Description |
1 broadside ; 26 x 21 cm |
Summary |
A broadside, printed recto only in red on cream paper, with statements by residents of Camberwell in support of the Communist Party. The statements are attributed to several ministers of religion, a lecturer in philosophy, two union officials, and a retired navy commander |
Analysis |
Australian |
Notes |
Caption title |
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Pro-Communist political ephemera |
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George A. Paul (1912-1962) was born in Scotland and spent most of his career in Oxford, but lectured in philosophy at the University of Melbourne between 1939 and 1945. A witness at the Victorian Royal Commission on the Communist Party in 1949 reported that he conducted classes above the Communist Party bookshop in Camberwell (National Advocate (Bathurst, NSW), 27 July 1949, page 3, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article161636065, viewed August 2018) |
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In June 1940 the Communist Party of Australia was among ten organisations declared illegal by the Commonwealth Government using regulations imposed under the National Security Act. It continued to occupy its offices at 49 Elizabeth Street and hold meetings as the Political Rights Committee until the ban was lifted in December 1942 |
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The Political Rights Committee was once again in operation on 23 October 1950, shortly after the Communist Party Dissolution Act received assent on 20 October 1950, when Mr William S. Bird of the Commonwealth Investigation Service led a raid of ten men on the former offices of the Communist Party at 49 Elizabeth Street, then occupied by what staff told the security police was the Political Rights Commitee. Similar coordinated raids were made in Sydney, Brisbane, Hobart and Darwin. In Melbourne, the security police seized more than half a ton of pamphlets, articles and other documents. This second ban on the Communist Party was eventually overturned in the referendum held on 22 September 1951 |
Subject |
Australia. Parliament. Communist Party Dissolution Act
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Communist Party of Australia.
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Freedom of association -- Australia.
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Political parties -- Law and legislation -- Australia.
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Author |
Scott, D.
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Political Rights Committee (Australia), issuing body
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Stuart Taylor Pty Ltd, printer
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