s also shall disappear. The question is how can we convince the honest members of the Labor Party and the trade unions to unify with the Communist Party, the revolutionary party and create in this manner the organisational foundation of the working class. Here is the way to destroy the rule of the reformists in the workers 'movement.
But it was the communists not the reformists whose influence was to be destroyed. In 1994 Hughes concluded: В«We followed the party's line with the war when it was so off beam and a denial of everything we had been fighting and struggling for, the defeat of fascism and all the rest of it. [Because of this] in one minute, virtually .... it went down the drain. В»
As the war in Europe intensified the Hughes-Evans position became increasingly untenable. In April Germany invaded Norway and Denmark. In May the phoney war ended with the German blitzkreig invasion of the Netherlands and Belgium followed by the attack on France. The public desire to assist Britain with Australian troops overwhelmed the earlier reservations and hopes for peace on which the Hands Off Russia resolution was built. Within Australia forces grew calling for a government of national unity with the conservative United Australia Party. But the NSW executive of the Labor Party strongly opposed this and attacked other Labor forces who supported it. p> A Special Federal ALP Conference in June 1940 opted for a more pro-war stance, agreeing to conditional participation in the European war. Shortly after this, another split developed between the left-controlled NSW branch and the federal leadership. The conservative federal government, with support from the Labor Opposition, had proposed to amend the National Security Act to give extra powers to require individuals to place В«themselves, their services and their property at the disposal of the CommonwealthВ». This was bitterly opposed by the Hughes-Evans forces who publicly supported five Labor federal MPs who opposed the amendments.
On August 2 the federal executive of the ALP moved decisively and suspended the left-dominated NSW executive. It denounced the В«inspired and unwarranted propaganda circulated in NSW about a proposed National Government В»and reaffirmed its own rejection of a national government. Trying to avert a split, the executive offered a secret deal to Hughes. In exchange for his support to drop Evans, Hughes would become a junior minister in the next national Labor government. After consulting with the CPA leadership, the offer was rejected and with it died the intriguing possibility of a communist minister of the crown.
On August 17, the suspended Hughes-Evans leadership reconvened their forces with 18 members of the old executive. They decided to create a new party - the Australian Labor Party, State of NSW. This body became the vehicle of what remained of the alliance between the undercover CPA members and the non-CPA Left. It failed to win significant electoral support and in January 1944 it amalgamated with the Communist Party, with five of its leaders becoming members of the Central Committee of the CPA: J. Hughes, W. Gollan, H. Chandler, E. Ross and A. Wilson. At least four and possibly all five were already secret members of the CPA. So ended one of the most intriguing but little-known episodes in underground communist political work in an advanced democratic country.
What were the long term results of the CPA's penetration of the Australian Labor Party? The most significant result was their opposition to the creation of a National Government, that is, a non-party government of national unity. From the outbreak of war until August 1940 pressure grew to form a National Government which, for the communists, was absolute anathema because it meant class collaboration. In April the former leader of the rural-based Country Party, Sir Earle Page, publicly called for a national government, but was rebuffed by federal Labor Opposition leader, John Curtin. A government armed with sweeping defence powers and lacking an Opposition would be too powerful, Curtin argued.
Powerful forces within Labor urged a national government. In early June Curtin called a federal conference to discuss Labor's war policy and the Sydney Morning Herald noted: В«It is believed that an influential section of the conference will advocate the formation of a National Government on the lines approved by the British Labour Party. В» A Special Federal Conference in June 1940 revealed the key supporter of national government - Queensland Premier Forgan Smith, whose proposal for a national government the conference rejected. The conference opted for a more supportive, war-fighting role than previously, agreeing to reinforcement for the AIF and conditional participation in the European war. But the strength of the Left and of Labor tradition was also shown in declarations of...
