02+Response+to+the+threat+of+Communism

= Australia's response to the threat of communism within Australia =



Background
The post-war era in Australia was a time of economic and political stability with a prosperous new consumer class, it was also a time of fear and tension. For the previous three decades Australia (like the world) had suffered from two world wars and economic depression. The Great Depression of the 1920s and 1930s had hit Australia hard and the memories of that time had not yet faded. After such a long period of war and economic strife, Australians, like the rest of the world, wanted security and peace. These factors help explain why in Australia there was a shift to a conservative way of life and conservative political thinking after the War. Ordinary Australians wanted to settle down in suburbia and live a quiet life that revolved around the newest electrical appliance that was available. But behind this picture of domestic happiness, there was also an underlying fear of this suburban security being taken away. The 1940s and 1950s were dominated by alleged communist plots to undermine Australian society. Like Britain, and especially America, Australia was obsessed with finding communists and communist plots in all areas of society. For Australians this took two forms: fear of communist invasion from without; and fear of communists within their own society.

[[image:220px-Is_this_tomorrow[1].jpg align="right"]]

 * 1. What do you think the caption of the poster would be?**
 * 2. Why do you think the poster was published?** **What is its purpose?**

The 1949 election
The 1949 election was run against a background of growing fear of communism and this was one of the major factors behind the Labor defeat. In 1949 communism was bound to be on the election agenda as Korea was on the verge of civil war, China had become communist and Russia had exploded its first atomic bomb.

Luck or strategy?
Opinions differ as to how much Menzies orchestrated the timing of the Petrov Affair to his own advantage. It is not possible to determine whether it was just luck or a definite strategy that had Petrov appear with the long-looked-for Soviet spy ring just weeks before an election that the Liberal Party could have lost. It is also not possible to determine if Petrov ever did produce concrete evidence of espionage taking place, however, not one criminal charge resulted from the Petrov Commission. After the election was over, the Labor Party began to fall apart and was also split internally. This split, and a weakening of support for the ALP, resulted in the Liberals remaining in power for another 18 years.