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History of the Communist Party of Australia #2
The Party: The Communist Party of Australia from Heyday to Reckoning
Communism was unlike any other political movement Australia has ever seen. At its peak in the 1940s, unions led by communists could call a strike that paralysed the nation, and communists influenced the highest level of government and commanded the unswerving loyalty of thousands. It showed working men and women they could have a better life, and gave them the tools to achieve it.
Stuart Macintyre reveals how sources of strength in the party's heyday became the undoing of the party over the following two decades. Unconditional support for the Soviet model broke down as the horrors of Stalinism were revealed. Public support for the party eroded during a series of strikes, and hostility from mainstream politics and security services took a toll. But for those who remained, the comradeship and intense political engagement are the strongest memories.
The Party is the second volume of Stuart Macintyre's masterful history of Australian communism.
Stuart Macintyre reveals how sources of strength in the party's heyday became the undoing of the party over the following two decades. Unconditional support for the Soviet model broke down as the horrors of Stalinism were revealed. Public support for the party eroded during a series of strikes, and hostility from mainstream politics and security services took a toll. But for those who remained, the comradeship and intense political engagement are the strongest memories.
The Party is the second volume of Stuart Macintyre's masterful history of Australian communism.
498 pages, Hardcover
First published February 1, 2022
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About the author
Stuart Macintyre
53 books9 followersStuart Macintyre was Emeritus Laureate Professor of the University of Melbourne and a Professorial Fellow of the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies. He was president of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia from 2007 to 2009 and a life member of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia. With Alison Bashford, he edited the Cambridge History of Australia (2013). His last book, published posthumously, is The Party: The Communist Party of Australia from heyday to reckoning (2022), the second volume in his history of the Communist Party of Australia.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
March 7, 2022
Decades ago I read and enjoyed Stuart Macintyre's The Reds: The Communist Party of Australia from Origins to Illegality. Ever since I'd kept an eye out for the long promised second instalment. Sadly, Macintyre didn't live to see this final chapter of his oeuvre reach bookshops.
Stuart Macintyre was one of Australia's greatest post-war historians, a mentor, teacher, and public intellectual who was as prolific as he was influential. This volume completes his definitive history of the CPA, an organisation which had an impact on Australia that is almost incalculable now. The Party stands as a fitting epitaph to his life's work.
I was fortunate enough in my younger years to meet many of the characters featured within these pages and was always filled with admiration for the sacrifices they had made. The Party is thorough and detailed but also filled with the humanity and verve that is a hallmark of the best labour histories. Highly recommended and not just for boffins, even though this one was riveted from start to end.
Stuart Macintyre was one of Australia's greatest post-war historians, a mentor, teacher, and public intellectual who was as prolific as he was influential. This volume completes his definitive history of the CPA, an organisation which had an impact on Australia that is almost incalculable now. The Party stands as a fitting epitaph to his life's work.
I was fortunate enough in my younger years to meet many of the characters featured within these pages and was always filled with admiration for the sacrifices they had made. The Party is thorough and detailed but also filled with the humanity and verve that is a hallmark of the best labour histories. Highly recommended and not just for boffins, even though this one was riveted from start to end.
January 21, 2025
My thoughts here: https://nibs.org.au/book-reviews
May 23, 2022
Macintyre’s The Party, the second in a 2 volume history of the Communist Party of Australia (CPA) is an impressive and meticulously researched read. It covers the period from its heyday in the 1940s (with 22000 members in 1945) to the split with the tankies in the Socialist Party of Australia around 1970. The 1940s period receives the most detailed treatment, with chapters on the early WW2 illegality (when the CPA deemed WW2 an inter imperialist conflict) to coverage of the rise of the CPA when the Soviet Union was considered an important ally. At this stage, Macintyre recounts, an avuncular Stalin even made the cover of Women’s Weekly.
Macintyre gives us a good sense of communist influence in a wide array of unions - perhaps most prominently the Miners Federation, the Federation of Ironworkers Association (headed by communist Ernie Thornton), the Waterside Workers Federation (headed by Jim Healy, who received Sydney’s largest funeral since Henry Lawson upon his death in 1961) and the Seaman’s Union of Australia. I would have liked to hear more of the Tory fighting career of Jim Healy, who is judged the era’s pre-eminent unionist, but perhaps that is beyond the scope of this volume.
After the halcyon days of the war, the CPA’s story is often one of decline - with membership slipping to 5000 by 1968, and the SPA split taking another 800 members. But CPA members were able to intervene effectively in some cases - for instance in the Council for Aboriginal Rights, under Jack Mundey in the Builders Labourers Federation, in the cultural realm through authors such as Frank Hardy. The Prague Spring saw the de-Stalinisation of the party and a move towards independence from both the Soviet Union and China. It’s a pity that there isn’t a final chapter taking us to its dissolution in 1991 but overall this is a compelling history and a fabulous parting gift from Macintyre to the historiography of the Australian far left.
Macintyre gives us a good sense of communist influence in a wide array of unions - perhaps most prominently the Miners Federation, the Federation of Ironworkers Association (headed by communist Ernie Thornton), the Waterside Workers Federation (headed by Jim Healy, who received Sydney’s largest funeral since Henry Lawson upon his death in 1961) and the Seaman’s Union of Australia. I would have liked to hear more of the Tory fighting career of Jim Healy, who is judged the era’s pre-eminent unionist, but perhaps that is beyond the scope of this volume.
After the halcyon days of the war, the CPA’s story is often one of decline - with membership slipping to 5000 by 1968, and the SPA split taking another 800 members. But CPA members were able to intervene effectively in some cases - for instance in the Council for Aboriginal Rights, under Jack Mundey in the Builders Labourers Federation, in the cultural realm through authors such as Frank Hardy. The Prague Spring saw the de-Stalinisation of the party and a move towards independence from both the Soviet Union and China. It’s a pity that there isn’t a final chapter taking us to its dissolution in 1991 but overall this is a compelling history and a fabulous parting gift from Macintyre to the historiography of the Australian far left.
July 28, 2024
this is a hard book to review. on the one hand, it's a staggering work of scholarship, and is thorough, insightful, and provides a fascinating counterpoint to the history of the major parties throughout the period from WW2 to 1980. on the other hand it is often dense to the point of parody, and seems to largely ignore the actual personalities of the people involved, preferring to stick the more world historic events and the context they occurred in.
if you're looking for an easy read, do not read this book. i read fairly quickly and this has taken me well over a month to read, almost entirely because the prose and the content of the book are so dense and thickly layered. almost every event is placed in a wider historical and social context, and while this illuminates the events significantly, it also means that the book often moves at a glacial pace. the war years are the most heavily discussed, and were almost by far and away the most tedious part of the book. long lists of names, mentioned primarily because they were briefly relevant before fading back into obscurity, are littered throughout the book. i'm not sure who finds this specific brand of list-based history edifying but it drags things to a crawl.
if it sounds like i'm being harsher than a 4 star review would normally be, it's because the book is otherwise incredible. when macintyre manages to keep his specific brand of history brief, you get an absolutely unparalleled level of context and information about events that would normally be briefly touched on or otherwise ignored. small internecine arguments are given space to breathe and explain themselves, so few things feel like they occurred for arbitrary reasons or without the reader being able to understand why. given the course of the CPA you can understand why he thinks that it's necessary to show both sides of a debate.
the only facet that i think is roundly underdeveloped is that of the personalities of those involved. while there is a frankly absurd number of people mentioned in this book, there's really only 5-6 who are there throughout, and it would have been interesting to have a better understanding of their psychology. i can understand not including this to spare the (already colossal) page count, but it's hard to not feel that there's something missing. after spending a month and roughly 400 pages with these people, i feel like i still don't really know any of them particularly well. i guess this is justifiable with the book being about the party itself, but it's a missed opportunity.
if you're interested in the topics covered by book, i recommend reading it. it's not particularly quick or simple to read, but it remains engaging and well-researched throughout. it's an area of australian history that has been thoroughly swept under the rug, and the level of care and effort put into the creation of this book more than justify its length and depth.
if you're looking for an easy read, do not read this book. i read fairly quickly and this has taken me well over a month to read, almost entirely because the prose and the content of the book are so dense and thickly layered. almost every event is placed in a wider historical and social context, and while this illuminates the events significantly, it also means that the book often moves at a glacial pace. the war years are the most heavily discussed, and were almost by far and away the most tedious part of the book. long lists of names, mentioned primarily because they were briefly relevant before fading back into obscurity, are littered throughout the book. i'm not sure who finds this specific brand of list-based history edifying but it drags things to a crawl.
if it sounds like i'm being harsher than a 4 star review would normally be, it's because the book is otherwise incredible. when macintyre manages to keep his specific brand of history brief, you get an absolutely unparalleled level of context and information about events that would normally be briefly touched on or otherwise ignored. small internecine arguments are given space to breathe and explain themselves, so few things feel like they occurred for arbitrary reasons or without the reader being able to understand why. given the course of the CPA you can understand why he thinks that it's necessary to show both sides of a debate.
the only facet that i think is roundly underdeveloped is that of the personalities of those involved. while there is a frankly absurd number of people mentioned in this book, there's really only 5-6 who are there throughout, and it would have been interesting to have a better understanding of their psychology. i can understand not including this to spare the (already colossal) page count, but it's hard to not feel that there's something missing. after spending a month and roughly 400 pages with these people, i feel like i still don't really know any of them particularly well. i guess this is justifiable with the book being about the party itself, but it's a missed opportunity.
if you're interested in the topics covered by book, i recommend reading it. it's not particularly quick or simple to read, but it remains engaging and well-researched throughout. it's an area of australian history that has been thoroughly swept under the rug, and the level of care and effort put into the creation of this book more than justify its length and depth.
August 3, 2022
A very interesting account of a major force in Australian political history which has not been much written about in the past. Amazing to think how such a small group had so much impact in Australia - it inspired many and scared even more.
Very well written and balanced. The author was a member of the Communist Party of Australia but is very fair in his treatment.
The book covers the period from 1940 to 1970. Although the party wasn't formally disbanded until 1991 it was a farce by then. The author has previously written a history of the party from 1920 to 1939 called The Reds.
Very well written and balanced. The author was a member of the Communist Party of Australia but is very fair in his treatment.
The book covers the period from 1940 to 1970. Although the party wasn't formally disbanded until 1991 it was a farce by then. The author has previously written a history of the party from 1920 to 1939 called The Reds.
July 12, 2024
Brilliant. Macintyre is a g
October 5, 2025
Solidly researched.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews