BY ROBYN MARSHALL

BRISBANE — “As socialists, we ignore our own history at our peril”, Jim McIlroy, author of a new pamphlet by Resistance Books, Australia's First Socialists, told a book launch sponsored by Green Left Weekly on October 29.

“Contrary to a widespread myth, Australia has a rich history of class struggle, both in terms of ideas and action — up to and including the most militant, even violent, class conflict”, McIlroy told the book launch.

“In order to win the Australian working class and the oppressed to a socialist perspective in the long run, we need to better understand the historical experiences which have shaped our unique labour moment, and which continue to influence it today.”

He went on to outline the themes of Australia's First Socialists, which cover the early history of the socialist movement from the 1854 Eureka stockade to the initial socialist organisations such as the Australian Socialist League and the movement for “Socialism In Our Time” in the 1890s.

McIlroy's booklet traces the history of the socialist movement in Australia from the Industrial Workers of the World, — the Wobblies — when the Australian labour movement polarised around the issue of conscription, to the founding of the Communist Party in the early 1920s.

Also speaking at the launch was Norma Nord, a former long-time member of the Communist Party and coordinator of the Grass Roots Centre. She recounted her experiences as a young woman joining the CPA in the late 1930s. She described her involvement in the peace movement over the years, and some of the contradictions of the internal life of the CPA.

The book launch ended with discussion around issues raised in the talks and the lessons that could be drawn from them for the building of the socialist movement today.

From Green Left Weekly, November 5, 2003.
Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.

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