Party Leaders, the Media, and Political Persuasion: The Campaigns of Evatt and Menzies on the Referendum to Protect Australia from Communism

Abstract

The 1951 referendum campaign to ban communism produced a massive shift of public opinion, from Yes to No. This article attempts to explain why. It examines the political appeals and rhetoric of the Liberal and Labor Party leaders, their coverage across the entire metropolitan press, and their use of radio. Breaking with earlier interpretations, it argues that Evatt's campaign encompassed wider issues than civil liberties, suggests that Menzies' campaign was damaged by unruly meetings and shows that neither side appealed exclusively to ‘reason’ or to ‘passion’. Ultimately, the success of the No campaign rested on its capacity to mobilise most Labor voters and to attract some Liberals. This was an extraordinary achievement, but it was secured using routine forms of electioneering.

Notes

*Our thanks to Jackie Dickenson, Sofia Eriksson, Josh Holloway, Natalie Latter, Trina Minter Naughton and Nayantara Pothen for research assistance, and to Antony Green, Bridget Griffen-Foley, Christina Twomey, Ian Watson, and the journal's referee. The research was funded by ARC Discovery Grant DP0987839.

¹‘“Yes” Vote Against Communists Likely’, Courier-Mail, 7 July 1951, 1. Evatt would later attack the poll for asking only about ‘the banning of the communists’ when there were ‘other proposals involved in the referendum’: ‘Road to Police State, Says Evatt’, Sun, 21 September 1951, 7.

²‘More Important than Election—Dr. Evatt’, Age, 20 September 1951, 3.

³Leicester Webb, Communism and Democracy in Australia: A Survey of the 1951 Referendum (Melbourne: F. W. Cheshire, 1954).

⁴According to the Sun, Evatt made more than 100 speeches: ‘His 100 Speeches’, Sun, 23 September 1951, 2.

⁵In 1911 and 1944, when Labor's referendum proposals were defeated, neither Andrew Fisher nor John Curtin appears to have campaigned in every state. See David Day, Andrew Fisher: Prime Minister of Australia (Sydney: Fourth Estate, 2008), 214; and Gordon Greenwood, The Future of Australian Federalism, 2nd ed. (Brisbane: University of Queensland Press, 1976), 319, for Curtin.

⁶Don Whitington, The House Will Divide: A Review of Australian Federal Politics, revised ed. (Melbourne: Lansdowne Press, 1969), 154.

⁷‘Menzies in N.S.W. on “Red” Poll’, Argus, 21 August 1951, 7; ‘P.M. to Speak in Barton’, Daily Telegraph, 21 August 1951, 12; Nick Dyrenfurth and Frank Bongiorno, A Little History of the Australian Labor Party (Sydney: University of New South Wales Press, 2011), 20.

⁸Scullin's, for example, during the 1931 election campaign: John Robertson, J.H. Scullin: A Political Biography (Perth: University of Western Australia Press, 1974), 374.

⁹Roy Morgan, ‘One Unionist in Three Won't Vote Labour’, Mercury, 19 April 1951, 14.

¹⁰‘Labor May Split on Referendum’, Herald, 10 August 1951, 5; Graeme Starr, Carrick: Principles, Politics and Policy (Ballan, Vic.: Connor Court Publishing, 2012), 157.

¹¹Mark Armstrong, David Lindsay and Ray Watterson, Media Law in Australia, 3rd ed. (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1995), 175–6; ‘Agreed on Poll Radio’, Courier-Mail, 21 September 1951, 1.

¹²‘More Important than Election’, 3.

¹³Bridget Griffen-Foley, Changing Stations: The Story of Australian Commercial Radio (Sydney: University of New South Wales Press, 2009), 378.

¹⁴See, for example, the references to ‘heckling’ in Judith Brett, Robert Menzies' Forgotten People, 2nd ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2007), 32, 185.

¹⁵‘Bedlam, as Menzies Opens “Yes” Campaign’, Argus, 5 September 1951, 1, 28–9.

¹⁶‘Bedlam, as Menzies Opens “Yes” Campaign’, Argus, 5 September 1951, 1, 28–9.; ‘Speech Drowned by Deafening Uproar’, Courier-Mail, 5 September 1951, 1.

¹⁷‘Heavy Guard for P.M. in Brisbane’, Sun News-Pictorial, 6 September 1951, 3; ‘Rowdy Meeting Exhausts P.M.’, Daily Mirror, 5 September 1951, 5.

¹⁸‘Menzies Hits Back at Yes Rally’, Telegraph, 7 September 1951, 11.

¹⁹‘Heavy Guard for P.M. in Brisbane’; ‘Menzies Hits Back at Yes Rally’; ‘Menzies Predicts Big Labor ‘Yes’ Vote’, Sun News-Pictorial, 7 September 1951, 9.

²⁰‘Menzies Hits Back at Yes Rally’.

²¹A. W. Martin, Robert Menzies: A Life, Vol. 2 1944–1978 (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1999), 191–2.

²²‘P.M.'s Wild Meeting’, Sun News-Pictorial, 13 September 1951, 1.

²³‘3000 at Noisy “Yes” Meeting’, Age, 13 September 1951, 1.

²⁴‘P.M.'s Wild Meeting’, 1; ‘Organised Boos for Mr Menzies', West Australian, 13 September 1951, 1; ‘Mr. Menzies at Noisy Melbourne Meeting’, Advertiser, 13 September 1951, 1.

²⁵‘But Leaders Had Attentive Crowds’, Argus, 12 September 1951, 7; ‘80 per cent against Reds, says P.M.’, Daily Telegraph, 12 September 1951, 5.

²⁶‘“Heil Hitlers” Greet Menzies in Sydney’, Sun News-Pictorial, 18 September 1951, 3; ‘Cheers for P.M. at Hurstville Meeting’, Age, 18 September 1951, 1.

²⁷‘Uproar for Menzies', Sydney Morning Herald, 18 September 1951, 1, 3.

²⁸‘Leaflet Shower as P.M. Speaks’, Argus, 19 September 1951, 1, 30.

²⁹See, for example, ‘Red Hooligans Strengthen Menzies Case’, Daily Telegraph, 14 September 1951, 8; ‘Uproar or Logic’, Herald, 13 September 1951, 4.

³⁰‘Countering Red Disruption’, Advertiser, 6 September 1951, 2.

³¹See T. C. Truman, ‘The Press and the 1951 Federal Elections’, Australian Quarterly 23, no. 4 (1951): 40–2; Colin A. Hughes and B. D. Graham, A Handbook of Australian Government and Politics 1890–1964 (Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1968), 380 (1949), 386 (1951).

³²‘Referendum Result Less Certain’, Age, 21 September 1951, 1.

³³‘4,000 at Labor “No” Meeting’, Age, 17 September 1951, 3; ‘Parties Increase Pressure’, Sydney Morning Herald, 17 September 1951, 1; ‘Big Audience for Menzies', Sydney Morning Herald, 7 September 1951, 4; ‘3,000 at Noisy “Yes” Meeting’, Age, 13 September 1951, 1.

³⁴‘100 Yes-No Meetings in Streets’, Sunday Telegraph, 16 September 1951, 5; Ian K. Mackay, Broadcasting in Australia (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1957), 211; Lesley Johnson, The Unseen Voice: A Cultural Study of Early Australian Radio (London: Routledge, 1988), 192–3. Whether women were more likely than men to listen-in is open to doubt; see D. W. Rawson, Australia Votes: The 1958 Federal Election (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1961), 185.

³⁵Webb, 126.

³⁶Webb, 122–4.

³⁷Johnson, The Unseen Voice, 192–3; Brett, 30–1.

³⁸Cited in Webb, 101. Which papers were most influential and how influential they were is a separate question. According to one account, the No case ‘was led to victory by papers such as the Guardian [a Communist Party paper] in Victoria’: Humphrey McQueen, Australia's Media Monopolies (Melbourne: Widescope, 1977), 206.

³⁹‘Finish the Job’, Courier-Mail, 11 August 1951, 1; see also: ‘“Yes” for Safety’, ‘Finish the Job’, Courier-Mail, 11 August 1951, 2; ‘“Yes” or “No”?’, ‘Finish the Job’, Courier-Mail, 20 September 1951, 2.

⁴⁰The attempt to justify a ‘mandate’ by reference to an earlier election was not without precedent; see, for example, Aaron Wildavsky, ‘The 1926 Referendum’, in Studies in Australian Politics, ed. Henry Mayer (Melbourne: F. W. Cheshire, 1958), 12–13.

⁴¹Jim Davies, ‘A.L.P. Showdown on Referendum?’, Sun News-Pictorial, 22 September 1951, 5.

⁴²‘Labor May Split on Referendum’, 5.

⁴³Alan Reid, ‘Labor Party May Be Divided by Referendum Result’, Sun, 26 August 1951, 28; ‘Guerrilla Warfare Increased behind Labor's Lines’, Sun, 9 September 1951, 31. Before the 1951 election, Labor's deputy leader Arthur Calwell had sought to have Reid's membership of Labor's ACT branch suspended: Ross Fitzgerald and Stephen Holt, The ‘Red Fox’: Pressman par Excellence (Sydney: University of New South Wales Press, 2010), 54.

⁴⁴For example, ‘Distinguished Citizens Write on the Referendum’, Argus, 15 September 1951, 2; ‘A Young Liberal Urges “No” to the Referendum’, Argus, 22 August 1951, 2–3; ‘The Case of Mr. Missen’, Argus, 1 September 1951, 2.

⁴⁵See also Webb, 103–9.

⁴⁶Murray Goot, ‘Stripped Bare: A Short Historiography of the Australian Tabloid’, Australian Journal of Communication, 38, no. 2 (2011): 4, for the ‘gutter press’.

⁴⁷This, despite the Herald being a relatively well-regarded paper: Murray Goot, ‘Stripped Bare: A Short Historiography of the Australian Tabloid’, Australian Journal of Communication, 38, no. 2 (2011): 8, 10.

⁴⁸Webb, 54–6; and Bron Stevens and Pat Weller, eds, The Australian Labor Party and Federal Politics (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1976), 122. Chifley's biographer would later argue that in the 1949 election, Labor's ‘reason’ had been overwhelmed by the Coalition's ‘emotion’: L. F. Crisp, Ben Chifley: A Biography (Melbourne: Longmans, 1961), 341.

⁴⁹Webb, 60, 62, 64.

⁵⁰Ken Buckley, Barbara Dale and Wayne Reynolds, Doc Evatt (Melbourne: Longman Cheshire, 1994), 363.

⁵¹Peter Crockett, Evatt: A Life (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1993), 144.

⁵²Allan Dalziel, Evatt the Enigma (Melbourne: Lansdowne Press, 1967), 2–3, 12–13.

⁵³A. A. Calwell, Be Just and Fear Not (Melbourne: Lloyd O'Neil, 1972), 202.

⁵⁴For example, Alastair Davidson, The Communist Party of Australia (Stanford: Hoover Institution Press, 1969), 111–12; Ross McMullin, The Light on the Hill: The Australian Labor Party 1891–1991 (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1991), 263; James Walter and Margaret Macleod, The Citizens’ Bargain: A Documentary History of Australian Views since 1890 (Sydney: University of New South Wales Press, 2002), 136–7.

⁵⁵For example, Brian Fitzpatrick, The Australian Commonwealth: A Picture of the Community, 1901–1955 (Melbourne: F. W. Cheshire, 1956), 150; Enid Campbell, ‘Democracy and Political Opposition’, in Contemporary Australia: Studies in History, Politics and Economics, ed. Richard Preston (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1969), 332; Russell Ward, The History of Australia: The Twentieth Century (New York: Harper & Row, 1978), 308–9. For the opposite view, that the referendum showed ‘that the case for freedom of thought and expression is by no means widely or clearly understood’, see W. G. K. Duncan, ‘Freedom of the Mind’, in Liberty in Australia, ed. John Wilkes (Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1955), 15; also, among others, James Waghorne and Stuart Macintyre, Liberty: A History of Civil Liberties in Australia (Sydney: University of New South Wales Press, 2011), 95–6.

⁵⁶Webb, 55–6, 60, 61, 64, 184.

⁵⁷‘Menzies in Adelaide Says Opponents Are Desperate’, Sydney Morning Herald, 12 September 1951, 2.

⁵⁸Cited in Webb, 54–5, emphasis added.

⁵⁹P. H. Partridge, ‘The Rights of the Citizen’, in Wilkes, 54.

⁶⁰Webb, 57.

⁶¹Sir Percy Joske, Sir Robert Menzies (Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1978), 205.

⁶²Anton Hermann, Alan Missen: Liberal Pilgrim (Woden, ACT: The Poplar Press, 1993), 8–9, 12.

⁶³Webb, 57; Martin, 190–1.

⁶⁴‘Australian Gallup Poll Findings Nos. 756–774’.

⁶⁵See, for example, the CPA leaflet reproduced in Brian McKinlay, A Documentary History of the Australian Labor Movement (Melbourne: Drummond, 1979), 709, 711.

⁶⁶R. S. Parker, ‘The People and the Constitution’, in Federalism in Australia (Melbourne: F. W. Cheshire, 1949), 148, for an earlier observation about the primacy of party.

⁶⁷Webb, 180, emphasis in the original.

⁶⁸Ian Hancock, National and Permanent? The Federal Organisation of the Liberal Party of Australia 1944–1965 (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2000), 133; Webb, 66.

⁶⁹J. D. B. Miller, Australian Government and Politics: An Introductory Survey (London: Duckworth, 1954), 135, sees this as the one constant in proposals that were rejected.

⁷⁰Sir Robert Menzies, Central Power in the Australian Commonwealth (London: Cassell, 1967), 20.

⁷¹Hancock, 134. For cartoon references to price inflation, from communist publications, see McKinlay, 701, 706, 711.

⁷²‘Australian Gallup Poll Findings Nos. 756–774’.

⁷³Webb, 56, emphasis in the original.

⁷⁴Dalziel, 2.

⁷⁵[H. P. Brown], ‘Statistical Note to Chapter XII’, in Webb, 153–4.

⁷⁶A. F. Davies, Australian Democracy: An Introduction to the Political System (Melbourne: Longmans, Green, 1958), 138.

⁷⁷Clyde Cameron, The Confessions of Clyde Cameron (Sydney: ABC Enterprises, 1990), 82, 80–1, for South Australia; see also The Cameron Diaries (Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 1990), 443.

⁷⁸Audrey Johnson, Fly a Rebel Flag: Bill Morrow 1888–1980 (Melbourne: Penguin Books, 1986), 207; D. A. Kemp, Society and Electoral Behaviour in Australia (Brisbane: University of Queensland Press, 1978), 248, for the coefficients.

⁷⁹[Brown], 152–5.

⁸⁰‘Big Drift From Labor Ticket to “Yes” Tipped’, Sun, 22 September 1951, 3.

⁸¹[Brown], 156, for the seats.

⁸²The best account of this is in Wildavsky.

⁸³Ian McAllister and Rhonda Moore, Party Strategy and Change: Australian Electoral Speeches since 1946 (Melbourne: Longman Cheshire, 1991), 11.

⁸⁴Ian Budge et al., Mapping Policy Preferences: Estimates for Parties, Electors, and Governments 1945–1998 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001).

⁸⁵See, for example, Parker, 146.

⁸⁶See Brett, 57–9, who misses the decline in the Coalition's advantage among women voters (see below); also Ian Ward, ‘The Early Use of Radio for Political Communication in Australia and Canada: John Henry Austral, Mr Sage and the Man from Mars’, Australian Journal of Politics and History, 45, no. 3 (1999), though Ward misses the way the series elevated women.

⁸⁷Christian Leithner, ‘A Gender Gap in Australia? Commonwealth Elections, 1910–96’, Australian Journal of Political Science, 32, no. 1 (1997): 35.

⁸⁸For an elaborated account along these lines, see Andrew Gelman and Gary King, ‘Why Are American Presidential Election Campaign Polls So Variable When Votes Are So Predictable?’, British Journal of Political Science 23 (1993): 409–51.

⁸⁹L. F. Crisp, Ben Chifley: A Biography (Melbourne: Longmans, Green and Co., [1961]), 227.

⁹⁰Brian Galligan, A Federal Republic: Australia's Constitutional System of Government (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), 128; see also George Williams and David Hume, People Power (Sydney: University of New South Wales Press, 2010), 216–17.

⁹¹On Mannix, see B. A. Santamaria, Against the Tide (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1981), 122–5. On Duhig, see Webb, 86, 95, 99. Clyde Cameron, overlooking Duhig, attributed the defeat of the referendum to Evatt and the Catholic Church: Cameron, The Confessions of Clyde Cameron, 80–1. On the Catholic vote, see John Warhurst, ‘Catholics, Communism and the Australian Party System’, Politics 14, no. 2 (1979): 230–1. On the eve of the referendum, ‘Government supporters’ were expecting Duhig's intervention to be ‘decisive’ in Queensland: ‘Confused Cross-Currents’, Sydney Morning Herald, 22 September 1951, 1.

⁹²According to one Labor campaigner, it was the nationally broadcast speech Evatt gave at Bondi, on the last Thursday of the campaign, ‘which just tipped the balance’: Cameron, The Confessions of Clyde Cameron, 82.