What was the cold war? The cold war began in 1945, after the end of World War II. The term Cold War described the intense rivalry between world superpowers - the United States and the Soviet Union. It involved the two superpowers threatening each other and supporting each of their allies with resources in skirmishes and local conflicts. It also led to an 'arms race', where each country engaged in a competition to accumulate advanced military weapons; namely nuclear weapons.

Why was it called a 'cold' war?This is because the two superpowers never directly fought against each other in conflict, and had only existed through wars of other countries which they supported. If one country were to engage in war with another and one of the major superpowers were to be supporting, the opposing superpower would be found to support the other.

Define the term 'arms race'A head-to-head competition to see which country would be able to achieve a particular goal first.

Define the term 'brinkmanship' It is the pursuit of a dangerous course of action with a catastrophic consequence right before backing out or pulling out of the plan.

Communism v. CapitalismThe Soviet Union was a communist state that meant the government directly owned all land, labour and capital (any resources that the country owned). Prices in the country were fixed by state, meaning that the same product or service would essentially cost the same anywhere in the Soviet Union. The production of goods was predetermined by fixed quotas.

The United States promoted capitalism, where prices are adjusted in accordance to supply and demand by the people of the country. This means that where there is an abundance of goods or services, prices decreased and when there is a shortage, price increases. Governments did not interfere with private companies or industrial production.

Propaganda and Conspiracy TheoriesWhen the Cold War broke out in 1950, Senator Joseph McCarthy manufactured a "witch hunt" against supposed communism supporters in American society. He invented the existence of a nation-wide communist conspiracy and accused anyone who disagreed with his anti-communism views of being a communist themselves. People who had been to communist party meetings in the 1930s were accused of being communists. Some people, including movie actors and directors were asked to spy on their friends to see if they were participating in any communist activities. McCarthy was supported by government officials to support the theory that there were communists in every angle of America.

Power StrugglesBoth the Soviet Union and the USA were major victors from World War II. The USSR had invaded many countries in Eastern Europe, annexed them and became a colossal empire geographically, economically and militarily. USA had also gained from being a victor of World War II, as they had economical control over most capitalist countries where America would help war-torn countries rebuild themselves in return for their purchase of American goods.

Proxy WarsThe following wars were direct consequences of the Cold War:

Afghanistan War - Muhaijadeen Forces against Soviet ForcesVietnam War - South and North VietnamKorean War - South and North Korea

AlliancesTwo major alliances were formed during the growing hostility between the two superpowers, they are:Nato- US, Canada, Britain, Norway, Belgium, France, Portugal, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Denmark and the NetherlandsWarsaw Pact- Soviet Union, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Albania, Bulgaria, Poland and Romania

The Iron CurtainThe Iron Curtain was the term coined by Winston Churchill to describe the division of Europe between capitalist and communist countries. It was an imaginary line that extended from Stettin in the Baltic Sea to Trieste in the Adriatic Sea.

Peaceful Co-existenceThe Soviet Union granted Australia independence in 1955. That same year, US president and Soviet Premier met in Geneva to discuss the possibility of an "open skies" agreement that would prevent a surprise attack from either side. This thaw in the US-USSR relationship was called the "Spirit of Geneva". Shortly after the meeting, the USSR Premier announced that his army would have 640,000 soldiers cut. In the 1960s, these peaceful intentions did not continue due to numerous confrontations between the two countries. In the 1970s, there was a period of détente- where the tension between the two countries once again relaxed. The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT I) was signed in 1972, limiting anti-ballistic missile defence to one site for each country, and SALT II was signed in 1979. Later that year, the peace had stopped again when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan, once again sparking up some hostility from the USA.

Signification of the Cold WarInternational: Conflicts arise out of the war e.g. the Korean War, Afghan War and the Vietnam WarTreaties signed - alliances formedRise of communism

Australia:Involved Australia in wars because of the Cold WarThreat of communism upon AustraliaAustralia had wanted to strengthen ties with America

The Cold WarWednesday, 5 February 20141:32 PM

History Page 1

History Page 2

Post World War II

The post-era in Australia was paradoxical in nature. Although it was a time of

economic and political stability with a prosperous new consumer class, it was also a

time of fear and tension as it had been through three long decades of depression

(Great depression 1920-1930) and conflict. The Australian way of life however did see

a shift away from political involvement, where progress was the new focus with peace

being a hopeful reality - Australians were moving to suburbia, having babies and

buying the newest electric appliances to embrace "progress".

However, this mask of domestic peace and happiness did not go without being the

undermining of a communist threat, where the 1940s and 1950s were dominated by

communist plot. Australia had feared that its society would be under threat by

communism, externally and from within. Racist propaganda was originally used in the

Second World War, labelling the Japanese as "yellow peril", and this method had

worked out well with communism as well, where it was seen as a huge threat and the

"red scum"- out to destroy the Australian way of living. Australia saw an increase in

immigrants after the second World War and such European immigrants were to warn

Australians of communism, and many people started to fear the influence of their

own native communist party - the Communist Party of Australia.

The Parties

The three major parties involved in this election were the CPA (Communist Party of

Australia), Liberal and Labor. THE CPA was banned at the outbreak of World War II

but was allowed to resume activities at the rise of Soviet Union power. Although it

continued to grow throughout the 1940s as well as being in control of a few trade

unions, this party never really bore any huge power nor threat to any other party as it

simply lacked election success.

The fear, tension and conservatism shown previously by the Australia came out to

play in the 1949 elections, where all this would be directed at the communist party in

a very negative connotation. Robert Menzies was originally leader of the United

Australia Party (UAP) but that had disbanded in 1941 due to internal cabinet

divisions. He later gathered remnants of this party as well as any other non-Labor

parties to form the New Liberal Party, He had used the political thinking and fear of

the Australians to play out in his own favour, turning the tide against 8 long years of

Labor power.

Before the Election

It was a very popular perception that the CPA were out to destabilise the country and

change the way of living forever, in a very negative way. Many had thought the

strikes affecting Australian industries in the late 1940s had communists to blame. The

Liberal tactic was to go completely anti-communism and create as much propaganda

as possible in order for the opposing two parties to go down. They had essentially hit

two birds with one stone, as when they were targeting communism as a whole, the

The 1949 ElectionWednesday, 19 February 20148:57 AM

History Page 3

two birds with one stone, as when they were targeting communism as a whole, the

CPA had already lost favour while highlighting a suspicious Labor policy that had

attempted to nationalised private banks - seen by the people as a sign of communist

scheming at the time. The Liberal party had used all this to their advantage, and even

previous evidence where the Australian Labor party was shown to be against the CPA

was disregarded.

International funding and support was given to the Australian Liberal party, namely

the two major anti-communist powerhouses; Britain and the United States. With this

funding, the Liberals effectively mounted a substantial propaganda operation against

Labor and communism. On the 10th of December 1949, the Liberals had won the

election with its policy to ban the CPA and any other communist groups. Labor,

partly at fault for their own defeat, had not promised to end war-time rationing,

especially on petrol.

After the Election

The growing fear of communism had led to the demise of the communist parties, as

well as the defeat of the Labor party in turn for the popularity of the Liberals. As

much as the Labor party tried to justify that there were not to be a link between

them and communism in any way, the atmosphere of the Cold War and the

propositions made by Liberals had overruled their word. Communism was bound to

be on the election agenda as Korea was on the verge of a civil war, China had

become communist and Russia had exploded its first atomic bomb. The Liberals had

successfully exploited this situation to its fullest potential, taking advantage of the

entire atmospheric situation both domestically and internationally at the given time.

The consequence of Menzies coming into power had meant that Australia would see

itself soon to be involved in many international conflicts, labelling the enemy as

"communism", whether it be North Korea or other countries.

History Page 4

The Election Promise

A promise was made that the CPA, which was a 30 year old establishment at the

time, would be banned under a Menzies government in an attempt to eradicate

communism, but this plan didn't come to much avail as banning such a party would

not have been an easy task without much help from the Commonwealth

Constitution.

Planning the Ban

The idea was to dissolve the CPA, as well as revoking rights for communists to be

given jobs by the government or being able to work a trade union/ industrial

company. However, identifying a communist was hard, so they resorted to Section

30H of the Commonwealth Crimes Act (1914), where it allowed someone to be

accused of crimes against the commonwealth, and they would be held guilty for it

unless they were able to prove that they were otherwise innocent and clean of any

communist acts.

Another problem was trying to justify why all of these measures were appropriate, so

the liberal party tried to stir up as much public opinion against communism as

possible, bringing ideas to the table such as how the CPA used disruptive tactics such

as industrial strikes. They needed to vilify the CPA as much as possible.

The bill

The Australian Communist Party Dissolution Bill 1950 said the CPA was to be

declared unlawful, their property seized and have any other affiliated parties also

disposed of along with them. Anyone who had continued any communist activities

would be jailed for 5 years. In addition, if someone were to be declared a communist

(a person who supports or advocates the objectives, policies, teachings, principles or

practices of communism), they would be suspended from jobs in the federal

government, defence forces or in the unions.

The Labor party however, did not completely like the idea of such a bill where they

believed if such a bill were to implemented, Australia would have a totalitarian state

image, revoking the basic rights and freedom of men who were accused of being a

communist. Labor said that though they would not oppose the whole bill, they would

try to amend the clauses that they thought impeded freedom and justice.

The bill failed to pass the first time around due to Labor making too many

amendments to it and the government unwilling to pass it in that form. When the

Korean war started however, it stirred up the situation to the advantage of the

government and could once again stress the dangers of communist expansion -

making this bill excusable and appropriate to be passed. It became law on 20th

October 1950.

Taking it to the High Court

The CPA unions went to the high court to ask for an injunction against the

Australia's Domestic Response to CommunismWednesday, 19 February 20141:18 PM

History Page 5

The CPA unions went to the high court to ask for an injunction against the

government from putting any part of the Act into effect. That was refused, but the

government could not declare anyone a communist until the High Court could

conduct a review of it. On October 20th, the government appointed for the CPA's

property to be solved. In April 1951, after the High Court decision, Menzies forced

both houses into an election and he had now given the Liberal party control over

House and Senate.

The 1951 Referendum

In 1951, a referendum was proposed by Menzies regarding the communist act. This

act would now make CPA illegal, but not enough public voters were convinced that

their civil rights would not be taken away and thus the referendum was defeated. The

CPA, therefore, could not be banned by the federal government.

The defeat of the referendum did not however end the fear of communism, and the

1950s saw a huge increase in fears of communism where they thought communists

might be among everyone and anyone, ready to start a communist revolution. In

actual fact, the CPA had been decline for years.

History Page 6

The United Nations21 countries that were all a part of the UN organisation were all called upon to come in aid of South Korea on June 25th 1950 , where North Korea had overstepped the 38th parallel with intent on gaining control of the entire Korean peninsula. This was when the war had officially started , with the UN aiding South Korea in an attempt to push back the North Korean forces.

Australia's Own SituationAustralia itself had been experiencing plenty at the time, simultaneously with the invasion happening on the other side of th e world. One of these events was to be a disastrous flood in the north coast of NSW where two were killed and 9000 were left homeless. In Melbourne, there had a bee n a riot at a football game, calling for the need for police brutality- using batons and pistols to suppress an angry crowd of 1000 after an attack on an umpire.

VolunteersAll 21 UN nations responded with troops, aircraft, ships, aircraft and medical teams to the situation. For the last time in A ustralian history, volunteers were being used instead of conscripted recruits. Recruitment offices were initially flooded with volunteers for Korea, even given the fa ct that most Australians had not really understood the concept of the Korean War. The UN that was less than 5 years old were the ones calling for action. Many Austr alians saw this as a chance to step up and fight communism in the world, as it was increasingly gaining popularity as China had only recently became a communist cou ntry. Robert Menzies, PM of Australia at the time (elected late 1949) had a vision to wipe out any communism supporters in Australia as the threat was be coming big. The involvement of Australia in the Korean War was brought with enthusiasm, as the country stood strong on their stance against communism - an ideology being brought on by North Korea in attempt to make the entire peninsula communist. Robert Menzies had spoke out, questioning Australia how they'd like it if Australia was a country where the state was "all-powerful".

IncentivesThe involvement in the Korean War saw opportunity for Australia to fight communism as well as strengthen their ties with the United States as they were also involved. Australia was the first country following the US to commit units from all three military services to Korea.

Indigenous FiguresThe Korean War also saw the rise to prominence of Australia's first Indigenous commissioned officer, Reg Saunders, from Portl and, WA. He had been commissioned in the second world war and rose to being a high profile figure during the Korean War.

ObstaclesThe Australian and UN forces often have a difficult time identifying and isolating the enemy. On one occasion, South Korean v eteran Kim Yu Seon was serving as a military policeman in North Korea.

Wilfred BurchettHistorian Richard Trembath seems to think that the most controversial Korean war figure was the correspondent Wilfred Burchet t. He wrote a piece of war journalism and the fact that he chose to report from the North Korean front had him labelled as a propagandist by his country men.

FiguresFrom the 29th of June 1950 to 27 July 1953, some 17000 Australian sailors, soldiers and airmen served in the Korean war. Aust ralians casualties saw 339 killed, 1216 wounded and 29 prisoners of war. 43 Australian servicemen are still listed as MIA.

The End of the WarThe war ended with the signing of the Armistice on the 27th of July, 1954. Australians remained in Korea and continued with a peacekeeping force until 19757.

The Korean War (1950)Friday, 7 February 201411:58 AM

History Page 7

How did Australian's respond to the Korean War? It was an enthusiastic response

from the people of Australia as they had felt a passion and responsibility to defeat

communism.

Why might have Australians felt more justified in supporting the Korean War?

The Australians had a bit of an understanding towards the situation in Korea, as

opposed to prior wars such as the Vietnam War, so the involvement of Australia

would have had more background to it.

What was Australia's original commitment to the war effort in Korea? Australia

originally supplied only air and naval forces, but when it was news that Britain were

about to commit land forces, Australia jumped to beat Britain, to show the alliance

was strong with America.

Identify why Australian soldiers might have fought in Korea. The threat of

communism and the idea that a drastic change of life to Australia was very real in

those days

What was one of the problems facing Australian soldiers while fighting in

Korea? There were many occasions when enemy soldiers would get mixed with

South Korean civilians and the North Korean soldiers would mix with the South

Korean civilians, using them as shields. The decision whether to shoot them or not

was a dilemma.

Reflection on Australia's Involvement in the Korean WarTuesday, 11 February 20141:25 PM

History Page 8

Robert Menzies was the Liberal Party, Prime Minister of Australia from 1949 to

1966 and was extremely anti-communist

-

Menzies wanted to keep ties with Britain and invited Britain to test their atomic

bombs in the desert of South Australia at Maralinga

-

He strengthened ties with the United States- the biggest anti-communist power-

As far as Australia had a policy of its own, it consisted of two main ideas. First

was supporting Britain and America with wars in Asia especially when guerrillas

led by communists were trying to take power. The second was joining treaty

organisations to make Australia seem more safe

-

1951 formed the ANZUS pact- Australia, New Zealand and the US-

1954 formed the SEATO - US, Britain, France, New Zealand, Australia, Pakistan,

Thailand and the Phillippines. Both of these treaties were based on cold war

fears of communism.

-

Such policies meant Australia had to be involved in overseas conflicts-

Korean War (1950-1953)

Malaya (1955-1962)

Borneo (1963-1965)

Vietnam (1965-1972)

The Menzies Era and Anti-CommunismWednesday, 12 February 20141:30 PM

History Page 9

Petrov was a clerk working for OGPU (State Political Directorate), the Soviet spy

organisation, since 1933. In 1951, he was sent to Australia as a full agent to make

sure other Soviet citizens in Australia did not defect. He himself had defected and

brought allegations that there were spies in Australia by the Soviet agents and

allegedly had documents for this. Ten days later, two days before the parliament

broke up for election, Robert Menzies had used this to his advantage and announced

that a Soviet spy had defected to Australia, planting worry in the greater public's

head about communist threats getting closer.

The USSR had attempted to take his wife back to the Soviet Union and had forced

her into a plane. During a fuel stop at Darwin, she was offered asylum by Australian

officials. Only ten days before the election, rumours circulated that there was a

communist involvement with the Labor leader Bert Evatt along with supposedly

being involved with the Petrov affair.

What does the poet mean by "the looming danger of the cold war"? They are

referring to communism.

According to this source, when did Petrov first approach Menzies about

asylum? Why was there a delay? February 1954. There was a delay as Petrov had

his own time, saying it was not the right time.

From your own knowledge of prior events, provide evidence which supports

the claim in the poem that Evatt underestimated the fears of communism. Evatt

defended the communist party in the high court and had believed in equality,

freedom of political ideas. The poem states "Evatt laughs it off as trivia,

underestimating hysteria." Evatt did not take the ideas of communism as a threat at

all.

Briefly explain how the KGB came to "lose" Evdokia at Darwin. She speaks to an

air hostess about her situation and the air hostess tells the government about her

situation.

How did Menzies gain from Petrov's action? Use the following lines "And as it

seems that Evatt might win, The PM swore to bring him ruin. So Doc Evatt may be a

real good bloke, But he doesn't even get to stroke. Menzies wins, Evatt bats zero." Evatt

came close to winning the election, so Menzies had to come up with a quick and

smart plan in order to turn the tide (The Petrov Affair). Menzies wins the election and

in the poem, it is likened to a cricket game.

What is the "Party fission" to which the poet refers? After the Petrov affair and

Menzies won the election, where Petrov had accused Labor for being involved in

communist spy affairs, causing internal fission and bickering.

What were the findings of the Royal Commission? They found that they could

Petrov Affair (1954)Tuesday, 25 February 20141:48 PM

History Page 10

What were the findings of the Royal Commission? They found that they could

not charge anyone in Australia for being spies or being related to communism. Their

was no evidence and that the Petrov affair could very well be an elaborately staged

hoax.

History Page 11

Australia's Isolated Position

During and after World War II, Australia began increasingly more aware of its isolated

position in the pacific and thus decided to turn to its geographical neighbours for

stronger links rather than the traditional links with Britain due to colonisation in fear

of communist expansion. ANZUS (Australia, New Zealand and United States) was

formed in 1951 so that the countries would consult each other on appropriate if

there were to be a threat in the pacific.

Britain had started to pull away from its colonies in favour of countries from Europe

for defence support, prompting Australia to pursue a stronger link with America due

to its geographical positioning.

ANZUS

Australia had proposed a NATO-style pact, where each of the countries would have

to come to the support of any country in need; a mutual support agreement. Since

Australia already had a peace deal with Japan, they held back from such an

agreement. Instead, the ANZUS was formed (Australia, New Zealand and United

States) in September 1951. The weakness of the ANZUS treaty was that countries

were not immediately obligated to come and help but rather had to "consult" the

idea of it beforehand. However, in 1984 a problem had existed where American

nuclear-powered ships were visiting New Zealand, causing dispute. Thus, this meant

New Zealand were to withdraw from the treaty.

SEATO Alliance

By 1954, the situation in SE Asia looked more and more dangerous for Australia as

the fear of "monolithic" communism had become overwhelming. In 1954, the French

had finally withdrew from Indo-China, North Vietnam became a communist regime

and there had been further unrest in Malaya & Indonesia. The Korean war showed

that China was willing to provide resources for other communist regimes. This

promoted Australia to discuss the ideas of a proper defence treaty as well as a few

other South East Asian countries, thus becoming the SEATO (South-East Asia Treaty

Organization).

The countries that had signed were America, Australia, New Zealand, Britain, France,

The Philippines, Thailand and Pakistan. It as created to directly combat the spread of

communism in SE Asia. It bound each member to come to others' aid in the event of

external aggression, thus making it much stronger than the ANZUS treaty. It was

intended to be the Asian version of NATO but it never reached the same level as the

North Atlantic treaty..

Cambodia, Laos and South Vietnam could not be named in the treaty as they came

under sections of the Geneva Convention (1954) but were named in a protocol which

stated an attack on any of these countries would be caused for intervention by

SEATO countries. SEATO further highlighted the division between Australia and

The Anzus Treaty and SEATO AllianceWednesday, 12 February 20141:37 PM

History Page 12

SEATO countries. SEATO further highlighted the division between Australia and

Britain and the growing link with the United States. SEATO became the reason why

America had been involved in Vietnam, and why Australia became involved too

because of it.

Impacts from the Alliances

Both alliances gave Australia reassurance that it was no longer just a geographically

isolated former British colony, but a strong country in itself and a major player on the

diplomatic world stage, helping to stop the "scourge" of communism. In the event of

an attack, Australia would have countries to rely on. A side effect of this was the need

to link the Australian policy to America's. The treaties allowed Australia to

concentrate more on domestic policies such as the economy, rather than

international policies. Most importantly, it saved the government financially by

reducing the expenditure needed for defence as it now had resources from other

countries.

History Page 13

As evident in source 7.13, it is clear that Australia wishes to have a better relationship

with the United States and create a strong allying force, where if we were to help them,

the same in response would likely be given.

The decision to send Australian forces to Vietnam was one that was on Australia's terms,

as it was requested by Australia to Vietnam that they would allow us to supply them

with troops under the guise that we would be providing ourselves with better regional

peace and stability.

In Source 7.16, Menzies tells the parliament that Australia was requested to send troops

over, whereas in truth, it was the other way around.

It is not something new and it fits very directly with the foreign policy, with Australia

clearly outlining its allegiance with the United States and its opposition against

communism.

It is quite conspicuous that Australia has a hidden agenda from the get-go when they

had sought out to deceive the parliament with the details of communication between

South Vietnam and Australia. This clearly means that Australia did not have a black and

white plan to go in just to defend the region as Australia might've proposed, but rather

did it for reasons such as strengthening military ties with USA, so they would almost be

in the owing a favour in return to Australia where we provided them with assistance in a

war.

The Vietnam War (1965)Thursday, 27 February 201410:09 AM

History Page 14

Conscription

The introduction of the Australian National Service Scheme saw people who were

once indifferent about the idea of war and engaging in conflict stand up to protest

their rights. They believed that conscription was unfair, and should not be a scheme,

thereby igniting an anti-war movement where they were firm to believe that Australia

should not have been involving itself with overseas conflicts.

The National Service Scheme was a plan to enlist Australian men that were 20 year

olds for military service by random (birthdate), given that they were to past three

military examinations/texts which consisted of a medical examination, an interview

and finally a security check. Following this, a month's notice would be given before

they were to start their duties. If found that people were providing false information

or purposely intending to not serve, they would be prosecuted.

When the first national servicemen Pte. Errol Wayne Noack had died on May 25,

1966 in Vietnam, university students would gather outside the state memorial under

drizzling rain to mourn his death.

Moratoriums and Opposition

Refer to Reference Page 1

Several groups formed in the wake of Australia's new and more dedicated

commitment to the Vietnam War. Among these were Youth Campaign Against

Conscription (YCAC) formed in late 1964 and closely aligned to the Australian Labor

Party (ALP), and Save Our Sons (SOS) founded in Sydney in 1965 shortly after the

government announced an increase of troops to Vietnam.

A moratorium is a period of time in which there is a suspension of a specific activity

until further events warrant a removal of the suspension or issues regarding the

activity has been resolved. There were three moratoria held, in May 1970, June 1971

and September 1971. The moratoria had turned the opinions of Australian citizens

around, and now they would turn to oppose participation in war as well as

conscription.

Save Our Sons

Refer to Reference Page 2

Save Our Sons (SOS) was a group comprised mostly of middle aged women, whose

sons were subject to conscription and therefore were possibly going to serve

Australia as servicemen. Other young men and women who had felt strongly against

conscription also fell under this banner of SOS. They were generally peaceful in

nature, from silent vigils of commemoration to handing out flyers at railway stations.

They worked with members of parliament, anti-war groups in an attempt to get their

message across. Although facing hardships such as verbal abuse from people who

had supported conscription, they believed their cause was worthy enough to

Changing Attitudes Toward the Vietnam WarWednesday, 5 March 20148:49 AM

History Page 15

had supported conscription, they believed their cause was worthy enough to

withstand the opprobrium.

The flyers appeals to people who had connections or relations to young men that

would be a servicemen. Their general idea was that if enough people had a unified

and gathered opinion, the government might have done something.

Public Opinion

When the war first began, Australians had little to no concern over the situation in an

overseas conflicts that didn't involve Australian soldiers at all. If anything, they were

voluntary soldiers who were already in a training role. Even with the spread of

communism in Asia, this would still not become much of a problem to the greater

Australian public. In 1966, when conscription was announced as a program, anti-war

groups had their opinions ignited in this public debate against conscription and the

war. Although most of the country was displeased with a decision to have national

servicemen fight in the Vietnam War, their protests and moratoriums had little to no

impact to status of Australian forces being in Vietnam as in the early 1970s, the

withdrawal had been well underway, regardless of protests in the public streets of

major capital cities across Australia.

Australians had initially supported the war, as public opinion of sending infantry

battalions to Vietnam saw more people approve of the decision over the span of two

months from May 1965 to July of the same year. However, after 4 years of

participating in the war, during October 1969, it was clear that more people now

wanted forces to withdraw from Vietnam. During the early stages of war in 1966,

Liberal who had supported it had much more favour than Labor who opposed it.

Australian school teacher William White made headlines with a photograph of him

being taken to jail after refusing to register in 1966. This lit up much public opinion

about how conscription was unfair and had impacted the lives of many people

personally. They were now questioning the morals of conscription.

History Page 16

This weekend marks the 40th anniversary of the first Moratorium march.

Forty years ago this Saturday, between 100,000 and 200,000 people thronged the

streets of the country's capital cities, emphatically announcing that they did not

support their government's involvement in the Vietnam War, or conscription of the

nation's youth to fight it.

The massive marches were unlike anything before them; they did not merely occupy

city streets but took them over. The protesters shrugged of the authority of the

police and government for thee days as they engaged in an entirely peaceful protest.

It was on that day that the antiwar movement, which had been protesting against the

war since 1962, felt that they had finally won. But forty years on, what is the legacy of

the Moratorium?

The three Vietnam Moratoria - in May 1970, June 1971 and September 1971 - were

organised by a coalition of anti-war and anti-conscription organisations called the

Vietnam Moratorium Campaign. Formed in Canberra in late 1969, it was the

brainchild of the Victorian Committee for International Co-Operation and

Disarmament. By early 1970 it had a loose federal structure, with Vietnam

Moratorium Campaigns in each state, and a National Co-ordinating Committee with

representatives from each state.

The Moratorium Campaign was a very big tent. It included the usual crowd -

students, unionists, socialists and communists - but it also included politicians,

academics, radical clergymen and churchgoers.

The Moratorium's aims were the withdrawal of Australian and all other foreign troops

from Vietnam, and the repeal of the National Service Act. These two campaign aims

were the focus of a decade's debate in Australia over both the war and conscription.

Midway through 1969, the Gallup polls showed that the Australian population had

shifted its long-held views on Vietnam and now opposed the war. The protest

movement had always felt that conscription was unfair. The Youth Campaign against

Conscription and the mothers' group Save Our Sons, and later, the Draft Resisters, all

held that the scheme unfairly targeted young men who could not vote.

The Moratorium, at its heart, was about participatory democracy. The antiwar

movement had spent the previous five years undoing many cherished assumptions

about the nature of engagement with the nation. In 1964, protesters were not

allowed to carry placards on poles, stand still in one place or march in the street. By

1970, they were routinely occupying streets in "sit-down" protests. The Chairman of

the Victorian VMC, Labor Party MP Jim Cairns wrote that "there must be freedom to

break the law, when we know the law is bad. We must have freedom to express

opinion contrary to the ruling opinion." Cairns was a champion of participatory

democracy, stating in parliament that "Parliament is not democracy. … Democracy is

government by the people, and government by the people demands action by the

people." But he was no anarchist - he expressly stated that "there must be no claim

for the use of violence." The first and largest moratorium was an entirely peaceful

affair.

Forty years on, what the Moratorium fought is no longer as important as how it

fought it. The cause - ending conscription and the war in Vietnam - has been

Reference Page 1: Vietnam War MoratoriumWednesday, 5 March 20141:40 PM

History Page 17

fought it. The cause - ending conscription and the war in Vietnam - has been

eclipsed by the idea of people power. The moment when up to 200 thousand people

marched through the streets of Australian cities in May 1970 is etched indelibly in the

mind of everyone who lived through it. Ask anyone over 55 today about the

Moratorium, and they will probably tell you they were there.

It's a myth that it ended conscription; Whitlam did that. Equally, it didn't end the

war - John Gorton, a Liberal Prime Minister, made the decision to bring the troops

home. But the Moratorium wasn't a failure. Its greatest victory was the way it

changed our minds about political engagement.

The key to participatory democracy is that it's participatory - democracy requires the

populace to be engaged, informed, and to discuss their ideas with each other at all

levels, and to speak out when they see an injustice or a wrong. It's also

fundamentally inclusive. We aren't as naïve as we were in 1964. We were far more

sceptical of claims that Iraq had WMDs than we were when told that the "Viet Cong"

was backed by China. Then again, we are still at war in Iraq, despite the original casus

belli being debunked.

The Moratorium was also, fundamentally, about peace. In that, it stands in stark

contrast to our national myth, Anzac. The Anzac legend has only recently come under

fire for being a backwards-looking story, one that bestows hero status on its warriors

and privileges war as a method of nation-building. The Moratorium privileged

informed, critical debate, and an inclusive, consultative model of nation-building. At

its heart, the Moratorium recognised a community of humanity, far larger than the

nation, and bade us all treat the members of that community with respect.

For all its faults, it was forward-looking, compassionate, and it would not stand for

injustice. It is telling that, on its 40th anniversary, the Moratorium is overshadowed

by debates about Anzac.

Australia has changed a lot in the last 40 years. The protesters are now the middle-

class; baby boomers who now inhabit positions of power in our society and are on

the cusp of retirement age. The heroes of the movement, like Jim Cairns, are gone,

and its opponents, like Gerard Henderson, are everywhere. The pendulum has swung

back to the right. But democracy is always strengthened by informed, compassionate

political engagement amongst its citizenry, and we only have to look to the

Moratorium for that moment in our history. And with the challenges that lie ahead -

continued war in the Middle East, the consequences of the 2008 market crash, even

Rudd's takeover of the health system - can we afford to remain complacent?

Pasted from <http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/33984.html>

History Page 18

Save Our Sons Flyer

Save Our Sons (SOS) was established in 1965 in Sydney but soon other groups formed

under the SOS banner across the country. Some men and young women became

members, but for the most part SOS was comprised of women, mostly middle-class and

middle-aged, whose sons were old enough to be subject to national service. The nature

of SOS protests varied – some involved silent vigils in public places of commemoration

such as Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance; at other times members handed out

leaflets at Army barracks or railway stations from which national servicemen were

travelling to begin their military service.

Members of SOS also prepared and circulated petitions, approached members of

parliament and worked in conjunction with other anti-war groups to protest against

national service and the war. Their protests were not always met with the same civility

with which they were conducted. Some members of SOS were subject to abuse and

insult. Called communists at a time when the term was replete with implications that the

accused was somehow anti-Australian, some women were also sworn at and called ‘bad

mothers’ and neglectful wives. One woman recalled the unpleasant experience of

regular protests outside the Swan Street barracks in Melbourne while families farewelled

their sons into military service. Unwelcome and subject to abuse, the SOS protesters

persisted because they believed their cause was worth the opprobrium and verbal

confrontation.

Sometimes protest activities resulted in the arrest of SOS members. In April 1971 five

SOS women were sentenced to 14 days in Fairlea Women’s Prison for handing out anti-

conscription leaflets to men registering for national service. The charge was trespass.

The case attracted considerable media attention and the women were released after 11

days.

Membership of SOS had another effect too. Many were becoming involved in political

activities for the first time. Although they often came from Liberal voting suburbs, many

women who joined SOS found that the issues of the war and national service moved

them into the Labor camp. Others had always been there. For many who joined SOS the

experience gave them the confidence and ability to publicly express their views for the

first time. The women’s movement of the 1970s benefited from the politicisation of such

people.

Reference Page 2: Save Our SonsWednesday, 5 March 20141:43 PM

History Page 19

Stage One: Peaceful and Ineffectual

In November 1964, the Youth Campaign Against Conscription (YCAC) were

established, mainly by university students. They organised mainly marches and

demonstrations. June 1965 saw a formation of group Save Our Sons (SOS), mostly

middle aged women who had sons that were subject to conscription. Bill White was a

schoolteacher who had a clean cut, sincere, old fashioned stigma to him which

separated him from the rest who had opposed conscription. His willingness to risk

prison brought him to public attention.

Left-wing unions were strongly against the war, in 1966 members of the Seamen's

Union refused to carry war materials to Vietnam. However, this decision was strongly

criticised, slammed and opposed in the public press.

Stage Two: Militant and Violent

Mid 1960s saw the protest against the war become more militant and radical. The

protests became louder, more violent and this sparked up police reaction to be of

equal violence. This again led to the protests to be more violent and aggressive.

Windows of offices connected to the United States were smashed, young men

publicly burnt their draft cards and there was often clashes between police and

protestors.

Such a case was in October 1966, where US president Johnson would visit and have

Australian demonstrators throw themselves in front of his vehicle in petition. The

violence and militant protests had actually weakened the anti-war movement, where

public opinion was influenced as they were put off by the public protests of student

groups. The anti-war movement needed to be presented in more moderate terms, in

more local areas and in a way more Australians could relate to it.

Stage Three: Moratorium and Decentralised

The moratorium movement was where people would stop work at a given time and

place, in a suburban and local level run by known people within their community;

marching for peace. The moratorium movement called for the withdrawal of

Australian troops from Vietnam and an immediate end to conscription. On May 8th

1970, the movement reached a climax as people across the country would gather at

the centre of their capital cities to protest.

In Melbourne on this day, a crowd estimated between 80,000 to 100,000 people led

by Jim Cairns brought the city to a standstill. He had said it was an example of

people taking charge, voicing their opinion on the issues and making their points

clear. The day passed peacefully.

In 1971, nearly all troops were withdrawn from Vietnam but conscription still

remained. When the Whitlam government took over in December 1972, all forces

were completely withdrawn and conscription was put to an immediate end, with now

The Anti-War Movement in AustraliaFriday, 7 March 201411:54 AM

History Page 20

were completely withdrawn and conscription was put to an immediate end, with now

a diplomatic relationship being formed with South Vietnam.

Television Coverage and the Protest Movement

It was widely believed that troops were sent to Vietnam for no better reason than to

fight in an irrelevant war against communism and receive gratitude from America. TV

and filming allowed the world to understand that the US were harming helpless and

innocent Vietnamese people while in war. Women and children were subject to

mutilation as well as rape.

The End of the War

The men who had come back from the war were treated with indifference, being

without ceremonies or welcome parties as with previous wars. Years later, the

veterans are still fighting for recognition for their efforts in the war and

compensation for physical and mental damage that the war had caused.

History Page 21