The current of Maoism in the Australian Far Left

In the 1960s and 1970s, ‘Australian Maoists’ could be either members of the Communist Party of Australia (Marxist-Leninist) or non-members who shared a commitment to the struggle for an independent, socialist Australia. Maoists in Australia have been associated with militancy, and were arguably the most despised grouping within the Australian Far Left. They were most active in Victoria during the 1960s and 1970s. The Maoist social movement was a response to the existing order of life in Australia during that period. The Vietnam War and the existence of conscription for young Australian males influenced the heightened atmosphere and urgency for social change that characterised that era. Like others in the Far Left at the time, Australian Maoists began to question authority and the existing order. The revolution imagined by the Maoists took quite a different shape to that of other groupings of the Left. Maoists were influential among certain trade unions and on some university campuses. The Maoists were few in number but their impact was quite extraordinary in the 1960s and 1970s, and this caused some resentment and antagonism with other groups within the Australian Far Left. The Maoists were determined and dogmatic, and when it came to demonstrations and occupations they were not afraid to use violence, which they believed was ideologically justified. This chapter is about the trajectory of Maoism in Australia – how it came into being, the reasons for its establishment and growth, and its eventual decline.