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dc.contributor.authorOliver, Bobbie
dc.date.accessioned2017-01-30T14:48:15Z
dc.date.available2017-01-30T14:48:15Z
dc.date.created2008-11-12T23:25:16Z
dc.date.issued2005
dc.identifier.citationOliver, Bobbie. 2005. : Shades of the Cold War: The role of Communist workers at the Midland Railway Workshops, in Patmore, G and Shields, J and Balnave, N (ed), 'The Past is Before Us'. Proceedings of the 9th National Labour History Conference, 30 June - 2 July 2006, pp. 183-190. Sydney University: Australian Society for the Study of Labour History.
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/41117
dc.description.abstract

Although a small minority among the 2500-strong workforce at the Midland Railway Workshops in the 1950s, the Communists were an active group, whose physical focal point was a section of the Machine Shop in Block 3, known as 'Red Square', where Jack Marks, a fitter and turner who was an active CPA member, operated a lathe.This paper argues that the activities of Marks and fellow CPA members went far beyond political proselytising and that herein lay their success as union activists. The paper explores the growth of Communism among the workforce at the Midland Workshops; the role of agitators and activists such as Marks in achieving better working conditions, their political and industrial influence upon other unionists, and the response of management. It concludes that the extent of the Communists' acceptance and popularity among their fellow workers lay in their commitment to every day issues, rather than in their ideological understanding of world events.

dc.publisherAustralian Society for the Study of Labour History
dc.subjectCommunist Party of Australia
dc.subjectWestern Australian Government Railways Workshop
dc.subjectMidland Railway Workshops
dc.subjectLabour history
dc.subjectJack Marks
dc.subjectTrade unions
dc.subjectPolitical parties
dc.titleShades of the Cold War: The role of Communist workers at the Midland Railway Workshops
dc.typeConference Paper
dcterms.source.startPage183
dcterms.source.endPage190
dcterms.source.titleThe Past is Before Us
dcterms.source.conference'The Past is Before Us'. Proceedings of the 9th National Labour History Conference
dcterms.source.conference-start-date30 June - 2 July 2006
dcterms.source.conferencelocationSydney University
dcterms.source.placeSydney
curtin.identifierEPR-1010
curtin.accessStatusOpen access
curtin.facultyDivision of Humanities
curtin.facultyDepartment of Social Sciences
curtin.facultyFaculty of Media, Society and Culture (MSC)


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