INTRODUCTION
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.
Menzies and Threat of Communism Fears – 1st Paragraph
Prime Minister Robert Menzies was a believer in the need for ‘great and powerful friends’ and the idea of ‘forward defence’. Before the 1949 federal election, Menzies campaigned on the representation of the Labor Party as out of touch with Australia’s postwar ambitions. He was aided by Chifley’s willpower to cover union wage stresses and control increase. Predominantly injuring for Labor was a Communist-led coal strike in New South Wales, and the government’s practice of troops to
…show more content…
Menzies traveled to the electorate with the assurance to regulate Communism, spread child capability, counter increase and end wartime petrol limiting. During the federal election in 1949 the liberals had said they would abolish the communist party of Australia. Resulting of this there was a communist party dissolution bill brought into the House of Representatives, it would be to organize the Australian Communist party provisions and would make them unlawful. This meant that all the communist members would be declared. Robert Menzies was the prime minister to take steps to ban the communist party. Robert Menzies then held a referendum to attempt to take down the communist party. The Referendum requested the Australian public if they were prepared to allow the federal government additional legislative power, so the government could deal with the threat of
On September 3, 1939 Prime Minister, Robert Gordon Menzies, declared the commencement of Australia's involvement in the Second World War on every national and commercial radio station. From 1942 until early 1944, Australian forces, especially Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders played a key role in the Pacific War forming the majority of Allied strength throughout the South West Pacific. Aboriginal and Torres Strait islanders affected Australia’s World War Two efforts in their extended volunteering and willingness to fight and die in the war. Aboriginal people were a crucial part of defending the Australian home front, in which they had limited or no rights. Many experienced equal treatment to white Australians for the first time in their
In the 1950’s the Second Red Scare also referred to as McCarthyism was in full swing. Fearful of communist overtaking the United States almost everyone, including educators were scrutinized and affected. In the letter “To Dr. William Ross”, Katherine Porter is responding directly to Dr. Ross and his request for an Oath of Allegiance as a condition of her employment at Colorado State University. She is writing during a time when refusal to sign such an oath, often resulted in denial or loss of employment, and destruction of careers. In “To Dr. William Ross”, Katherine Porter effectively uses logos, ethos and pathos to support her claims, and persuade her audience that an oath of allegiance is not necessary for one to be loyal and allegiant to their country.
In 1944, the Liberal Party of Australia was founded after a three-day meeting held in a small hall not far from Parliament House in Canberra. The meeting was called by the then Leader of the Opposition (United Australia Party), Robert Menzies. Robert Menzies had already served as Prime Minister of Australia (1939-40), but he believed that the non-Labor parties should unite to present a strong alternative government to the Australian people. Eighty men and women from 18 non-Labor political parties and organisations attended the first Canberra conference. They shar...
The key policy that they pushed in their election campaign was Tariff Reform, an issue that divided the party, making them appear weaker to voters. Arthur Balfour allowed Joseph Chamberlain to go ahead with the push, but they miscalculated public opinion; it was not what the public wanted. The population did not see the benefits of Tariff Reform from the bigger picture like Chamberlain did, protecting the domestic market; rather they saw it as a bread and butter issue, with taxes directly affecting their costs of living, which the working class feared may hit them badly.
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 ideas promoted by McCarthyism and the anti-communistic sentiment of the times were meant to push people away from non-conventional ways of thinking. Anything that was the slightest bit left or radical or even new could be construed as communistic. After Russia’s rejection to the Marshall Plan, a strong wave of communist fear began to sweep the nation and was being promoted by the U.S. government and the media. The early development of the Russian nuclear weapon brought grounds for suspicions of leaked information and the discovery and conviction of espionage for the Rosenbergs only fanned the flames of fear. The 1940’s were plagued with endless magazine articles like “How Communists Get That Way” and “Communists Are After Your Child.” Even President Truman’s Attorney General stated “There are today many Communists in America. They are everywhere--in factories, offices, butcher shops, on street corners, in private businesses--and each carries in himself the germs of death for society.” The Cold War had created a fear that democracy was in danger and that the American people must take drastic measures to ensure the continuance of their way of life. The first step taken in searching out “Communists” in the U.S. was the development of the House on Un-American Activities Committee or the HUAC. The HUAC was formed in the 1930’s but didn’t really become active until the Cold War controversies began in the forties and fifties and would assist Senator Joseph McCarthy in rooting out the “Reds”. The HUAC distributed millions of pamphlets to the American public cautioning: “One...
When the Great Depression occurred right around 1930, William Lyon Mackenzie King and his government did not respond strongly . Although the depression was evidently obvious, King believed that the economic crisis was temporarily and only patience was needed to overcome it . It took a while for King to realize how the depression was affecting the politics . King believed that welfare was a provincial responsibility and no one else’s . During the depression, all provinces wanted to increase the tax in Ottawa, but he did not understand the concept of it since other provinces were going to use the tax for themselves. King thought that it was necessary for the provinces to take initiative and increase their taxes . As the depression hit rock bottom many Canadians were unemployed. As Canada was changing right in front of his eyes, King’s perspectives did not show change. In one of his speeches he declared, “I submit that there is not evidence in Canada today of an emergency situation which demands anything of that kind” . King did not face with depression in the most orderly matter but he was a great Liberal leader, he kept the Liberals together when the Conservatives were falling apart and new political parties were developed to compete for the votes . During the depression, King held an election that was one of the most important events that occurred in...
With an understanding of the theoretical links between economic structures, relations of production, and political systems that protect economic structures in society this case study examines media as a contributor to democracy in Australia as well as a business with economic objectives. This section will provide a short explanation of Fairfax media history and position in 2012 prior to explaining Gina Rinehart’s role in the company. The print sector in Australia has historically exhibited relatively high levels of concentration, dominated by News Corp Australia, Fairfax and APN. The Australian print news media have experienced a long-term trend of a decrease in titles and owners. According to Geoffrey Craig, ‘in 1923 there were as many as
Australia didn’t consider communism as a great threat until after World War II where communism had reached Asia and was right at the doorstep of Australia. The cold war was a period of tension, rivalry and distrust between the most powerful countries- USA who represented Capitalism and the Soviet Union (represented Communism). Communism is a political system that was created by Karl Marx, where the government controls everything including transport, education, property, agriculture and there is little private ownership. The wealth of the country is shared equally into society and each person is paid according to their abilities and needs. The Menzies Liberal Government was determined to fight communism which was spreading to the Asia pacific
During the twentieth century, countries such as Russia and China became very large and influential because they followed adopted the communist policy. Communism was a system that everyone had wanted because of the pain and destruction of World War II. It brought hope and happy times for many of the people living in these countries and it effectively met the economic needs of society.
In The Communist Manifesto written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, the two German philosophers saw history as the struggle between the working class and the Bourgeois, or middle class (textbook 708). The Communist Manifesto was written in 1848, during the peak of the Industrial Revolution, a time when the Bourgeois made huge profits in manufacturing at the expense of the working class. According to Marx and Engels, the fruits of the Industrial Revolution created a new class of the oppressed modern working class, the Proletariat, which had never before existed because it was neither like serfdom or slave hood in that it was dependent on the Bourgeois to hire them for wage labor. This was the class the two philosophers envisioned would set off a revolution that would overthrow capitalism to end the perpetual class struggle and create a fair society known as Communism.
... Irving "Constitution" The Oxford Companion to Australian Politics. Ed Brian Galligan and Winsome Roberts. Oxford University Press 2008. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. Hillsborough CommunityCollege. 23
For the duration of the 1950's America was absorbed with the fear of the Communists taking control of the country. Joseph McCarthy, a Republican Senator from Wisconsin, heightened the fears many Americans already possessed. McCarthy had a deep hatred for communists, so he devised a plan to make American’s hate communists as much as him, and also had hopes that it would get himself re-elected. McCarthy gave a speech in Wheeling, West Virginia where he held up a piece of paper announcing, "I have here a list of 57 known Communists who are currently employed by the U.S. State Department." Shortly after his speech, McCarthy changed the number of communists in the U.S. State Department from 57 to 205. America had felt safe and at peace from the communists. Now; however, they felt uneasy and panicked at the thought of communists working in their own government. Americans started to demand the names of these people listed on McCarthy's "Blacklist." Congress then started attempting to seek out the people on McCarthy’s list. A particular group that was closely examined was the actors and actresses in Hollywood that McCarthy declared to be communists. Joseph McCarthy used and abused his power of being a senator. In doing so, he created chaos and destruction in the lives of many people, and in most of America.
The Labour party has had a long and tenuous history in British politics and has helped shape Britain into the great nation it is today. Whether it was the post-war majority government of Clement Atlee deriving from the ‘bowls of the trade union movement’ or the so called new labour government under Tony Blair, the Labour party have been integral in the progression of modern British politics and has a long and interesting history.
His particular achievements as Prime Minister included the passage of the Native Title Act, encouraging the process of reconciliation between Aboriginal and other Australians, the introduction of policies encouraging economic competitiveness, and debate over the possibility of an Australian republic.