Ask the Scholar

{
    "localId": "225249501",
    "label": "Central Intelligence Agency, Office of Reports and Estimates Report, Number 9-49, Communist Influence in Australia",
    "core": "doc",
    "dtoType": "document",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/225249501"
}

{
    "id": "225249501",
    "sourceUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/225249501",
    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "Central Intelligence Agency, Office of Reports and Estimates Report, Number 9-49, Communist Influence in Australia",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/225249501",
    "collections": [
        "President's Secretary's Files (Truman Administration)",
        "Intelligence Files"
    ],
    "iiifBase": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/presidential-libraries/truman/hst-psf/602196/875480/875480-05-01.jpg",
    "thumbnailUrl": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/presidential-libraries/truman/hst-psf/602196/875480/875480-05-01.jpg",
    "largeImageUrl": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/presidential-libraries/truman/hst-psf/602196/875480/875480-05-01.jpg",
    "imageCount": 13,
    "hasImages": true,
    "source": "import",
    "hasTranscription": false
}

{
    "url": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/225249501",
    "naId": 225249501,
    "levelOfDescription": "item",
    "productionDates": [
        {
            "day": 11,
            "logicalDate": "1949-04-11",
            "month": 4,
            "year": 1949
        }
    ],
    "recordType": "description",
    "ocrSource": "nara-archive"
}

{
    "seq": 8,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "photo",
    "url": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/presidential-libraries/truman/hst-psf/602196/875480/875480-05-08.jpg",
    "mediaId": "ee59d69471b9814c",
    "ocrText": "There are, however, no known Communists in the Federal Parliament\nand only one state legislator (Queensland Parliament) is a known Party\nmember. The Minister for Defense has stated that about forty Com-\nmunists are engaged in Government service but that they are not in a\nposition to have access to classified information. The Minister for\nImmigration and Information has alleged that there were \"many\" Com-\nmunists in the public service. CIA has little information on Communism\nwithin the armed forces. * The Labor Government and Party have been\nslow to counteract the growth of Communist power in key industries,\nand the Government has been lax in its security measures. Moreover,\nLabor leadership has refused Liberal and Country Party demands for\nthe banning of the Communist Party, and has rejected proposals of its\nown conservative unionists for legislation preventing Communists and\nmilitants from dominating unions by malpractices. The Government\nhas refused to dismiss Communists from public service and has hired\npersons from competence in spite of Communist affiliations.\nMuch of this Labor Party policy regarding Communism, which appears\nto be \"soft, l'actually stems from Labor Party tactics rather than from\nsubservience to Communist pressure. However, Labor Party representa-\ntion accorded to militants is also a deterrent to strong anti-Communist\naction. The Australian labor movement has a strong radical tradition,\nand the Labor Party's refusal to accede to the banning of the Communist\nParty has been based allegedly on the fear that prosecution of the\nCommunists would create martyrs and make the Communist Party\nmore attractive to Labor militants. Labor politicians would prefer\nto defeat Communism by the vigilance of voters at the polls and workers\nin union elections. Legislative interference with the legality of political\nparties and with the conduct of labor union affairs is strongly opposed\nby Labor politicians.\nAt the end of September 1948, the Labor Party Conference which\ndefines the policy to be executed by the government reaffirmed Labor's\nrepudiation of Communist methods and principles and, so that the Com-\nmunist influence might be better understood, asked the federal executive\nto prepare and circulate a report on the activities and policies of the\nCommunist Party in Australia. The Conference decided that the Labor\n* Reportedly, when Communists are found in the services they are\neither released or transferred to the interior where their effective-\nness is reduced.\n4"
}