Australian Communist History

Students "hanging" an effigy of Premier Henry Bolte in the Treasury Gardens of Melbourne VIC (1969. From the "Herald Sun")

Photo of the "Quang Incident," where South Vietnamese Ambassador to Australia, Luic Tuong Quang (right), was barricaded for over an hour in the Relaxation Block at the University of Queensland by anti-war students. (4 September 1970)

"Justice for John Pat and all Koories killed in KKKustody!" - article from "Struggle" on the 13th anniversary of the murder of John Pat by the Western Australian Police. (By the C-RCPA. Issue #4, Sep. 1996) [1/2]

(FTF): "Stop black deaths in custody" - Poster for a rally & concert commemorating the death of John Pat, a 16-year-old Yindjibarndi boy who was bashed by drunk policemen (who were returning from a Police Union meeting) and left to die in cell two years prior. (Sept 27 1985)

Noel Counihan - "The Supporter"/ "The Barracker"(1970s)

(FTF): "The High Mark" - Painting by Noel Counihan, 1947.

"Act now against US murders!" (29/11/71) After the murder of George Jackson in the San Quentin State Prison, the CPA issues a call to action to circulate a petition to the UN, carrying out the wishes of George's mother and sister in reply to a letter of condolence sent to them.

On this day in 1951, the referendum to ban the Australian Communist Party was rejected by the Australian public. "Sep 22 deserves to be celebrated along with the centenary of Federation. The defeat of the referendum ... confirmed that Australia’s temper would remain democratic."

Anatoly Chernyaev was a member of the CC CPSU, working in the International Department. In 1972 he started writing a diary, recording the internal life of the highest Soviet political organs. Here we find an interesting view of the relationship between the CPSU and the CPA (🧵)

Chips Mackinolty - "Chile: September 11, Two Years of Torture and Murder." (1976)

Gary Foley and Bruce McGuinness at Marx's Grave in London, 1979. The original caption from the magazine 'Identity' reads: "Gary and Bruce with a hero from the past."

Cartoon by Noel Counihan - "V-E Day!" (May 11, 1945) Scan credit goes to @NealeTowart

The strike was the first sit-in (occupation) by workers and its ultimate success provided a great boost for the Australian trade union movement - especially during the Depression when jobs were scarce and workers were not protected by many of the laws passed in the postwar era.

Agnes and Wattie Doig, Scottish immigrants and militants, recall life on the Gippsland coalfields of Victoria in the 1930s. This is from the opening of the film Strikebound (1984), directed by Richard Lowenstein, which depicts the stay-in strike at the Sunbeam Colliery in 1937.

Chicka Dixon on his politicisation: "[In 1946] I was sneaking off to meetings of the Aboriginal Progressive Association at the Ironworkers’ Hall. "Oh Chicka, don’t go down there, they’ll call you Red," my mother said. "Well," I said, "they’ve been calling me black for years."

Central Committee member Richard Dixon speaks at the 13th National Congress of the Communist Party of Australia at the (Sydney?) Town Hall. (March 19th, 1943)

"Wall St. decides Who lives... Who dies.... Hell to the U.S.A" - Banner at a May Day march in Sydney NSW, 1969. (From "Tribune" negatives. Acknowledgement goes to Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales and Courtesy SEARCH foundation)

Jim Healy, CPA member and head of the WWF, highlights the differences between 'good laws' and 'bad laws' in this clip from the 1955 documentary "November Victory." [1/6]

"Quotations from Chairman Cummo" - Board of Quotes from the late BLF and CFMEU Unionist John Cummins inside the Perth Trades Hall

News footage of the 1973 Ford Broadmeadows rebellion