Queensland Comrades Speak

http://brisbanelabourhistory.org/brisbane-labour-history-association/resources/oral-histories/queensland-comrades-speak?fbclid=IwAR1_uX-kWHuEpePuIq41nshXnLWSQIFzsan5EXpq8lEhY9FYrxaQhBYk7yU
Date Written:  2013-07-01
Publisher:  Brisbane Labour History Association
Year Published:  2013
Resource Type:  Article
Cx Number:  CX25370

Queensland Comrades Speak comprises interviews with former members and supporters of the Communist Party of Australia who were active in Queensland in the 1940s and 1950s. The interviews were based on a discussion of the organising strategies and methods which Party members used during those years.

Abstract: 
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Excerpt:

The post-war years in Australia were a time of political activism on a wide range of areas. Workers returned from the war with visions of a better world (and for many, positive visions of socialism in the Soviet Union as Australia's ally during the war). Trade unions grew in strength, with membership increasing from 40 to 60 per cent of workers over those few decades. Many people were also drawn into activism within the women's movement, the peace movement, and the Aboriginal support movement.

During this period the Communist Party enjoyed significant influence in Australia – its membership stood at more than 20,000 by the late 1940s. Many of those who joined the CPA during that time became lifelong activists in their trade unions as well as in community politics. Today those former members of the CPA are in their 80s and 90s. They have a story to tell which is quite unique in that they were active in grassroots organising at a time when the Left had immense influence in Australian politics.