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The Australian Peace Movement: Its Early Years
Author(s) -
Gollan Bill
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
australian journal of social issues
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.417
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 1839-4655
pISSN - 0157-6321
DOI - 10.1002/j.1839-4655.1986.tb00828.x
Subject(s) - militant , interwar period , alliance , communism , peace movement , spanish civil war , publishing , project commissioning , economic history , political science , club , world war ii , politics , political economy , sociology , law , history , medicine , anatomy
Small peace societies sprang up in Australia before and during World War I. These earliest groups opposed militant and chauvinist views on rational and humanitarian grounds. A radical critique of the social and economic roots of war began to be heard in the anti‐conscription campaigns of 1916 and 1917, and was in part an expression of internationalist currents in the Australian labour movement. During the interwar period anti‐war and anti‐imperialist movements were affected by disunity on the left; from 1934, however, an uneasy alliance between the Communist Party of Australia and the Australian Labor Party led to the formation of Australian sections of the Movement Against War and Fascism, the Left Book Club and other activities. During the interwar period internationalist and anti‐war movements nevertheless failed to challenge the reformism of the ALP.