75 years of Communism in Australia

By Tony Iltis CANBERRA — The history of the revolutionary socialist movement in Australia was the subject of the 1995 Jim Percy Memorial Lecture on October 18. Delivered by Democratic Socialist Party national secretary John Percy, the lecture examined the history of the Communist Party of Australia, this country's largest left organisation for most of its 71 years, and the events which lead to its demise in 1991. During the depression the CPA attracted thousands of unemployed people. When unemployment fell, communists were able to build a strong base for the party in the trade unions. By the late 1940s the CPA has tens of thousands of members. Like most international Communist parties, the CPA's major limitations, Percy argued, derived from its Stalinism, which led to numerous betrayals of the working class. These included the adoption, in the mid-1930s, of the Stalinist "popular front" tactic which directed communists to enter alliances that were politically dominated by bourgeois-liberal forces such as the ALP. During its last two decades, said Percy, the CPA attempted to come to terms with its Stalinist past. Its illusions in the ALP continued, however, as did its tendency to equate revolutionary socialism with Stalinism. Percy argued that the idea that brought thousands of people into the CPA — the need for a revolutionary worker's party independent of ruling class political forces — remains valid today. Jim Percy Memorial lectures are being held in all major cities. See pp. 29-31 for details.