Socialism in Australia

Great Depression and Aftermath Cold War New Left Contemporary Active Historical

[5] In particular, the works of the American author Edward Bellamy were highly influential, which advocated for the democratic nationalisation of all industry.

[5] In the late 1890s, the colonies of Cosme and New Australia were founded in South America by groups of Australian socialists.

Lane's socialism was inspired by Edward Bellamy as well as his unorthodox belief that race played a role in preventing a socialist society from forming.

[2] Due to these beliefs, New Australia was built around the values of creating "a brotherhood of English-speaking Whites" which preserved the "colour-Line" which was seen as necessary in order to achieve communism.

[9] The Waterside Workers' Federation of Australia was led by several Communist Party members during its history, such as Jim Healy.

[10] Under Healy, the Workers Federation went on strike in 1938 to prevent pig iron being shipped to Japan, to protest the invasion of China.

In 1945, the union declared a ban on working Dutch ships, labelled the "Black Armada", during the Indonesian National Revolution.

The Victorian branch of the union was primarily led by members of the Maoist CPA (M-L) such as Norm Gallagher, while the New South Wales branch was led by members of the Communist Party of Australia (CPA) such as Jack Mundey.

[11] In 1974, Gallagher and several affiliated Maoist workers occupied the New South Wales branch office and expelled CPA-affiliated unionists.

[11] After union officials, including CPA members, agreed upon the Prices and Incomes Accord in 1983 which traded lower rates of industrial action for parliamentary reforms, it signalled "the end of the renegade, guerrilla actions of the BLF to stop work and take radical protest activities".

The union was de-registered shortly afterwards, during the Hawke Labor government, and members were blacklisted from working on construction sites.

Notable among them was John Curtin (Prime Minister of Australia), Jim Cairns (the Deputy Prime Minister of Australia under Gough Whitlam), Jack Lang (the radical Premier of New South Wales), Tom Uren, Eddie Ward, and many early figures in Labor history, including James Scullin and Ted Theodore, who introduced Labor's socialist objective.

Ben Chifley famously attempted to nationalise Australian banks in the 1940s, a policy of the party only dropped in the 1970s.

Under Jack Lang during the Great Depression, the New South Wales branch of the Labor Party came to be dominated by the left wing.

Socialisation units were established in party branches, advocating for the Labor government to begin to nationalise industry and abolish private property.

If it remained vague on key points, it was nonetheless the clearest statement ever produced by the socialisation units of a revolutionary strategy for socialism..."[12] Some recent, dissident figures in the party have attempted to pursue a more interventionist, democratic socialist agenda; Keating government minister Peter Baldwin ran on a Bennite programme, in which, "He promised to revive the “dead letter” of the ALP’s commitment to socializing the means of production by advocating for the nationalization of industry as part of the next Labor government’s program.

For example, the NSW Young Labor Left state on their website: "We believe in participatory and representative democracy; trade unionism and workers’ control of industry; the abolition of exploitation for private profit; the implementation of the ALP’s socialist objective; environmentalism and sustainability; as well as feminism, queer rights, and First Nations justice.

[24] Political historian Geoff Robinson describes the contemporary left as a "movement of parties and electoral campaigning".

[28] In 1961, the pro-China faction leader Ted Hill was expelled from the Communist Party of Australia during the events of the split between the USSR and China.