Communist Party of Australia (Marxist–Leninist)[lower-alpha 1]
AbbreviationCPA (ML)[lower-alpha 1]
Founders
Founded15 March 1964 (15 March 1964)
Split fromCommunist Party of Australia (CPA)
HeadquartersFitzroy, Melbourne, Victoria
NewspaperVanguard
Membership (1960s–70s)c. 300[lower-alpha 3]
Ideology
Political positionFar-left
International affiliationICOR (since 2019)
Colors  Red
Slogan“For an independent and socialist Australia.”
House of Representatives
0 / 151
Senate
0 / 76
Unofficial flag
Unofficial flag
Website
cpaml.org

The Communist Party of Australia (Marxist–Leninist) (CPA (ML)),[lower-alpha 1] is an Australian communist party founded in 1964. The party's origins derived from a split within the Communist Party of Australia (CPA), stemming from the Sino-Soviet split. The party describes its ideology as being influenced by the works of Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong and Ted Hill.[9]

The party adheres to what is calls the "iceberg principle": “A few members are seen and open about their membership to allow the organisation to be accessible to the working class, while the membership of the majority remains largely unknown, revealed appropriately as their workplace, community and personal circumstances demand.”[10]

Foundation

The Communist Party of Australia (Marxist–Leninist) (CPA (ML)) was formed in March of 1964 by former members of the Communist Party of Australia (CPA).[11][12] Ted Hill, among an estimated two-hundred others,[8] lead a “Marxist–Leninist Conference” in which the party was formally founded.[13][14] They also outlined their disagreements with the leadership of the CPA, contemporary issues, and the future of socialism.[13][14] The party was founded following the split within the CPA, which stemmed from the Sino-Soviet split of the early '60s. The founders of the CPA (ML) (Ted Hill, Paddy Malone, Clarrie O'Shea, F. Johnson) rejected and denounced the leadership of the CPA as revisionist as well as their pro-Soviet position under Nikita Khrushchev, among many others.[13][14]

First Central Committee Office-bearers[11][12]

Position Name
Chairman Ted Hill
Vice-Chairman Paddy Malone
Clarrie O'Shea
Secretary Frank Johnson

History

1970s–1990s

The party exerted sizeable influence on the militant student movement in Australia during the late 1960s and early 1970s on campuses such as Monash University and La Trobe University in Melbourne as well as Flinders University in Adelaide through their affiliate, the Worker-Student Alliance.[15] A notable leader of the Worker-Student Alliance at this time was veteran political activist Albert Langer.

The party also held considerable sway within the Australian trade union movement from inception through to the 1980s. Clarrie O'Shea was party Vice-President at the time of his gaoling in 1969, which led to an unprecedented general strike across Australia until his release was secured.[16] Norm Gallagher led the Builders Labourers Federation for over a decade, a time during which he was a nationally known and controversial figure. Other party members, such as John Cummins and Jim Bacon were also prominent BLF figures throughout the 1970s and 1980s. In the years following the de-registration of the BLF in 1986, CPA (M-L) influence within the union movement began to decline.

During the 1980s and 1990s the majority of the founding members of the CPA (M-L) died or retired. Ted Hill's retirement in 1986 and death in 1988 left the party without its most recognised public figure.

Current activity

The party ceased publishing a hard copy version of its newspaper Vanguard on a regular basis at the end of 2014. However, it continues to publish a special May Day edition of the paper each year, and releases various other publications periodically.[17] It is unknown how many members the party has as it maintains strict adherence to its founding policy of the vast majority of members keeping their party membership secret.[18] They have had a new website since 25 October 2014.[19]

In June 2019 the party affiliated formally with the International Coordination of Revolutionary Parties and Organizations (ICOR).[20][21]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 The name of the party, and its abbreviation, has been described in multiple alternate ways, including:
    • Communist Party of Australia (M.L.)
    • Communist Party of Australia (M–L)
    • CPA (M–L)
    • CPA (M.L.)
  2. 1 2 3 4 Among two-hundred former CPA members, the Central Committee elected four people to three positions.
  3. ↑ Although Macintyre does not identify a specific number or date, he states, in The Party: The Communist Party of Australia From Heyday to Reckoning, that the party never achieved more than three-hundred members during its early years.[1]

References

  1. ↑ MacIntyre, Stuart (2022). The Party: The Communist Party of Australia From Heyday to Reckoning. Allen & Unwin. p. 370.
  2. 1 2 Declaration of Australian Marxist-Leninists. Foreign Languages Press (reprint). 11 November 1963.
  3. 1 2 3 Some Articles On Striving For Marxism–Leninism In Australia (PDF). May 1973.
  4. 1 2 Hill, Ted (8 April 1966). "All Marxist–Leninists Will Repudiate The Soviet Revisionists" (PDF). Peking Review. The Guardian.
  5. ↑ Herouvim, John (1983). 'An Alien Association': Australian Maoism and the Communist Party of China, 1971–1977 (PDF) (Thesis). La Trobe University.
  6. ↑ Lee Ack, Tess (2019). "The SWAG years: Revolutionary organising in 1970s Australia". Marxist Left Review (MLR) (17).
  7. ↑ Armstrong, Mick (2020). "The NSW BLF: The battle to tame the concrete jungle". Marxist Left Review (20).
  8. 1 2 "Anti-Revisionism in Australia". Marxists Internet Archive. About 200 ex-CPA members, almost all from Melbourne, joined it, including some prominent trade union officials.
  9. ↑ "Vanguard Online - Communist Party of Australia Marxist Leninist". Archived from the original on 6 November 2014. Retrieved 28 February 2014.
  10. ↑ "Revolutionary Organisation: The Iceberg Principle Explained" (PDF). Marxists Internet Archive. The Australian Communist.
  11. 1 2 "Communist Party of Australia (Marxist–Leninist) Founded" (PDF). Peking Review. Vol. 7, no. 14. 3 April 1964. pp. 23–24.
  12. 1 2 MacIntyre, Stuart (2022). The Party: The Communist Party of Australia From Heyday to Reckoning. Allen & Unwin. p. 369.
  13. 1 2 3 "E. F. Hill's Report To Historic Conference Of Marxist–Leninists – Part I" (PDF). The Australian Communist. No. 5. Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. May 1964.
  14. 1 2 3 "Continuing E. F. Hill's Report To The Historic Conference Of Marxist–Leninists – Part II" (PDF). The Australian Communist. No. 6. Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. June 1964.
  15. ↑ "Anti-Revisionism in Australia – Index Page". www.marxists.org.
  16. ↑ "Marxist Left Review Issue No.19".
  17. ↑ "Publications". www.cpaml.org. Archived from the original on 29 June 2018. Retrieved 29 June 2018.
  18. ↑ "About the CPA (ML)". www.cpaml.org. Archived from the original on 29 June 2018. Retrieved 29 June 2018.
  19. ↑ "Vanguard Online - Communist Party of Australia Marxist Leninist". Archived from the original on 6 November 2014. Retrieved 6 November 2014.
  20. ↑ "CPA (M-L) affiliates to ICOR". cpaml.org. Communist Party of Australia (Marxist–Leninist). 9 November 2019. Archived from the original on 7 December 2019.
  21. ↑ "CPA (M-L) affiliates to ICOR". icor.info. International Coordination of Revolutionary Parties and Organizations (ICOR). Archived from the original on 22 January 2022.
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