School of Historical and Philosophical Studies - Theses
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ItemChrist and the Cold War: an exploration of the political activism of the Reverends Frank Hartley, Alfred Dickie and Victor James, 1942-1972( 2007)This thesis argues that previous accounts have oversimplified the lives of the Reverends Alf Dickie, Frank Hartley and Victor James, three prominent, Melbourne-based peace activists during the Cold War. They have been seen as fellow-travellers or apologists for the communist-dominated peace movement, at the expense of any consideration of why they were drawn to such a role. A central aim is to demonstrate that a personally derived understanding of religious duty dominated the political activism of these three men. It begins by exploring how the early political and economic crises experienced by each individual shaped a conviction that radical, progressive politics were a true expression of faith. It goes on to show that such beliefs were at first unremarkable in post-war Australia. With the onset of the Cold War, however, opinion turned away from such optimism and left the three clergymen isolated and embattled. This thesis shows that the religious foundations for their political activism fostered a notion of prophetic duty, so that the political shift produced obduracy on their part. Their interpretation of duty left them no room for political compromise or negotiation. The ensuing conflict served to confirm a sense of righteousness born of suffering and to entrench further their dogmatic approach to political questions. It is suggested that Dickie, Hartley and James increasingly adopted a Manichaean interpretation, rooted in theology, of both international and domestic politics. This dualism significantly influenced their interpretation of Cold War crises, combatants and actors, and its ramifications are examined. By merging politics and theology, all three men came to ignore uncomfortable political facts. As well as exploring the disadvantages of their politico-theological rigidity, this thesis also acknowledges its benefits. Methodist and Presbyterian Church reactions to the Australian and New Zealand Congress for International Cooperation and Disarmament, held in 1959, are examined and it is demonstrated that by this time the Churches had begun to return to a position of support for the activism of Dickie and Hartley. This change continued into the 1960s, and I show that at the time of Gough Whitlam's 1972 election victory, the political mood of the Churches and society in general returned to meet that of Dickie and Hartley (though not James), which had remained essentially consistent since the end of the Second World War.
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ItemDefending the bad against the worse: the peace movement in Australia in the 1930s: its origins, structure and development.( 1984)This study of the origins, structure and development of the peace movement in Australia in the 1930s begins with an examination of opposition to war and militarism from the Boer War to 1918 and an overview of Australian external relations between the wars. The formative influences of the experience and changing perceptions of world war one and the economic collapse at the end of the 1920s are examined in detail in order to provide insight into the elements of continuity and difference which are discernible in the peace movement in the 19308. The study then concentrates on the development and progress of the world-wide attempt to prevent the outbreak of a second world war known as the Popular Front, the aim of which was to unite all opponents of war, whatever the philosophical origin of their opposition, in a mass movement of sufficient strength to force governments to adhere to the principles of negotiation, open diplomacy and collective security as embodied in the League of Nations Covenants. The development of the Popular Front in Australia was partly derivative of European influences and partly parallel as Australians, inhabiting an outpost of European culture)were subject to much the same significant experiences of war and depression as their counterparts elsewhere. The peace movement in Australia, therefore, is placed in the context of a continuing tradition of opposition. to war and militarism and the principal focus of this study is on the liberal-humanist strand in the peace movement and its uneasy relationship with both strict pacifism and international socialism as it sought to reconcile the rejection of war as a legitimate instrument of international relations and escalating horror in the face of the aggressive expansionism of the fascist nations. The major part of this study is concerned with a detailed examination of the response of Australian peace advocates to the organisational and philosophical issues thrown up by the nature of international relations in the 1930s as they manifested themselves in the International Peace Campaign and through a consideration of the ideas and activities of a number of peace activists in the 1930s.