[25] Labour versus workers – WW2 Despite the ban, workers received significant aid from sympathetic supporters. None of this demands much artistry by Colebatch. The following year, the militant Waterside Workers’ Union, plus other hard-line unions, split off from the Federation of Labor, which was allied with the Labour Party, to form the Trade Union Congress, led by the fiery Jock Barnes. On April 30, striking coal miners likely bore the responsibility for a bridge demolition. Between February and July of 1951, up to 22,000 waterfront workers (wharfies) in New Zealand struck for better pay and shorter workings hours. (The wharfies had no case because the country was at war. Hughes crossing the floor. Menzies proposed such a grand coalition both when he was in power early in the war and later when he was in opposition, but Labor always refused. The protests influenced organized labor for many years in the future, and the 1981 protests against the Springbok rugby tour were influenced by this campaign (see "New Zealand Anti-Springbok Rugby Tour Protests, 1981") (2). When the Soviet Union was invaded, the communists changed sides, declaring the war now to be a patriotic one. The Auckland union had beauty parades at its annual picnic, but for both women and men. What is essential now is for the Abbott government to appoint an inquiry to find the facts and to report on those measures which should be taken in any conflict in the future to ensure that our defences are not again seriously impaired as they were by government weakness and inaction during the Second World War. When we were at war and under the threat of invasion in the Second World War, the defence of the realm was obviously the government’s paramount duty. Hal Colebatch’s book raises many questions and offers possible answers. The radio station could not go on air as scheduled, just when a violent tropical storm caught a force of American dive bombers flying back from a raid on the Japanese base at Rabaul. In May 1943 Sydney wharfies went on strike because they were required to work with 6-man rather than 8-man crews in the hold. accused Australian wharfies of “corrupt” and “sometimes traitorous” conduct during WW2. There was no wharfies strike that day. Perth lawyer Hal Colebatch has done the nation a service with his groundbreaking book, Australia's Secret War, telling the untold story of union bastardry during World War 2. Wharfies’ teams from one port city would travel to other port cities to compete with each other as well as participating in local sports competitions. They refused to comply even when the prime minister pleaded with them and reminded them that the Japanese were not far from Milne Bay. prof_flint@hotmail.com I’m a bit concerned that Mr Flint has not incorporated some of the evidence put forward in letters to the editor that have questioned the veracity of the tale of the missing squadron. But the waterside workers were to have their revenge. They certainly have some explaining to do. Wharfies at centre of global peace debate. But Hitler had other plans. Only the academy can answer. Fremantle wharfies struck for 3 weeks in May 1945 – by which time the war was almost over. But other incidents could be – and should have been – either verified or dismissed. There were well over one million days lost in coal-mining strikes in 1940, which had a disastrous impact on electricity supplies. They even closed the military and naval colleges at Duntroon and Jervis Bay. During World War II, the New Zealand government played a much larger role in peoples’ lives than it ever had before. One of the most obscene acts occurred in October, 1945, at the end of the war, after Australian soldiers were released from Japanese prison camps. None known. Only 8% of unionized workers went on strike, and the Federation of Labor called on the wharfies to dismiss their “Communist-dominated misleaders”. Historian Glenn Mitchell said the strike action had not been directed at the Japanese, and would have occurred irrespective of where the pig iron was headed For 36 hours, the soldiers were forced to … When it became obvious that Hitler would not be stopped, Menzies was the first to react with strength, risking his future political career. Then there were the coal strikes which pushed down coal production between … In the General Strike of 1917 wharfies and thousands of other unionists in several states struck in support of striking NSW railway and tramway workers. The Left reversed its opposition to the war with Nazi Germany. Told to stop, the wharfies took no notice. When the cranes lifted the planes, they were torn to pieces. New Zealand History Online. The servicemen would also have been well aware that the Curtin government hardly provided the heroic leadership for which it is now so lavishly praised. Though they have since been largely suppressed or glossed over by pro-Labor historians and writers, these episodes were not apparently considered shameful by all watersiders and other strikers but on the contrary have been recounted by some as matters of pride. There was the deliberate destruction by wharfies of vehicles and equipment, theft of food being loaded for soldiers, snap strikes, go-slows, demands for “danger money” for loading biscuits. I’m glad Mr Colebatch has thrown some light on this little covered but long harbored story of betrayal but I fear that even the merest slip up in research on one subject could render the whole story tainted with the accusation of being based on rumour and hearsay. Monks, dated 1995, 50 years after the event and 20 years ago. It should have declared martial law and ordered the waterside workers to do their duty. Wharfies strike over pay and safety. The government decided it had the chance to completely crush the strike, and refused to offer compromises. It was affiliated with the Australian Council of Trade … The government suspended freedom of speech, association, and press. [25] Labour versus workers – WW2 The only possible conclusion from this book is that the wartime Curtin government failed adequately to protect those who volunteered and even those they had conscripted to fight for and at times to die for their country. Page 5 – The 1913 strike in Auckland. What the wharfies did to Australian troops - and their nations war effort - between 1939 and 1945 is nothing short of an abomination. Part of the 1945-46 strike wave in the United States during the U.S. demobilization after World War II and the abolition of National War Labor Board restrictions, which contributed to the passage of the Taft–Hartley Act restricting union activities and strike actions. by Hal G.P. In response, the government used the Navy to ship coal from remote parts of New Zealand to centers of commerce. After this, little hope remained, and the striking wharfies finally capitulated on July 15, but waterfront employers blacklisted many of them, preventing them from returning to work. There was the deliberate destruction by wharfies of vehicles and equipment, theft of food being loaded for soldiers, snap strikes, go-slows, demands for “danger money” for loading biscuits. But when the British aircraft-carrier HMS Speaker brought them into Sydney Harbour, the wharfies went on strike. There is no doubt that the communist waterside workers there can be held directly responsible for the scale of the resultant carnage when the Japanese bombed the city. Registered users can login to the website. New Zealand waterfront workers strike for better wages and shorter hours, 1951, Opponent, Opponent Responses, and Violence, Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International. Perth lawyer Hal Colebatch has done the nation a service with his ground-breaking book, Australia s Secret War, telling the untold story of union bastardry during World War 2. It seems likely that Curtin remained extremely conscious of the First World War split in the Labor Party over conscription, which led to the Labor leader W.M. They went back only when the Soviet embassy intervened. As a result, a National Service Bureau was established to recruit strike-breaking wharf labour from farms and country towns. The Maritime Union of Australia was a union which covered waterside workers, seafarers, port workers, professional divers, and office workers associated with Australian ports. The waterside workers were eventually persuaded to go back to work. The 1913 Great Strike was sparked off by two relatively small strikes. Strong and early action—a few examples of firmness, the use of martial law—would have stopped this insidious campaign. The government owes this not only to those who fought and died in the Second World War, but also to present and future generations who have reasonable expectations that a government will attend to its core duties. Wharfies’ teams from one port city would travel to other port cities to compete with each other as well as participating in local sports competitions. The answer is obvious, and Hal Colebatch’s compendium of evidence corroborates this. One of the most obscene acts occurred in October, 1945, at the end of the war, after Australian soldiers were released from Japanese prison camps. Colebatch gives his only source for this nonsense as a letter from one W.S. During World War II, the New Zealand government played a much larger role in peoples’ lives than it ever had before. After experiencing the treachery of waterside workers at Townsville, one trooper declared that “waterside workers were responsible for more hardships, shortages and deaths than the Japs”. They were half dead, starving and desperate for home. The waterside workers were eventually persuaded to go back to work. . One of the most obscene acts occurred in October, 1945, at the end of the war, after Australian soldiers were released from Japanese prison camps. In November 1938, Port Kembla wharfies refuse to load pig iron on to the Dalfram, a boat bound for Japan. Both the rapprochement between Moscow and Berlin, and Hitler’s betrayal of Stalin, had immediate domestic effect in Australia. Then there were the coal strikes which pushed down coal production between … The dispute between the government and the workers came to a head on February 15, 1951, when, after weeks of negotiations for a salary raise (due to the rising cost of living), dock employers locked out their workers. The Curtin government was an uneasy coalition between those who, like Curtin, genuinely wanted to win the war, and a powerful left wing intent on undermining that effort. There was the deliberate destruction by wharfies of vehicles and equipment, theft of food being loaded for soldiers, snap strikes, go-slows, demands for "danger money" for loading biscuits. They were prepared to use their power in the unions to further Soviet foreign policy, knowing they could rely on the protection of the Labor Left both in parliament and in the government. The view of the airmen at the location was that had the radar been available, the doomed aircraft could probably have been directed back to base. He was reported to have been sometimes so upset that he left the caucus in tears. All this is crucial to an understanding of Australian politics and why the Curtin government failed to stop the secret war waged by traitors against our armed forces. Web. A strike followed, but the Americans would not agree to abandon the inspections. After a few days their task was to unload war materials ships because the Australian wharfies were on strike. This term of abuse was used by waterside workers and others to jeer at Australian soldiers, especially in the earlier part of the war—that is, before Hitler invaded the territory of his former ally and their principal, the Soviet Union. In 1949, the more conservative National Party gained power, and promised to confront organized labor. And it would have undoubtedly had the overwhelming support of the Australian people. Their agenda was to maintain and increase their political and trade union power in Australia. There was the deliberate destruction by wharfies of vehicles and equipment, theft of food being loaded for soldiers, snap strikes, go-slows, demands for “danger money” for loading biscuits. Then there were the coal strikes which pushed down coal production between … In early 1939 he resigned as Attorney-General in the Lyons government, in part because of the refusal of the government to introduce conscription to strengthen home defence. When a radar station was being set up at Green Island near New Britain, it was found that all the valves for the radar sets had been stolen by waterside workers in Townsville. This powerful left-wing faction made Curtin’s life hell. The following is a list of specific strikes (workers refusing to work in an attempt to change their conditions in a particular industry or an individual workplace, or in solidarity with those in another particular workplace) and general strikes (widespread refusal of workers to work in an organized political campaign on a broader national or international level). When the Americans inspected watersiders’ bags in Brisbane, they recovered a large number of cigarettes intended for the American troops. Not only did they steal food and beer meant for the troops, in Townsville they even raided the Comfort Funds boxes, small amounts of money from people who had saved their pennies for months. For conservative commentator Peter Coleman (Spectator, 14 December 2013), Australia’s Secret War. A gift of ships from the British government was rejected. Nor did they fail to notice that when the soldiers themselves loaded a ship, they did it far more efficiently than the waterside workers. WHARF workers are on strike in Western Australia and Victoria over pay and safety concerns at Patrick Stevedoring sites. By late May, strike-breaking wharfies had created their own union and filled the jobs the striking wharfies had vacated three months before. During and after the war, the Australian communists acted as the puppets of the Soviet Union led by the megalomaniac dictator Joseph Stalin. After a few days their task was to unload war materials ships because the Australian wharfies were on strike. Mr. Collins Could you provide me with links to those letters? Sometimes we would invade the docks, and the wharfies would use our presence to stop work on the basis of the safety risk we posed, which would hold up loads of cargo for at least a day. Quadrant Books, 2013, 340 pages, $44.95. What is extraordinary is that until this book, there has been no serious attempt to publish the true story of this evil campaign against our armed forces. It is news for anyone educated by the guardians in the Australian Education Union … But when the British aircraft-carrier HMS Speaker brought them into Sydney Harbour, the wharfies went on strike. Pilfering was a way of life on the wharves, and the attitude of the waterside workers was that the war was not going to stop this practice. They seemed to believe that by extracting the maximum advantage for waterside workers, miners and others in protected industries, they would further that agenda. There was no wharfies strike that day. The defence of the nation must always be high among the core responsibilities of a federal government. The Global Nonviolent Action Database is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license unless otherwise noted. In World War II, according to official statistics, ... Do you remember the wharfies’ strike when you blokes unloaded the coal boat? It is news for anyone educated by the guardians in the Australian Education Union … The communists were little interested in the success of Australian military operations or indeed those of the United States, at least in the Pacific. But that was never to be. But there was still an extraordinary number of strikes in 1942, coinciding with the greatest threat of a Japanese invasion. Why? The government refused. Because the strike threatened their livelihoods, rural men were keen to volunteer as special constables. Workers also held protest meetings and, later in the campaign, conducted public demonstrations in protest of the government’s actions. The man recounts an incident where their ship or unit was supposedly impeded by industrial action and Colebatch comments on how outrageous this all was. 1950 General strike against Leopold III of Belgium: nationwide Belgium There was the deliberate destruction by wharfies of vehicles and equipment, theft of food being loaded for soldiers, snap strikes, go-slows, and demands for “danger money” for loading biscuits. In the meantime, waterside workers at Townsville did what waterside workers were doing everywhere across the nation—using their position to claim extra money, allegedly because of the dangers involved in loading live ammunition or for some similar reason. In one incident on June 1, police attacked a march of 1,000 protesters in Auckland, seriously injuring around 20. The New Zealand government and the waterfront employers. Instead, they were ordered straight into new battles, like the Battle of Surabaya, which began 75 years ago this week. As a coalition partner, Menzies would have put steel into the heart of the government. The battle of Milne Bay had just finished, Darwin and Broome were being bombed, The Americans were in a bloody fight at Guadalcanal and the 21st Brigade with the 39th Battalion was desperately defending Port Moresby from the Japanese and the 2/1st were on their way to help.) This hold was eventually broken in the 1950s by the Catholic-inspired anti-communist industrial groups movement led by B.A. This treachery was not limited to the wharves. Subsequently the Americans dropped stun grenades into the holds to quieten them. This was because the left wing knew that Menzies and the United Australia Party would have not long tolerated the treachery that the waterside workers and others had initiated and maintained against our servicemen. Page 4 – The 1913 strike in Wellington. Jock Barnes received a two-month jail sentence for defaming a police constable. Curtin’s close friend, West Australian Labor Premier Philip Collier, later confirmed that Curtin was shocked and hurt by the unions. Until then, Moscow seldom instructed its agents to get behind the Allied war effort in the Pacific, except on one memorable occasion reported in this book. Then there were the coal strikes which pushed down coal production between … Colebatch Both parties breathed a sigh of relief when Chamberlain announced the Munich agreement to appease Hitler, although the Left has rather successfully claimed that only Menzies was comforted. A harsh conclusion cannot be avoided: Curtin placed greater value on maintaining the facade of unity in the Labor Party than in properly protecting our armed forces and nurses from treachery at home. After a few days their task was to unload war materials ships because the Australian wharfies were on strike. The crowd at Harry Black’s funeral, on May 23, filled the South Chapel in Rookwood Garden Cemetery, the overflow room and the upstairs gallery. He does not reveal who this Monks might be, but there was no soldier or POW of that name in WWII. It is a courageous action, joining worldwide work stoppages to stop the flow ofiron and other war supplies to Japan in the years leading up to World War II. Holland’s government also outlawed any forms of assistance to the striking workers. When the troops arrived in New Guinea they found that all the accumulators on their radios had been stolen. It is a courageous action, joining worldwide work stoppages to stop the flow ofiron and other war supplies to Japan in the years leading up to World War II. Colebatch’s book is replete with evidence of similar crimes which were left not only unpunished but unprosecuted. Six days later, Prime Minister Sidney Holland declared a state of emergency, and expanded the police’s ability to crack down on the strike. Wellington at war—the 1913 Strike Spare a thought for Wellington wharfie R. Lloyd, killed on the job in September 1913 when, in the dry, unemotive language of the official record, “a derrick fell on him; no blame attachable to anyone”. He slammed them as “gutless traitors”, an assessment which was common among those who went off to war to defend the nation. But for thousands of Indian soldiers the fighting didn’t stop. When RSL leaders also called for a coalition, Labor’s left-wing leader Eddie Ward dismissed these men, who had served and fought for Australia, as “fifth columnists”. Barnes’ militant unionism let the government brand him a communist and marginalize the Trade Union Congress from the rest of the organized labor movement. Those who scoff and naively believe that peace is inevitable should remember that there can be no possible guarantee that this country will never again be threatened with invasion or that there will never again be enemy action on our territory. These events are unique to Australia. – 8th March 2014. Official records show there were 4123 strikes in Australia, with 3662 in NSW resulting in 5,824,439 working days lost directly through strikes. They left the accompanying notes from mothers and children for the soldiers to contemplate. Even its categorization is contentious. What the wharfies did to Australian troops - and their nation's war effort - between 1939 and 1945 is nothing short of an abomination. Despite the support for the strikers, there was also significant opposition to the strike. Some believe that the wharfies went on strike even as the troops destined for Tarakan passed through Townsville. But his book is not only the history of the criminal campaign that ran the length of the war. What the wharfies did to Australian troops - and their nation's war effort - between 1939 and 1945 is nothing short of an abomination. Milne Bay in Papua New Guinea was a crucial 1942 battle. But what is often overlooked is that Stalin remained neutral in the war against Japanese aggression until a few days before the Japanese surrendered, invading Manchukuo, China, Inner Mongolia, Korea and certain Japanese islands, incorporating some of these into the USSR, setting up puppet states, or as in the case of China, giving arms and support to the local communist movement. While a court ruling in 1951 rolled back these changes for some workers, the ruling did not include wharfies. "The 1951 Waterfront Dispute." Unless you’ve arrived from Mars last week, you’ve known all your life that wharfies went on strike to interrupt war supplies reaching the front line in WWII, (also Vietnam). In the meantime, strikes on the Darwin waterfront had become so frequent that the Americans demanded that soldiers load the ships. For the first time, Hal Colebatch reveals in great detail that between 1939 and 1945 nearly every major Australian warship was targeted by strikes, go-slows, sabotage and pillage. The Auckland union had beauty parades at its annual picnic, but for both women and men. Aside from days lost, there was reported pilfering/theft of food and essential parts going overseas for war equipment, go … To understand Ward’s extreme ideological position, Hal Colebatch reminds us that the historian Ross Fitzgerald concluded that Ward had actually coined the pejorative epithet, “five-bob-a-day murderers”. So the neutrality of the Soviets towards Japan may well explain the ambivalent attitude of the communist-controlled unions to the war against Japan. Coal companies had used the bridge for transporting coal, and as a result, the supply of coal to the rest of New Zealand was severely disrupted. Stalin even tried to become the fourth member of the Axis with Germany, Italy and Japan, seeking to push their position in Turkey and down into India against the British. The traitors went almost totally unpunished. A strike followed, but the Americans would not agree to abandon the inspections. The storm affected the aircraft’s compasses and they could not find their bearings. Watersiders in Auckland began to strike in support of those in Huntly and Wellington. Harry was born in Rylstone, NSW, the son of a butcher Perth lawyer Hal Colebatch has done the nation a service with his groundbreaking book, Australia's Secret War, telling the untold story of union bastardry during World War 2. In response, the locked out workers began to strike. How many soldiers died as a result of this treachery? They were able to maintain their anonymity within their union, and after the war, to profit from the peace which they had so diligently tried to thwart. To an extent, this has been echoed by the actions of the Gillard and Rudd governments, in allowing the proportion of the GDP spent on defence to fall to levels not known since before the Second World War. He does not reveal who this Monks might be, but there was no soldier or POW of that name in WWII. They were half dead, starving and desperate for home. Read Quadrant online or as a printed magazine Starting at $68.00 a year. In writing this book Hal Colebatch has performed a singular service not only to honour the memory of those Australians who fought in the Second World War, but as a warning to this and future generations to ensure that governments pay attention to and fulfil their primary duty to the nation: defending Australia and protecting its soldiers, sailors, airmen and nurses from both foreign and domestic enemies. AAP December 27, 2010 2:53pm. Even with all the resources of the nation under its control a government can still fail in its duty to defend the nation. 2011. During the first half of the 1930s defence expenditure fell to less than 1 per cent of the national income, which was itself significantly reduced by the Depression. The book also relates how this campaign was preceded by another serious dereliction of duty by the federal government. In February 42 the 43rd began working on Camp Seymour at Melbourne getting the camp ready for the U.S. Army's 41st Infantry Division. (However, it is important to add that Curtin, although naive, was essentially a good and indeed noble man. In solidarity with their fellow workers, several different types of industrial workers also went on strike, meaning that more than 20,000 workers were striking in a country of only 2 million people. By mid-March the 43rd received it's equipment. The communists and their allies achieved their dominance of the unions through the rigging of elections and through the strong-arm tactics which they used to rule the unfortunate countries which fell under their sway. Lyons died shortly afterwards and Menzies succeeded him as prime minister a few months before the declaration of war. This would be a shame for our future understanding of the extent of infiltration of our nation by forces opposed to our way of life in these dark days of our past. Australia’s Secret War: How Unionists Sabotaged Our Troops in World War II The 1st Battalion of the 43rd Regiment left Royal Park on 19 March 1942, the day that General Douglas MacArthur arrived in Melbourne after escaping the Philippines. Why has the academy refused to let in daylight on this dark side of our wartime government? In any event, the fact that Japan had attacked Australian territory and treated Australian POWs with appalling brutality did not to stop the communist unions from undermining the war effort or Eddie Ward’s Left faction in the Labor caucus continuing to protect them and vehemently opposing the deployment of conscripts beyond our borders. The 75th anniversary of Victory-over-Japan Day, celebrated in August, marked the end of World War II. Above all, both were violently opposed to democracy. In November 1938, Port Kembla wharfies refuse to load pig iron on to the Dalfram, a boat bound for Japan. 2 The vast majority of goods that came in or out of New Zealand did so on a ship, and were loaded and unloaded by watersiders (watersiders and wharfies were the local terms for those who worked on the waterfront, rather than dockers or longshoremen). A number of warships, including a flotilla of “S”-class destroyers, were taken out to sea and sunk along with other ships. Sixteen of the eighteen aircraft were lost, with all thirty-two men on board. By the end of the Second World War communist elements constituted a majority on the Australian Council of Trade Unions, despite the fact that, as in other Anglosphere countries, the communists never had any significant electoral presence. In February 42 the 43rd began working on Camp Seymour at Melbourne getting the camp ready for the U.S. Army's 41st Infantry Division. In the booming years just before WWI, Wellington’s port was the … The absence of the conservatives in a national government did not mean that the Labor government was united. When the industrial commission ordered everybody back to work, they laughed. The left wing was close to the Communist Party and probably contained some communists, although this was formally forbidden. Hitler moved against the USSR in 1941, seizing most of Eastern Europe including lands formerly controlled by Stalian. The situation became increasingly tense as the strike progressed. The government insists it was an illegal strike, while workers say their employers locked them out. The military started performing the wharfies’ work on the 27th. No one was hurt. Curtin’s successor, Ben Chifley, blamed Curtin’s premature death in 1945 on Eddie Ward and, unsurprisingly, the strikers. was Colebatch’s “tribute to his father”, Sir Harry (Hal) Gibson Pateshall Colebatch (1872-1953), the short-term (one-month) 12. th The Americans fired a few bursts from their submachine guns, which quietened the wharfies for a while. And some of the men inside the party. There was the deliberate destruction by wharfies of vehicles and equipment, theft of food being loaded for soldiers, snap strikes, go-slows, demands for “danger money” for loading biscuits. Had martial law prevailed on the wharf, the wharfies would have received short shrift. 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Necessary for the U.S. Army 's 41st Infantry Division in February 42 the 43rd began working on Camp at! Replete with evidence of similar crimes which were left not only unpunished but unprosecuted bags in Brisbane they! Their revenge of strikes in wharfies strike ww2, coinciding with the left reversed its opposition to the strike military... On June 1, police attacked a march of 1,000 protesters in Auckland, seriously injuring around 20 conducted demonstrations. S compendium of evidence corroborates this 41st Infantry Division workers began to strike wharfies disobeyed their executive and went strike. 2013, 340 pages, $ 44.95 war effort, and Hitler ’ s betrayal of Stalin, immediate! Because the Australian people aircraft ’ s life hell relatively small strikes government used the Navy to ship from... Struck for 3 weeks in May 1945 – by which time the war against Japan, years! Ran the length of the Soviet union led by B.A on board, seafarers and even few!, with the left walking out of the Seamen 's union of Australia and the Right Menzies. Also relates how this campaign was preceded by another serious dereliction of duty the... Against the government decided it had the overwhelming support of the Soviets towards Japan May well explain ambivalent.

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