Maoism in the Developed World

In his political report to the CPA-ML founding conference, E. F. Hill emphasized that “a new Marxist-Leninist party, with ‘iron discipline based on Marxist-Leninist consciousness’” was necessary to lead the Australian revolution. Hill concluded by saying that “through mastery of Marxist-Leninist classics, including ‘Mao Tse Tung and Liu Shao Chi’ close identification with the working class in the factories, intense scrutiny of all new members, skillful use of legal opportunities’ for party growth and protection, and a continuous and unrelenting struggle against imperialism and ‘revisionism’ were required.”[566]

Hill further elaborated on the party’s ideology in a polemic against Lance Sharkey of the CPA, who had advocated the development of “creative Marxism-Leninism.” Hill wrote that “No principle of Marxism-Leninism can ever be outdated. … Marxism-Leninism is a revolutionary guide to action or it is nothing.” He asked “Has the nature of imperialism changed?” He also claimed that “Nowhere ever did Lenin advance and elaborate any theory of peaceful transition to Socialism.”[567]

Peter Beilharz, writing in the middle 1970s, said that “the CPA-M-L was responsible—at least in the early seventies—for the revival of the ‘social fascism’ theory of the ‘third period,’ which specified that the ALP was a worse enemy than those who actually professed themselves Tory. This theory of socialism fascism [sic] tends to be coupled with the abstentionist program regarding parliamentary politics.”[568]

CPA-ML Influence in the Labor Movement

The principal base of the CPA-ML was in the state of Victoria, and particularly in Melbourne, where the party started out with considerable influence in the organized labor movement. Professor van der Kroef noted that “among building, construction, waterfront and tramway workers in the greater Melbourne area, Hill’s … associates … retained in many cases their local trade union office. And while such proselytizing as was (and is) conducted by these Peking-oriented labor leaders within their unions was a very cautious and covert affair it is true that the position of these leaders directing or controlling some 20,000 workers in Victoria gave the budding CPA-ML a not insignificant potential power base over the years.”[569]

One of the Maoists’ major centers of trade union strength was the Australian Building Construction Employees and Builders Laborers’ Federation (BLF). Their principal leader there was Norm Gallagher. Late in 1974, Gallagher, as a federal secretary of the BLF, undertook to organize a new branch of the union in New South Wales, in competition with an older branch controlled by the Socialist Party of Australia. The employees agreed to negotiate with the new branch, and finally in March 1975, the leadership of the old branch recommended that their members join the new one.

Gallagher’s principal Communist rival in the BLF was Pat Clancy, also a federal secretary of the organization and president of the pro-Moscow Socialist Party of Australia. In 1973, Gallagher replaced Clancy as the Building Group representative on the Executive of the Australian Trade Union Congress (ACTU), but then at the 1975 ACTU Congress, Clancy defeated Gallagher for the post.[570]

The Maoists undoubtedly weakened their position in the BLF in 1977 when “Gallagher, with the full support of the CPA (M-L) refused to submit to arbitration and maintained his work bans into September … and the BLF’s three-month-long campaign actually deprived them—until the end of the year—of wage increases gained by all other unionists.”[571]

Gallagher’s nemesis, Pat Clancy, then sought to merge all of the building trades workers in New South Wales into one organization. The CPA-ML strongly opposed this. Its newspaper, Vanguard, denounced the move, saying that “The amalgamation of the Building Workers Industrial Union, the Australian Workers’ Union and the Shop Assistants’ Union (SDA) in New South Wales is a most sinister business. It shows the tremendous lengths the social-imperialists are prepared to go.”[572]

In 1980, Patrick J. O’Brien wrote that “The Maoist unions, although remaining in control of the New South Wales’ Builders’ Laborers’ Federation, are not an important factor in labor politics. They are strongest in Victoria throughout the building, maritime and waterside unions. Political battles, which sometimes become physical, are being waged for control among the CPA, SPA and CPA (M-L) union officials.”[573]