Referendum+to+ban+the+Communist+Party+in+1951

= Referendum To Ban The Communist Party in 1951 = Vincent, Christine, Elizabeth, Andrew //10HG5//

  === The fight against Communism occurred well before the 1949 election campaign as fears of global communism spread in Australia. This fear, however, did not come to a peak until the Liberal Party came to power. The newly elected Prime Minister, Robert Menzies, pledged during his 1949 election campaign that he would ban the Communist Party of Australia (the CPA)- and now he was Prime Minister, he had to fulfil his promise. ===


 Banning a 30 year old, well established political party was not a simple process, and the Constitution did not immediately yield to Menzies' wishes. The main issue was because of its legality. He also promised that no communists were to be given jobs by the government, especially those involved in the trade unions. A main issue was how to identify a communist as most would be unlikely to own up being a communist if they knew their jobs were at stake.

="Guilty until proven innocent" = = =  The government resorted to using //Section 30H of the Commonwealth Crimes Act 1914 (Cth)// which allowed the government to accuse anyone for a crime against the Commonwealth on very little evidence. This reversed the legal stance of “innocent until proven guilty” to “guilty until proven innocent”. Any organisation declared Communist or Communist-related by the Attorney-General had to prove themselves innocent or be prosecuted. Moreover, Menzies had no pretext to ban the Communist Party- his party had to instil fear of Communism, as well as create the image that the CPA was indeed quite a dangerous political party. As a result they stressed the revolutionary ideas of communism and linked it with disruptive tactics such as industrial strikes.


 The bill was presented in parliament, to abolish and suspend all Communist members and to punish any future offenders by 5 years in jail. The Bill failed the first attempt to pass it as the Labor majority in Senate was far too great and made far too many amendments which made the government choose not to pass it in that form. However by 20 October 1950, the ALP’s Federal Executive finally let the bill pass Senate where it became law. The CPA and the unions went straight to the High Court in an attempt to prevent the government from putting the Act into effect. It was not until four months later after the case began that the High Court ruled that the Act was unconstitutional. Later during April 1951, Menzies forced both houses into an election so he could gain control of the Senate so he could push the anti communist legislation. During the election, he again pushed the threat of an imminent war relating to communism which scared people away from voting Labour. Therefore, to overcome his last hurdle set up by the High Court, Menzies held a referendum to change the constitution. = Contextual Map= 

=Timeline =

||  =**The Referendum** =
 * **1930s** || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">During the Great Depression, disgruntled workers and trade unions turned to Communism for comfort, as both Labor and non-Labor governments at the time seemed to have failed the working class. The Communist Party of Australia (CPA) increased in numbers in the 1930s. ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Post WWII** || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Fears of Communism are high, as the adoption of the doctrine by the USSR, China and Korea receive strong media attention. ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**July 1949** || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The CPA organised a Coal Strike. It was unpopular with the public, and seen as simply advocating a class conflict to promote communist leadership. ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**1949** || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Menzies promises to ban the Communist Party of Australia during his election campaign. ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**10 December 1949** || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Menzies wins the election by a landslide. ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**March 1950** || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Plans made by the Liberal government cabinet to ban the CPA. Continuous and deliberate agitation of the public was created to justify their position of the potency of the CPA to Australian consituted society. ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**27 April 1950** || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">//Communist Party Dissolution Bill// that grants the power to destroy the CPA and its affiliates was presented to Parliament. It stated that anyone who would dare continue their work would be sentenced to jail. Accused communists (without substantial evidence) would be robbed of all job opportunities. ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**May 1950** || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Responses to the bill were mostly negative. The Government was accused of leaning towards a more totalitarian authority by the Labour party. However, they proposed to edit some parts of the bill they thought restricted freedom and justice. Apparently, they edited it far too much and the government refused to pass the bill in that form.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**28 September 1950** || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The Korean War began and Menzies took this opportunity to re-introduce the bill to the House of Representatives. ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**20 October 1950** || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The Labor Party had accepted the bill and passed it onto the Senate. Now it was law. The CPA immediately approached the High Court to prevent the government from enacting any part of the Act. The High Court refused this but it did agree to stop the government form seizing all the CPA’s assets, and selling them and from declaring anyone a Communist. Despite this, the raid was still conducted. ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**14 November 1950** || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">High Court case initiated. It took for months for six out of seven judges to rule against the Act. ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**April 1951** || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Menzies persisted in pursuing his anti-communist legislation, and forced both Houses into an election so that he could re-gain control. He was again successful and now the Liberal party was major authority. ||

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> To leap over constitutional obstacles likely to be stressed by the High Court, Menzies held a referendum to change the constitution that would give the government the power to declare the CPA illegal. The referendum was defeated.

However, fears about communists within society, biding their time for a revolution (this gives some background to the saying, “Reds under the beds”) was escalating, leading to “witch-hunts”. However, in real truth, the CPA went into a decline since the 1950s and its members eventually disbanded.

The referendum for the ban of the long-standing Communist Party of Australia (CPA) held on 22 September 1951 was sanctioned by the new Prime Minister, Robert Menzies to enact the promise he made in the 1949 election. It was an attempt to get rid of organisations that were thought to threaten the security of Australia after WWII. However, the referendum was opposed not only by the Communist Party, but the Australian Labor Party, the Young Liberals and the majority of the Australian population because it would mean restricting freedom of speech and association.

__The result of the referendum:__ rolls || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Ballots issued |||| <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">For |||| <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Against || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Informal || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left; display: block;"> The above table summarises the results of the referendum that was held. Overall, the referendum achieved a majority in three states. However, there were 52 082 more votes against the referendum than for it, so in the end, the referendum was not passed.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">State || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">On
 * ^  || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">% || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">% ||^   ||^   ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">New South Wales || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">1,944,219 || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">1,861,147 || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">865,838 || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">47.17 || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">969,868 || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">52.83 || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">25,441 ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Victoria || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">1,393,556 || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">1,326,024 || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">636,819 || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">48.71 || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">670,513 ||^  ||^   ||^   || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">51.29 || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">18,692 ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Queensland || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">709,328 || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">675,916 || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">373,156 || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">55.76 || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">296,019 || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">44.24 || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">6,741 ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">South Australia || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">442,983 || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">427,253 || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">198,971 || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">47.29 || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">221,763 || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">52.71 || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">6,519 ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Western Australia || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">319,383 || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">305,653 || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">164,989 || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">55.09 || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">134,497 || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">44.91 || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">6,167 ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Tasmania || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">164,868 || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">158,596 || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">78,154 || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">50.26 || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">77,349 || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">49.74 || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">3,093 ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Total for Commonwealth** || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">4,974,337 || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">4,754,589 || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">2,317,927 || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">49.44 || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">2,370,009 || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">50.56 || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">66,653 ||