Description
The modern Australian socialist movement has its origins in the early radical experiments of the 19th century, from the influence of the transported British Chartists, to the exiled Irish rebels, to the democratic struggles of the miners at Eureka and elsewhere.
From the short-lived Australian affiliate to the First International in 1872, the Australian Socialist League, the Victorian Socialist League, the Socialist Labour Party, the Industrial Workers of the World, to the founding of the Communist Party of Australia, the organisations of the socialist left in this country developed a radical tradition which set the groundwork for the contemporary socialist movement.
Jim McIlroy’s account sketches the history of the early socialists, their achievements and their problems, and attempts to draw some lessons from the experience of the pioneer radicals for the movement today.