Common Cause was an organisation formed during the Second World War to consider post-war reconstruction and society. It became a popular movement but was tainted by accusations of Communism.
History
Common Cause was founded in 1943 as a vehicle for a number of idealistic community leaders of diverse backgrounds to discuss the post-war economic and social future of South Australia. Charter members were:
*Professor
K. S. Isles (chairman)
*A. A. Angrave (secretary of Plasterers' Union)
*Dr. A. R. Callaghan (principal of Roseworthy College)
*
Sidney Crawford (chairman of C.M.V. Motors)
*
Charles Duguid
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(medical doctor and advocate for Aboriginal advancement)
*Tom Garland (secretary of the Gasworkers' Union)
*Rev.
Guy Pentreath (head of
St. Peter's College)
*Professor
G. V. Portus
*
Alex M. Ramsay (economist)
*W. A. Sams (State organiser for the Shop Assistants' Union and executive member of the Communist Party)
*Gilbert Seaman (statistical and research officer of the Commonwealth Treasury Department.)
*A. B. Thompson (president, United Trades and Labour Council)
*
John W. Wainwright (Auditor-General, South Australian Government)
*D. R. Watson (hairdresser)
The idealistic aims of the organisation found favour with a large section of the community, disenchanted by the Great Depression and tired of the war and looking forward to a future of industrial peace and prosperity.
A. J. Hannan of Medindie (the Crown Solicitor) was a prominent critic, accusing it of being either a Communist front organisation or susceptible to takeover by Communists by virtue of its open membership and support by the Union movement. Rev.
E. S. Kiek of
Parkin College made a passionate defence of Common Cause, and was supported by large number of ministers of religion who were also members.
At its first Annual General Meeting K. S. Isles, was re-elected president; vice presidents elected were A. B. Thompson and G. V. Portus; hon. treasurer L. J. Mulroney; minute secretary Maurice Brown; executive council Sidney Crawford, A. A. Drummond, Mrs. Fairbank, T. Garland, Mrs. K. S. Isles, J. H. Knight, and Dr. J. Lugg. They had a meeting room on Waymouth Street.
The organisation helped found a kindergarten and community centre at
Nuriootpa, a town with a well-developed community spirit, and where the aims of Common Cause were particularly welcomed. In 1944 Common Cause published a booklet ''A Township starts to live : the valley of Barossa : South Australia's new community.'' Crawford, a prime mover in its foundation, retired shortly after.
[
Isles resigned as president on the eve of his departure for London on Army business.][Susan Marsden, 'Crawford, Sidney (1885–1968)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/crawford-sidney-9859/text17443, published first in hardcopy 1993, accessed online 9 March 2018.]
References
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1943 establishments in Australia
1949 disestablishments in Australia
Organisations based in Adelaide
Think tanks based in Australia