From Revolutionary Hopes to Shattered Dreams: the far left in Australia, 1918–1925.

This presentation seeks to understand the far left in Australia at the end of WWI, when it was at a relative peak in terms of size and influence, and why it contracted by 1925 to relative obscurity. The seminar will discuss the broad environment of the far left by 1918, and how each section reacted to the political challenge represented by the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the new Communist International. The presentation will also discuss to what extent the political challenge of communism and the Communist Party of Australia contributed to the decline of the left.