SEARCH Foundation is co-hosting with the NSW State Library a one-day series of six one-hour online forums to commemorate the Centenary of the founding of the Communist Party of Australia in October 1920. These six forums will cover six ‘snapshots’ of key movements in which communists worked with many others to achieve progressive reforms and radical social change around major issues of the times.
The sessions will examine the history and contribution of communists to Australian political and cultural life, but also discuss relevance of their struggles to today. A wide range of activists will take part in the panels for each session, including an activist involved in the current movements.
It's here - "The Party! Snapshots of Communists in Australian History".
SEARCH Foundation is co-hosting with the NSW State Library a one-day series of six one-hour online forums to commemorate the Centenary of the founding of the Communist Party of Australia in October 1920. These six forums will cover six ‘snapshots’ of key movements in which communists worked with many others to achieve progressive reforms and radical social change around major issues of the times.
The sessions will examine the history and contribution of communists to Australian political and cultural life, but also discuss relevance of their struggles to today. A wide range of activists will take part in the panels for each session, including an activist involved in the current movements.
Six interactive online sessions - Over 30 speakers - Music and film - Rarely seen photos from the State Library collection
SESSIONS AND PARTICIPANTS
Each session runs for exactly one hour
The webinar runs continuously for the whole day, with short intervals between sessions
9:00am
Session 1: On Stolen Lands: First Nations struggles for rights and justice
Moderator: Bob Boughton
Panelists: Ann Curthoys,Thomas Mayor, Teela Reid
10:15am
Session 2: There is no Planet B: Movements to protect and save the environment
Moderator: Jacquie Widin
Panelists: Bob Makinson, Rose Read, Geoff Evans, John Wishart, Gianni Sottile
11:30am
Session 3: The Class struggle: unions and workers’ movements
Moderator: Luke Whitington
Panelists: Tom McDonald, Louise Connor, Julius Roe, Linda Carruthers, Steve Murphy
12:30pm
LUNCH
Art and Culture: writing, songs of struggle, theatre, art
Short talk and song presentation by Maurie Mulheron
Screening of 1946 short film Indonesia Calling on support for the Indonesian independence struggle against Dutch colonial rule.
1:30pm
Session 4: 'Red Matildas’: The long struggle for women’s rights and equality
Moderator: Martina Nightingale
Panelists: Judy Mundey, Audrey McDonald, Judy Gillett, Danae Bosler
2:45pm
Session 5: ‘From all the lands on Earth we come’: Migrants and Multiculturalism
Moderator: Serge Zorino
Panelists: George Zangalis, Joe Caputo, Pierina Pirisi, Matt Kunkel
4pm
Session 6: ‘A world to win’ – movements for peace and international solidarity
Moderator: Patricia Ranald
Panelists: Beverley Symons, Peter Murphy, Andrew Hewett, Kate Lee
For easy reference and sharing, the registration link and the schedule of sessions are here on the event page on the SEARCH Facebook page. You can also find them here on the State Library website.
The History
On October 30 1920, the Communist Party of Australia was founded at a small conference in Sydney. From small beginnings, the party and its members went on to significantly influence Australian society, especially through workers’ struggles and the union movement but also through many other radical and progressive movements, campaigns and struggles in many spheres of social life. From the mid-1960s, the party rejected repressive, authoritarian models and committed itself to a democratic and participatory vision of, and road to, socialism.
In 1990, the CPA decided to cease operating as a political party and to work with others towards the formation of a new party of the left. It also established the SEARCH Foundation to preserve the party’s assets and use them to further democratic socialist and progressive aims. The CPA placed its national archives with the NSW State (Mitchell) Library, including an extensive collection of historical photographs taken for its weekly newspaper, Tribune.
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Register now!
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Other CPA Centenary events and projects
All our events and projects are summarised in one post here on the SEARCH Foundation website, so you can share and refer back to it at any time.
See you at The Party! on 31 October!
