B.A. Santamaria's contribution to Australia's culture wars.

• Author: Moens, Gabriel A.
• Position: Essay
• Pages: 47(6)

I propose to comment upon the history of the Movement led by Mr B.A. "Bob" Santamaria (1915-1998) and the leadership it has provided in Australia for nearly seven decades. In doing so, I should like to remind my listeners * that I am not necessarily the most suitably qualified person to perform this function. This is because I arrived in Australia in the second half of the 1970s and, therefore, I was largely unfamiliar with the work of the Movement and its contributions to the religious and political events of the 1950s and 1960s.

Even if I had been in Australia at that time, I would have been too young to realise the importance of the Movement's work. Nevertheless, I am delighted to take part in the inauguration of the B.A. Santamaria Library, to highlight the Movement's considerable contribution to Australia and to honour the Movement's undisputed leader, Mr Bob Santamaria.

The birth and the history of the Movement are documented in Mr Santamaria's autobiography, entitled Against the Tide. In preparation for this inauguration, I re-read Mr Santamaria's book, which describes much of Australia's post-World War II history.

It appears to me that the nearly 70-year period of the Movement can be divided into three distinct periods. The first period begins with the formation in 1941 of the Movement and ends with the great ALP Split in the mid-1950s.

The Communist threat

Most members of the Movement were Catholic ALP sympathisers, who were justifiably appalled by the unceasing, and initially successful, attempts by the Communist Party of Australia (CPA) to assume political power by organising a number of debilitating industrial strikes. During that period the Movement was certainly the most important organisation which struggled against Communist infiltration in Australian unions.

La Trobe University academic Professor Robert Manne stated that the CPA "was a fully totalitarian political organisation, dominated both organisationally and ideologically by Stalin's Soviet Union; a party which injected into the political culture of early postwar Australia the alien mentality and methods of one of the most sinister regimes in the history of mankind." (1)

Mr Santamaria recognised the totalitarian nature of the CPA and decided to counter its influence by establishing Industrial Groups in key unions. This struggle was carried on initially with the support of the Catholic hierarchy, especially the legendary Archbishop of Melbourne, Dr Daniel Mannix.

The achievements of the Movement were spectacular. By the end of 1953, most unions were returned to non-Communist control. Not unexpectedly, however, the achievements of the Movement were reviled by its enemies. These enemies accused the Movement of zealotry, secrecy and a willingness to utilise means which were disproportionate to the dangers posed by Communism. The accomplishments of the Movement and of its Industrial Groups were vilified by their opponents who claimed, among other things, that the Communist threat to democratic institutions was highly exaggerated. The unpleasantness associated with the denigration of the Movement was, however, only a prelude to the momentous Labor Split of the mid-1950s, which was also when the...