Alleged Communist plots were gradually growing post World War II and through the 1940s – 1950s, there was a fear to undermine Australian Society. Across the globe Britain, American and Australia had an underlying fear, which was the revolt of suburban security being taken away by the cause of communist plots. Australia’s attitude towards this was to attempt to expose and remove all communists and communist plots across all of society within Australia. (Skwirk, 2014)
Fear of communists within there own society was definitely a threat that was in the mind of the Australian government but also the fear of communist invasion from outside of Australia.
After World War II and the problems that it had created, Australians just wanted security and peace. Despite the economic and political stability within Australia, it was still a time of tension and fear. (Skwirk, 2014)
In 1949, the fear of communism sweeping the world became an Australian election issue; the ‘domino theory’ would later come into play. Robert Menzies, the leader of the Liberal Party, made an election promise to outlaw the Communist Party in Australia because the Australian citizens believed that there was a danger for their prosperity. They allegedly assumed that communists had infiltrated their trade unions and political parties. (Retroactive pg. 225, 2010)
An uprising of propaganda in Australia started presenting itself in many ways. In the 1950s anti-communist films were created to explain how communism had crumbled 800 million people. Similarly compared to World War II, fear and disgust was the driving force of the influencing of the people.
‘Reds under the beds’ was the name given to the communists and their supporters were considered potential rebels and e...
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...wirk Australia. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.skwirk.com/p-c_s-56_u-490_t-1333_c-5124/the-fear-of-communism-in-australia/tas/the-fear-of-communism-in-australia/australia-after-1945/the-spread-of-communism-after-world-war-ii. [Accessed 23 March 2014].
Why Australia entered the War, Why did Australia become involved in the Vietnam War?, Australia in the Vietnam War Era, History Year 9, NSW | Online Education Home Schooling Skwirk Australia. 2014. Why Australia entered the War, Why did Australia become involved in the Vietnam War?, Australia in the Vietnam War Era, History Year 9, NSW | Online Education Home Schooling Skwirk Australia. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.skwirk.com/p-c_s-14_u-116_t-314_c-1060/why-australia-entered-the-war/nsw/history/australia-in-the-vietnam-war-era/why-did-australia-become-involved-in-the-vietnam-war-. [Accessed 23 March 2014].
John Curtin, Prime Minister of Australia from 1941 – 1945, significantly supported the movement towards an Australian-American relationship. In his speech the Task Ahead, he states “Without any inhibitions of any kind, I make it quite clear that Australia looks to America, free of any pangs as to our traditional links or kinship with the United Kingdom.” This speech was supported by newspapers around the country, possibly showing bias, but it is unlikely that Curtin's statement had a major influence on the US military strategy. A close alliance between the two countries was inevitable, as they both shared the same goal - to defeat the Japanese (John.curtin.edu.au, n.d.; Australian Geographic, 2012) and control the Pacific. However, the effect of this statement on the Australian people can be seen in the newspapers from the time period. H.R Knickerbocker, states “It is the bounden duty of the U.S. to strain every nerve and every effort to ship to Australia today and tomorrow, every available fighter bomber and masses of army marines and navy” (Fall of Singapore: What it Means to Us, 1942, from nla.gov.au). This statement is a clear example of Australia’s new found reliance on the United States, showing how Australia has become dependent on the U.S providing it with resources and
Maestro by Peter Goldsworthy provides an insight into 1960s/70s Australia and helps reinforce common conceptions about Australian culture. One common conception Goldsworthy reinforces in this text is Australia’s increasing acceptance of multiculturalism. Maestro, set in the 1960s to 1970s, shows Australians growing more accepting and tolerant of other cultures. This shift in perspective was occurring near the end of the White Australia/Assimilation Policy, which was phased out in the late 1970s/early 1980s. An example of this shifted perspective in Maestro is Paul’s father’s opinion about living in Darwin:
Shadowing World War II, there was an amplified fear of communism in Australia. The influence of the threat of Communism in Australian local politics from 1945 to the 1950’s was very strong as you can see through Robert Menzies, the Petrov Affair, The fear of Ussr spies, the royal commission and the Alp split show relevant threats to the Australian Domestic politics by saying they are spies, traitors and liars.
Unfortunately, with most if not all large-scale conflicts, a detrimental aftermath was soon sure to follow. Australia was by no means exempt from this, as made evident by the Australian veterans and
...The fact that Australia publically sought America’s help angered Britain, but it was all that Australia could do seen as Britain let Singapore fall to the Japanese and did not given Australia suitable reinforcements to help with the growing pressure from the Japanese. It is shown throughout the war that the fall of Singapore damaged Australia’s relations with Britain, there are even cable grams of John Curtain telling Elsie Curtain how badly the relations with Britain and that he has a fight with Churchill almost every day (National Archives of Australia). Australia had always felt the threat of invasion in WWII but when Singapore fell it was almost certain. Australia moved further away from Britain when they publicly sought Americas help with the growing threat of a Japanese attack. None of this would have happened if Singapore had remained in British control.
The only time Australia has come under direct attack from another country, was when Japan bombed Darwin and sunk a number of ships in Sydney, during World War 2. The question then has to be asked, why Australia has been involved in so many conflicts. A number of recent conflicts in this century come to mind, they include, The Boer War, World War One, World War Two and The Vietnam War. By far the conflict that drew the most outrage from Australian citizens was the Vietnam War. Australia has been drawn into these conflicts through a number of treaties and alliances made with other countries. Often it is not the conflicts that have drawn most outrage from Australian citizens, rather the insistence of other countries, for Australia to accept large numbers of post-war refugees.
The Red Scare in the 1950’s was actually America’s second red scare. The 1920’s red scare was what helped start suspicion over Communists, but was put off during World War 2. It was no coincidence that what many people called the second red scare ignited after World War 2, during the Cold War, in the 1950’s. The 1920’s red scare started because Americans were paranoid over the fact that Russia may seek revenge after they had overthrown a royal Russian family in 1917. What started Communist ideas in the U.S at the time was the fact that since the war was over many of people were out of jobs which caused people to ask how efficient was the government. The most successful and noteworthy of all the Soviet parties in the 1920’s had to be the International Workers of the World, which was also called the I.W.W or the Wobblies. The Wobblies first strike was on January 21 1919 where about 35,000 shipyard workers struck. They were immediately labeled reds, or Communists. After the first strike mass panic struck the U.S and many major chain stores had to reassure their customers that their workers would not revolt. A mayor named Ole Hansen from Seattle took the Wobblies strikes personally. Strikes continued over the next 6 months and were labeled as “crimes against society”, “conspiracies against the government” and even “plots to establish Communism”. This was when Attorney General A. “
The Communist Party was one of the main sections in Soviet society that was impacted profoundly by Stalin’s terror. In 1935, the assassination of Sergei Kirov, a faithful Communist and Bolshevik party member that had certain popularity, threatening Stalin’s consolidation of power, initiated The Great Purge. His death, triggering three important, widely publicised ‘show trials’ in Moscow, ultimately encouraged the climate of terror during the Great Purge. Bolsheviks Zinoviev, Kamenev and their associates were accused of conspiring against Stalin and the government, with each confessing to their supposed crimes, which were then broadcast around the world. It was later discovered that these confessions were forced after long months of psychological abuse and cruel acts of torture. As Stalin...
‘Australia is at War’ is a primary source from the year 1939 and is a speech by renowned Prime Minister Robert Gordon Menzies (1894 – 1978). This speech was delivered at the beginning of World War II declaring Australia’s participation and assistance to its “Mother Land”, Great Britain. World War II was developed and initiated by the infamous Adolf Hitler, a notorious German leader and the head of the Nazis. German’s invasion of Poland initiated Great Britain’s move towards force rather than their original approach of negotiations and peace, as stated in Prime Minister Menzies’ speech, “they [Great Britain] have kept the door of negotiations open; they have given no cause for provocation.” So the purpose of this source, Menzies speech, which was broadcasted on national radio, was to inform Australia of the drastic measures that were to be taken against Germany in the defence for their Mother Land. As Australia had only pronounced federation a mere thirty-eight years earlier, Great Britain was still referred to as the “Mother Land”, as it was still greatly depended upon it, concluding that when Great Britain had declared war upon Germany, as a result, Australia too was also at war. From Australia’s contribution to Great Britain began the rise of varies army reinforcement groups such as AIF (the Australian Imperial Force), RAAF (Royal Australian Air Force), RAN (Royal Australian Navy) and many more.
Australian involvement in World War II was drawn by their relationship with Britain. Due to Australia’s and Britain’s bond , Australians were expected to support and provide
The Red Scare changed the American view on immigration and foreign policy in America after the Russian Revolution of 1917. The Red Scare was the fear of communism in America which persuaded the immigrant radicals of the Russian Revolution to support communism and a political change. Since there was no response to the growth of fear from anarchism and communism in America, Congress added anti-radical protections to the Immigration Act of 1918 (“Red Scare”). Also, General Palmer and other government officials’ homes were attacked infuriating the American government (Gordon). An addition to the Immigration Act would strictly enforce the radicals to discard their views towards communism and focus on support the democracy and capitalism in America.
When most people hear the name Joseph Stalin, they usually associate the name with a man who was part of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and was responsible for the deaths of millions of people. He was willingly to do anything to improve the power of the Soviet Union’s economy and military, even if it meant executing tens of millions of innocent people (Frankforter, A. Daniel., and W. M. Spellman 655). In chapter three of Sheila Fitzpatrick’s book, Everyday Stalinism, she argues that since citizens believed the propaganda of “a radiant future” (67), they were able to be manipulated by the Party in the transformation of the Soviet Union. This allowed the Soviet government to expand its power, which ultimately was very disastrous for the people.
The events leading American to go to extreme measures to protect their democracy against a communist takeover did not first appear with the creation of the blacklist, it began in the late 1900’s and early 1920’s a result to the First World War. Americans were intensely patriotic and more than ever protective of the American way of life, capitalism, wage systems, and heirachary of social class. The concern of a government takeover effected the perception of labor strikes and social welfare program, and as a result they were conside...
In the long years between 1947 and around 1957, fear of communism froze the very voices of America into unison. A supposedly enlightened country, the United States of America succumbed to the mass hysteria of the Red Scare with shockingly little resistance. Communist “Reds” and Communist sympathizing “Pinks” were seen everywhere and were often persecuted by the House Committee on Un-American Activities (also known by the inaccurate acronym HUAC). Many of these individuals’ only crime was that of sensibility; they saw the truth behind the terrifying chaos. One of the best records of this dark chapter in America’s history is its literature, which expressed opinion when it could be dangerous to do so. The American public’s paranoid fear of communism and other extremist organizations is evident in the literature of the period, which reflects the conformist mind frame.
In this essay I will argue that Gough Whitlam, His Government and His Policies changed Australia and the Australian way of life. I will argue this by examining some of his best known policies. Specifically the ones aimed at the everyday Australian and how the pol...