post wwii

• Labor’s vision as ‘the light on the hill’
• Economic policies/achievements

  1945-1946 - manufacturing output 20% more than 1938-1939 levels

  1947-1948 - rural production recovered to prewar levels

  ‘socialist aims’ - ensure no dole queues, hunger or for workers

  General economy policy - Federal Government to regulate standards and provide competition
• Political policies/achievements of ALP

  1946 - Labor declared the Communist Party of Australia to be an enemy of the ALP

  1947 - Commonwealth Bank Nationalisation Act (nationalise private banks) not passed

  1949 elections - Liberals won 54 seats, Communist Party won 20 and Labor won 47
• Social policies/achievements of ALP

  Plans of growth - set out to increase population by 2% per year (70k migrants)

  Postwar immigration scheme - British migrants/refugees arrved in the late 1940s

  Postwar reconstruction - migrants worked on postwar reconstruction

  Returned soldiers - given educational and job training and low-interest loans for resettlement
• The 7 week coal mine strike

  1949 - strike held by communit-led coal miners

  Chifley - used troops to defeat the strikers

  Results - bitter division of the ALP and the labour movement
• Foreign policy

  ALP - keen to increase Australia’s rights and responsibilities as an independent nation

  Evatt - fought for rights of small nations and against the right of veto
• Chifley’s Plans

  February 1943 - plans announced for new tax and welfare state for ‘a better future for the world’

  Don Cameron - Labor senator called it ‘a confidence trick’

  Melbourne Trades Hall Council - debated whether to support or attack the policy change

  Chifley’s response - denied accusations of selling out the working class
• Making Australia New Again

  Arthur Calwell - set on fast-tracking changes with a new migration program

  Encouragement - non-British migrants encouraged to move to Australia
• Postwar plans implemented

  Public works - to be initiated at first sign of fall of in full employment conditions

  Housing program - to deal with the construction backlog
• Socialist agenda

  ALP - paid lip service to socialism

  Chifley - acted on his beliefs (big government projects and control and social welfare program)
• Education

  University Commission Scholarship - for tertiary students

  Returned soldiers - given access to tertiary education → white collar jobs

  1946 - ANU established in Canberra
• Medical

  Medical and Pharmaceutical benefits scheme - abandoned due to oppositions in 1947

  Benefits - subsidies payable to hospital patients and certain vital medications were free to all
• Snowy Mountains Scheme

  1949 - commencement

  Benefits - gave jobs to thousands of immigrants
• Social services

  Constitution altered - gave the Federal Government power to pass Social Services legislation
• Control of industry

  1946 - Joint Coal Board established

  1948 - Wheat Board established

  1949 - Stevedoring Industry Board and Australian Shipping Board established
• Aviation

  1945 - Trans Australia Airlines set up by Federal Government

  1946-1948 - government acquired shares in Qantas Empire Airways

  Chifley - tried to nationalise airlines
• Communication

  ALP - financially responsible for the ABC (Australian broadcasting companies)

  1948 - Broadcasting Control Board established
• Establishment of General Motors Holden

  Chifley - repealed 1940 legislation that only Australian Consolidated Industries could make cars

  Funds - organised banks to put up the 3 million pounds needed to build and equip the GMH plant
• Conciliation and arbitration

  1947 - legislation which emphasised conciliation in industrial disputes passed

  Conciliation Commissioners - number and power increased
• Immigration

  Immigration minister - Arthur Calwell

  Immigrants - not enough British immgrants → Northern and Eastern Europeans targetted

  ‘New Australians’ - changed Australian society
• ‘New Australians’

  Europe - millions stranded outside their homelands whilst Australia needed a larger population

  1947 - post-war immigration boom (both government-assisted and other immigrants)

  International Refugee Organisation - agreed with European countries to encourage migration

  1950 - almost 200k arrived
• Migrant agreements

  Negotiations - Australia negotiated with governments and international organisations

  Free or assisted passages - for UK residents and servicemen from various countries
• ALP foreign policy

  Foreign minister - Evatt

  China - did not formally recognised China but supported Indonesian independence

  Organisations - joined International Monetary Fund and World Bank
• Bank Nationalisation

  August 1947 - announcement on Chifley’s intention to nationalise the Australian banking system

  Response - private banks funded a greatly successful campaigns of anti-government lobbying

  1948 - High Court had declared the legislation as unconstitutional

  1949 - Privy Council rejected Chifley’s appeal

  Loss of support - fears of possible nationalisation directed votes to other parties in 1949
• Main opponents of bank nationalisation:

  • Bankers and other wealthy capitalists
  • those who viewed nationalisation as unnecessary in the private sector in the economy
  • working-class who saw a career in banking
• Industrial unrest

  1945-1949 - strikes from various industries

  Cumulative effect - to erode public support for Labor
• Petrol rationing

  Public’s opinion - found as inconvenient and annoying

  Menzies - promised to end petrol rationing
• Communist Stigma

  Late 1940s - global uprise in communism

  Non-Labor parties - tarred Chifley and ALP with the ‘Communist brush’

  Accusations - Chifley as disloyal to Britain and of plotting to curb the liberty of Australians

  Menzies - used the ‘Communist Scare’ to discredit and undermine support for the ALP
• Coal miners’ strike of 1949

  27 June - 15 August - strike by 23k miners

  ‘Communist conspiracy’ - miners were duped by the Communist Party union leaders

  Joint Coal Board - able to set work hours and fine/imprison workers
• “No government in the history of Australia has ever given to private industry so much assistance and advice and help as has been given by the Commonwealth Labor government.” - Chifley two weeks before the strike
• Poor conditions

  Joint Coal Board - lacked a union representation

  Main goal of JCB - have sufficient coal, conserve coal, provide cheap prices

  1947 report - ‘welfare of mine workers and families is regarded as subsidiary’

  Union in 1947 - stepped up campaign for improved pit conditions

  Pit conditions - up to 54 degrees, poor ventilation and lack of sanitary amenities

  Injury - 25 killed per year and a mine in Victoria has 891 out of 1000 workers in accidents
• I try to think of the Labor movement, ‘bringing something better to the people, better standards of living, greater happiness to the mass of the people. We have a great objective - the light on the hill - which we aim to reach by working the betterment of mankind not only here but anywhere we may give a helping hand.’ - Chifley in 1949
• The light fades

  1949 - Chifley took on both the Banks and the Communists

  Chifley’s policies - attacked by several people

  Liberal Party - won by a landslide victory
• Reasons for Chifley’s defeat

  1944 Liberal Party - linked with Country Party

  1949 coal strike - Chifley sent in troops

  1949 socialism - became a big issue

  Necessities - food shortages and petrol rationing
• Legacy of Chifley

  Chifley’s policies - continued by the new Liberal Party

  Snowy Mountain Scheme - continued

  ANU - became a world class research university

  Immigration - maintained

  Social Security - established for all Australians
• Fears of communism

  Early 1920s - fears of communism prevalent since

  1920s and 1930s - communist influence in trade union → ALP feared democracy under threat
• Post-WWII threat

  5 years post-WWII - Eastern Europe and parts of Asia under communism

  Menzies’ campaign - anti-socialist and anti-communist
• ‘Communism is an alien and destructive pest. If elected, we shall outlaw it.’ - Robert Menzies on the 1949 election
• Timeline

  1949 - Menzies won federal election

  April 1950 - Menzies introduced the Communist Party Dissolution Bill

  October 1950 - Communist Party Dissolution Act passed by the Senate

  October 1950 - Act challenged by Communist Party and 10 trade unions

  March 1951 - Act declared unconstitutional by High Court

  April 1951 - re-election of Menzies government

  September 1951 - referendum on the power to ban Communist Party defeated
• Communist Party Dissolution Bill powers allowed the Governor General to declare that:

  • certain bodies associated with communism to be unlawful
  • a person was a member of the Communist Party and likely to engage in acts prejudicial to the security of the Commonwealth → prohibits person from holding public office