Communist party of Australia

The Communist Party of Australia has been interested in a range of issues from its inception in 1920 until it ceased to be a political party in 1991. These interests are reflected in its files on women's issues, trade unions, election campaigns, the environmental movement, peace and disarmament, unemployment and Aboriginal issues.

From the description of Records [manuscript]. (Libraries Australia). WorldCat record id: 225816752

The Communist Party of Australia was founded in 1920. In 1963 a Peking-oriented group led by E.F. Hill broke away from the Party to become the Communist Party of Australia (Marxist-Leninist). A further group led by Pat Clancy and Bill Brown, split from the main party in 1970 to form the Socialist Party of Australia.

From the description of Records [manuscript]. 1920-1967. (Libraries Australia). WorldCat record id: 225824476

Established in 1920, the Communist Party of Australia (CPA) experienced significant growth in membership and influence throughout the 1930s and early to mid 1940s. The Queensland branch of the CPA established itself in Brisbane and regional centres especially the Townsville/Bowen/Collinsville region, known as the 'Red North'. Declared illegal in between 1940 and 1942, the CPA continued, however, to function and grow in membership. In 1944, Fed Paterson was elected the state member for Bowen, the first and only CPA member elected to an Australian parliament. By the late 1940s, Cold War hostility and the CPA's increasing militancy saw the CPA under attack from the Chifley Labor government, the industrial groups within the trade union movement and the Liberal Party and business interests. In 1951, the Menzies government failed in its attempts to ban the CPA through a referendum. Yet the CPA was already experiencing significant decline that was only exacerbated by the Petrov 'spy' scandal and Royal Commission of 1954-55 and Chairman Khruschev's denunciation of Stalin's excesses in 1956. Of note is the fact that the Queensland CPA continued to maintain significant influence within the Trades and Labour Council of Queensland throughout the 1960s, largely as a consequence of the Council's Secretary Alec McDonald who died in 1969.

From the description of Records. 1937-1990. (Libraries Australia). WorldCat record id: 223248072