AUSTRALIAN SOCIETY FOR THE STUDY OF LABOUR HISTORY (MELBOURNE BRANCH)
In June 1977 Donald Horne came into my office – we were on the same corridor – quite early in the morning. He was clutching his copy of Historical Studies. I was pleased as I thought he was about to congratulate me on my first article in Australia’s premier history journal and I was quite proud of my achievement, too. … Continue readingMichael McKernan on Ryan Cropp’s Donald Horne Biography
The recent publication of a book of essays honouring the life of legendary New Zealand peace researcher and activist Owen Wilkes is a must read for historians of social movements, those who were active in the anti-nuclear and peace movements of the seventies and eighties, as well as those growing numbers who today carry on the resistance to escalating militarism. … Continue readingPeacemonger, Owen Wilkes: International Peace Researcher
Our dear friend Peter Love is no more. His involvement with the Australian Society for the Study of Labour History spans fifty years. For the last thirty-five of those years, Peter has been president of its Melbourne Branch. He personified his ‘communitarian civic ideal’ with an ‘unassuming nationalism, simple decency and a willingness to place the public good before private benefit’. Befitting a man who operated according to the ‘Old Mates Act’ and practised noncontractual reciprocity, his friendship circles were large. He will be sorely missed. … Continue readingCitizen Love – teacher, activist, scholar, and friend
Join authors Evan Smith, Jayne Persian, Vashti Jane Fox and Jeff Sparrow in the launch of ‘Histories of Fascism and Anti-Fascism in Australia’. Friday 31 March at 6:00pm-7:30pm Catalyst Social Centre 144-146 Sydney Road, Coburg. Free drinks and nibbles will be provided before and after the talk. RSVP essential. … Continue readingBook Launch: ‘Histories of Fascism and Anti-Fascism in Australia’
Barry York ‘La Trobe Students Freed’ – so ran the billboard of the Melbourne Herald newspaper fifty years ago in its late afternoon edition on 4 August 1972. That edition of
Tom McDonald (1926-2022) By Michael Easson Tom McDonald was a building union leader and building industry reformer, superannuation pioneer, pro-Moscow communist turned “broad left” warrior, and celebrated elder of the
The Trades Hall Council has commissioned a bronze plaque of Gwen Goedecke (past member of the Melbourne Labour History Society) to honour her lifelong activism and in so doing, help
The long awaited launch of Stuart Macintyre’s second volume of the history of the CPA is happening on Wednesday 16th March in the Solidarity Hall of Victorian Trades Hall. Hosted by SEARCH Foundation and the Melbourne Labour History Society, the event will feature a formal launch and a panel discussion. Frank Bongiorno, Professor of History at the Australian National University and a close colleague of Stuart, will launch the book. The launch will be followed by a panel discussion on Stuart Macintyre’s contributions to Australian labour history in general and the history of communism in Australia in particular, moderated by Carmel Shute, former historian and CPA member. … Continue readingThe Party: Book Launch
Chris Bowen, the former Treasurer, now Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Energy, is an avid reader, and curious about the motivation, thinking, and conflicts that rule the hearts and minds of political folk. His latest book tributes six, largely forgotten, Australian Labor men and women, never household names. In doing so, Bowen says that many books: “…tend to focus on the big names or the big dramatic moments: the election wins, the reforms, the splits, the challenges.” But there is more to the Labor story: there are many thousands of personalities who make up the movement. … Continue readingLabouring People
(Phillip Deery, Charlie Chaplin and the FBI): There is much more to the political harassment and persecution of Charlie Chaplin. J. Edgar Hoover first took an interest in the ‘little tramp’ in 1922, the year after ‘The Kid’ opened. But it was not until World War II that his FBI file, numbered 100-127090, began to thicken. FBI agents noted that he was the main speaker at a CPUSA-backed Artists Front to Win the War in Carnegie Hall on 16 October 1942, which called for a second front. He addressed the crowd as ‘comrades’ and praised the Soviet Union, then a wartime ally. … Continue readingCharlie Chaplin and the FBI