Labor, communism and the cold war: The case of ‘Diver’ Dobson

Abstract

When a young ALP Industrial Group leader was thrown from a ferry, allegedly by communists, into Sydney Harbour during bitter Cold War battles inside the labour movement, it was the culmination of an extraordinary career involving duplicity, mendacity and political intrigue. This article peers into one year, 1949, of the crowded life of William Thomas Dobson. In doing so, it enables a fuller understanding of how Groupers, communists and security agents—all of whom Dobson worked for or had contact with—operated in Australia during a period of intense anticommunism.