This is Australia, You Can’t Do That Here

By: Bill Posters

Scenes of the NSW “Anti-terrorism” unit dragging a young YouTube comedy producer from his home provoked outrage across the internet. “This isn’t the Australia I grew up in” read one comment on a video of the arrest. Another stated, “This is Australia, you can’t do that here!” Despite what sheltered individuals might think, Australian government goons have long had the power to harass, sabotage and arrest those who dare step out of line.

The Australian government has never shied away from repressing protest at the all-too-evident negative consequences of capitalism and imperialism. The most common victims have been opponents of corporate dictatorship and defenders of the interests of the working class and other exploited sections of the community. Often, these individuals have been Communists or trade unionists or both.

A memorable historical example is that of the imprisonment of Australian Communist Party General Secretary, Lance Sharkey, in 1949. On March 28 of that year, the General Secretary was alleged to have answered a question about a hypothetical Soviet invasion of Australia with these comments:

“If Soviet forces in pursuit of aggressors entered Australia, Australian workers would welcome them.”

“Australian workers would welcome Soviet forces pursuing aggressors as the workers welcomed them throughout Europe when the Red troops liberated the people from the power of the Nazis.”

“I support the statements made by the French Communist leader Maurice Thorez [who answered a similar question in the same way].”

“Invasion of Australia by forces of the Soviet Union seems very remote and hypothetical to me.”

“I believe the Soviet Union will go to war only if she is attacked, and if she is attacked, I cannot see Australia being invaded by Soviet troops.”

“The job of Communists is to struggle to prevent war and to educate the mass of people against the idea of war.”

“The Communist Party also wants to bring the working class to power, but if fascists in Australia use force to prevent the workers gaining that power, Communists will advise the workers to meet force with force.”

For uttering these words, Sharkey was found guilty of violating the Crimes Act and committing sedition. He served thirteen months of a three-year sentence in prison.

Another example from the vault is that of Clarrie O’Shea. He was a member of the Communist Party of Australia and, later, the Communist Party of Australia Marxist-Leninist. From 1947 to 1970 he was also secretary of the Victorian branch of the Australian Tramways and Motor Omnibus Employees’ Association. In that period, the union movement had been in a long struggle with the federal government over the insertion of bans clauses in arbitrated awards. In 1969, O’Shea’s union was fined $8100 for striking. He refused to pay that fine and another $500 one for contempt of the Commonwealth Arbitration Court. O’Shea was thrown in gaol. Unions responded with magnificently supported protest stoppages all over the country the following Monday. Eventually, a Sydney lottery winner, Dudley Macdougall, paid both fines but not before O’Shea and the trade union movement had demonstrated their determination to resist blatant repression.

Sharkey and O’Shea are just two of many examples over the decades that give lie to expressions like “not my Australia”. Unfortunately, these cases demonstrate just how biased and determined the managers of the capitalist state truly are and always have been.

Although democratic rights in capitalist countries are worth fighting for, it’s important to never forget their limits. Being able to openly display Party symbols and express Party policy is extremely valuable, but this right will quickly vanish as the movement becomes stronger and more able to threaten the ruling class. The state also actively blocks and supresses the exercise of rights by groups supporting working class interests. I remember when my application to hand out anti-war leaflets was rejected by a local council on the grounds that it would disturb shoppers and upset rate payers. A short time later, Amnesty International erected a huge display blocking foot traffic in the very same spot I applied for, replete with at least ten people passing out leaflets. Pointing out internet censorship in China doesn’t harm the interests of local capitalists; advocating peace and an end to the arms industry does.

Whether you agree with the politics of the Friendly Jordies YouTube channel, no one should be cheering Kristo’s arrest. It is a naked application of state violence against someone for consistently daring to expose corruption. Despite being ALP hacks, Jordan Shanks and his team have inadvertently shown that the Australian government does not serve the working class. They have also committed the heinous crime of promoting unionism, even if they denigrate non-ACTU affiliated unions. It goes to show that the ruling class has been so successful in the class war that even trade union consciousness is a step so far that it warrants detention by “anti-terrorism” forces! If the state comes down this hard on someone as politically safe as Jordan Shanks, how much worse do you think the response will be when class conscious proletarians get organised?