Author Description

The only large scale comprehensive account of an intriguing part of Australia's past.Shortlisted, Best Australian History Book, New South Wales Premier's History Literary Awards 1999Winner, Non-fiction prize, The Age Book of the Year Awards 1998Highly Commended, Fellowship of Australian Writers Literature Award, National Literary Awards 1988In 1920, 26 men and women met in a dingy hall in Sydney to create a new political party. They expected the overthrow of capitalism and the emancipation of humanity - here, and all around the world.Two decades later, when Australia joined in the Second World War, the Commonwealth Government suppressed the Communist Party of Australia. The handful of idealists and dissidents had become a political force powerful enough, in the view of the authorities, to pose a threat to national security.The Communist Party was a major part of Australia's political landscape for more than half a century. It enlisted its members in a world-wide cause that was charged with hopes for revolutionary change and imbued with the iron discipline of warriors in a class war. It attracted fierce hostility; it inspired devotion.Australian communism wielded an influence far beyond its size. The Party came to control many of the country's largest trade unions. Its supporters included writers and artists who influenced much of Australia's cultural life. It was active in a broad range of social movements. It became the target of sustained surveillance and penetration by state police and federal security agencies. It retains the attention of many despite the revelations of the post-Cold War era.Stuart Macintyre's history is the first comprehensive account of Australian communism. It is based on a new range of sources and uses extensive interviews to recapture the experience of early Australian communists. Full of fascinating characters and incidents, this is the most ambitious work of a leading Australian historian.