Anarchism in Australia arrived within a few years of

anarchism Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

developing as a distinct tendency in the wake of the 1871

Paris Commune The Paris Commune (, ) was a French revolutionary government that seized power in Paris on 18 March 1871 and controlled parts of the city until 28 May 1871. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard (France), Nation ...

. Although a minor school of thought and politics, composed primarily of campaigners and

intellectual An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and Human self-reflection, reflection about the nature of reality, especially the nature of society and proposed solutions for its normative problems. Coming from the wor ...

s, Australian anarchism has formed a significant current throughout the history and literature of the colonies and nation. Anarchism's influence has been industrial and cultural, though its influence has waned from its high point in the early 20th century where anarchist techniques and ideas deeply influenced the official Australian union movement. In the mid 20th century anarchism's influence was primarily restricted to urban bohemian cultural movements. In the late 20th century and early 21st century Australian anarchism has been an element in Australia's

social justice Social justice is justice in relation to the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society where individuals' rights are recognized and protected. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has of ...

and

protest movement A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration, or remonstrance) is a public act of objection, disapproval or dissent against political advantage. Protests can be thought of as acts of cooperation in which numerous people cooperate ...

History

Beginnings

The Melbourne Anarchist Club was officially founded on 1 May 1886 by David Andrade and others breaking away from the Australasian

Secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin , or or ), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. The origins of secularity can be traced to the Bible itself. The concept was fleshed out through Christian hi ...

Association of Joseph Symes, the journal ''Honesty'' being the anarchist club's official organ; and

became a significant minor current on the Australian left. The current included a diversity of views on economics, ranging from an

individualism Individualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology, and social outlook that emphasizes the intrinsic worth of the individual. Individualists promote realizing one's goals and desires, valuing independence and self-reliance, and a ...

influenced by

Benjamin Tucker Benjamin Ricketson Tucker (; April 17, 1854 – June 22, 1939) was an American individualist anarchist and self-identified socialist. Tucker was the editor and publisher of the American individualist anarchist periodical ''Liberty'' (1881–19 ...

to the

anarchist communism Anarchist communism is a far-left political ideology and anarchist school of thought that advocates communism. It calls for the abolition of private real property but retention of personal property and collectively-owned items, goods, and ser ...

of JA Andrews. All regarded themselves as broadly "socialist" however.Bob James "Introduction" in ''A Reader of Australian Anarchism'' 1886–1896, Bob James, Canberra, 1979 Online at http://www.takver.com/history/raa/raaintro.htm The Anarchists mixed with the seminal literary figures

Henry Lawson Henry Archibald Hertzberg Lawson (17 June 1867 – 2 September 1922) was an Australian writer and bush poet. Along with his contemporary Banjo Paterson, Lawson is among the best-known Australian poets and fiction writers of the colonial period ...

and

Mary Gilmore Dame Mary Jean Gilmore (née Cameron; 16 August 18653 December 1962) was an Australian writer and journalist known for her prolific contributions to Australian literature and the broader national discourse. She wrote both prose and poetry. Gi ...

and the labour journalist and utopian socialist

William Lane William Lane (6 September 1861 – 26 August 1917) was an English-born journalist, author, advocate of Australian labour politics and a utopian socialist ideologue. Lane was born in Bristol, England into an impoverished family. After showi ...

. The most dramatic event associated with this early Australian anarchism was perhaps the bombing of the "non-union" ship SS ''Aramac'' on 27 July 1893 by Australian anarchist and union organiser Larrie Petrie.B. James; "Larry Petrie, revolutionist", Red And Black, no. 8, (Summer 1978), Sydney Australia, pp. 19–31. Online at http://www.takver.com/history/petrie.htm This incident occurred in the highly charged atmosphere following the defeat of the 1890 Australian maritime dispute and the

1891 Australian shearers' strike The 1891 shearers' strike is one of Australia's earliest and most important industrial disputes. The dispute was primarily between Trade union, unionised and non-unionised wool workers. It resulted in the formation of large camps of striking wor ...

, an atmosphere which also produced the Sydney-based direct action group the "Active Service Brigade" A major challenge to the principles of these early Australian anarchists was the virulent anti-Chinese

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...

of the time, of which racism William Lane himself was a leading exponent. On a political level the anarchists opposed the anti-Chinese agitation. "The Chinese, like ourselves, are the victims of

monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek and ) is a market in which one person or company is the only supplier of a particular good or service. A monopoly is characterized by a lack of economic Competition (economics), competition to produce ...

and exploitation" editorialised ''Honesty'' "We had far better set to and make our own position better instead of, like a parcel of blind babies, trying to make theirs worse." The anarchists were sometimes more ambivalent on the subject than this statement of principle might suggest; anti-Chinese racism was entrenched in the labour movement of which they were a part, and challenged by few others.Andrew Markus, "White Australia? Socialists and Anarchists" ''Arena'' nos 32–33 (Double Issue), 1973

World War I

Monty Miller, a veteran of the Eureka uprising, belonged to the Melbourne Anarchist Club. He would later become a well-known militant of the Australian branch of the

Industrial Workers of the World The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), whose members are nicknamed "Wobblies", is an international labor union founded in Chicago, United States in 1905. The nickname's origin is uncertain. Its ideology combines general unionism with indu ...

(IWW) and was arrested and imprisoned in 1916. His friend the social activist and literary figure

Willem Siebenhaar Willem Siebenhaar (; 28 July 1863 – 29 December 1936) was a social activist and writer in Western Australia from the 1890s until he left Australia in 1924. His literary contributions and opposition to policies such as conscription were his mos ...

was among those who campaigned for his release. The anarchist tradition was kept alive in Australia by, among others, the prominent agitator and street speaker Chummy Fleming who died in Melbourne in 1950 and by Italian Anarchists active in Melbourne's Matteotti Club and the North Queensland canefields. William Andrade (1863–1939), David Andrade's brother and fellow anarchist, became a successful bookseller in Sydney and Melbourne and while he retired from active politics in about 1920 he continued to influence events by allowing various radical groups to use his premises throughout the 1920s and 1930s.

Post-World War II

After World War Two the Sydney Libertarians developed a distinct brand of "pessimistic" or "permanent protest" anarchism, deeply

sceptical Skepticism ( US) or scepticism ( UK) is a questioning attitude or doubt toward knowledge claims that are seen as mere belief or dogma. For example, if a person is skeptical about claims made by their government about an ongoing war then the pe ...

of revolution and of any grand scheme of human betterment, yet friendly to the revolutionary unionism of the IWW. Poet

Harry Hooton Henry (Harry) Arthur Hooton (9 October 1908 – 27 June 1961) was an Australian poet and social commentator whose writing spanned the years 1930s–1961. He was described by a biographer as ahead of his time, or rather "of his time while the ma ...

associated with this group, and his friend

Germaine Greer Germaine Greer (; born 29 January 1939) is an Australian writer and feminist, regarded as one of the major voices of the second-wave feminism movement in the latter half of the 20th century. Specializing in English and women's literature, she ...

belonged to it in her youth. By 1972 she was calling herself an " anarchist communist" and was still identifying herself as "basically" an anarchist in 1999. The Sydney Libertarians were the political tendency around which the "

Sydney Push The Sydney Push was an intellectual subculture in Sydney from the late 1940s to the early 1970s. Its politics were predominantly left-wing libertarianism. The Push operated in a pub culture and included university students, academics, manual w ...

" social milieu developed, a milieu which included many anarchists. The Sydney Libertarians, along with the remnant of the Australian IWW and of Italian and Spanish migrant anarchism fed into the Anarchist revival of the sixties and seventies which Australia shared with much of the developed world. Another post-war influence that fed into modern Australian anarchism was the arrival of anarchist refugees from Bulgaria. The last years of Australian involvement in the Vietnam war was an active period for Australian anarchists, the high-profile draft resister Michael Matteson in particular became something of a folk hero. The prolific anarchist poet

Pi O П. O. (or Pi O, born 1951) is a Greek-Australian, working class, anarchist poet. Biography Born in Katerini, Greece, П. O. came to Australia with his family around 1954. After time in Bonegilla Migrant Reception and Training Centre, the fam ...

began to write. The Brisbane Self-Management Group was formed in 1971, heavily influenced by the councillist writings of the

Socialisme ou Barbarie Socialisme ou Barbarie (SouB; "Socialism or Barbarism") was a French-based radical libertarian socialist group of the post-World War II period whose name comes from a phrase which was misattributed to Friedrich Engels by Rosa Luxemburg in the ...

group and its offshoots. The Anarchist Bookshop in Adelaide began publishing the monthly ''Black Growth''. Anarchists active in inner-city Melbourne played a major part in creating the Fitzroy Legal Service (FLS) in 1972. In 1974 after successfully campaigning against the 1971 South Africa rugby union tour of Australia

Anti-apartheid movement The Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM) was a British organisation that was at the centre of the international movement opposing the South African apartheid system and supporting South Africa's non-white population who were oppressed by the policies ...

activist Peter McGregor was one of several people who involved themselves in resurrecting the Sydney Anarchist Group to organise an Australian Anarchist conference in Sydney in January 1975. At the time anarchist theory was being intensely debated. A diverse Federation of Australian Anarchists (FAA) was formed at a conference in Sydney in 1975. A walkout from the second conference in Melbourne in 1976 led to the founding of the Libertarian Socialist Federation (LSF), which in 1977 led to the founding of

Jura Books Jura Books is an anarchist bookshop and infoshop located in Sydney, Australia. The shop was named after the Jura federation, the federation of workers of the Jura region that associated with Bakunin in the First International. It has operated ...

in Sydney. The end of the 1970s saw the development of a Christian anarchist Catholic Worker tendency in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

, the most prominent person in the group being Ciaron O'Reilly. This tendency exploded into prominence in 1982 because of its part along with other anarchists and assorted radicals in the Brisbane

free speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recognise ...

fights during the Queensland premiership of

Joh Bjelke-Petersen Sir Johannes Bjelke-Petersen (13 January 191123 April 2005) was an Australian politician and farmer who served as premier of Queensland between 1968 and 1987, for almost 20 years, as state leader of the National Party (earlier known as the C ...

. The Melbourne Anarchist Club celebrated its centennial in 1986 with a march of around 400 people that culminated in Bourke Street Mall with speakers. The Australian section of the

International Workers' Association International Workers' Association may refer to: * International Workingmen's Association The International Workingmen's Association (IWA; 1864–1876), often called the First International, was a political international which aimed at unitin ...

(IWA), called the Anarcho-Syndicalist Federation (ASF), was active among Melbourne's public transport workers, influencing the 1990 Melbourne tram dispute. On January 19 2025, following a successful public forum the previous day, the Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group, Anarchist Communists Meanjin, and Geelong Anarchist Communists agreed to reconstitute themselves as branches of the Anarchist Communist Federation. On May 1 of the same year the Anarchist Communist Federation was officially launched.

References

External links

Bibliography of Anarchism & Syndicalism in Australia & Aotearoa / New Zealand

Anarchist Communist Federation

Anarcho-Syndicalism in Melbourne and Sydney

anarchist bulletin

Melbourne Anarchist Club

Jura Books

Rebel Worker

Black Rose Anarchist Library and Bookshop

Mutiny Zine
A Paper of Anarchistic Ideas and Action
Brisbane Solidarity Network

Black Swan Adelaide
{{Oceania in topic, Anarchism in Political movements in Australia

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Anarchist periodicals