tradition of engagement with a broad spectrum of social issues in the New South Wales union movement predates the emergence of the New Left, including the commitment to environmental justice principles that underpinned the green bans. KEYWORDS working-class ecology; environmental justice; trade union; green ban; gentrification; New Left; Australia Introduction The late 1960s and early 1970s were a transformative time in Australian politics, as they were around the world. The predominantly conservative social values of the post-war era began to give way to a new model for political engagement, predicated on more existential concepts related to anti- imperialism and new social movements instead of the established binaries of Marxism and bourgeois capitalism.
    [Show full text]