Anti-Communism in Australian Immigration Policies 1947–54: The Case of Russian/Soviet Displaced Persons from Europe and White Russians from China (original) (raw)
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National Security and Immigration in Australia's Twentieth-Century History
Australian Policy and History, 2010
Modern states are founded on security, ideally to protect their citizens from harm and the state itself from threats variously characterised as subversion or open attack. The constitutional powers reserved to the Commonwealth of Australia at Federation included two relating to migration and migrants. The deployment of these powers historically has had the purpose of constructing an ideal settler community, initially of white British stock, more recently of prosperous and harmonious but cosmopolitan character. Those powers have also been at the heart of national defence of Australia’s borders, and thus an instrument of the security apparatus of the Australian state. This paper examines this dimension of the history of security in Australia as an example of the contradictions and complexities of defending the state and its citizens from the hazards of difference, dissent and outright opposition. Starting from the well-known and highly contentious treatment of Dr Mohammed Haneef the paper then considers three earlier cases in the development of this dimension of Australian security, all centred on the immigration power. In 1923 two envoys visiting Australia on behalf of the Irish republican movement were arrested and charged under the Crimes Act before being later deported. Their case became a significant legal test of the Commonwealth’s immigration power. Its genesis and significance has been little appreciated, especially in its international context and the history of Australia’s status as a Dominion of the British Empire. I will consider this case in the context of the extent of state obligations to the security interests of other states. In a much better known example in 1934, the Czech-born cosmopolitan intellectual Egon Kisch was famously the subject of a protracted and mishandled attempt by the Australian government to prevent him visiting the country to speak at an anti-war and anti-Fascist congress. Australian security interest was prompted by information that Kisch was a Communist, and the event at which he was to speak a front for the Stalinist Comintern. But the domestic negotiation of the security interest involved proved difficult to resolve in the face of profound political divisions in the 1930s. The outcome was ignominy for the government, and a stimulus to the development of a civil liberties movement with a profound antagonism to the security agencies. My third example of the hazards of border management as an instrument of national security draws from the unhappy history of the White Australia Policy. During the 1920s and 1930s the representatives of the Chinese government in Australia conducted a successful campaign to ease the discriminatory management of Chinese passenger movement between the two countries. The objective was achieved in the face of policy commitment to the White Australia Policy, by a diplomatic campaign of quiet persistence, appealing to international norms to respect the dignity of those travelling between countries. The course of this campaign and its outcome suggests another dimension to the politics of security exercised as something other than crude force or secretive surveillance – its necessary attention to the management of both domestic and international relations.
White Russians from Red China: Resettling in Australia, 1957-59
2018
During the Cold War, Australia accepted c.14,700 Russian refugees from China. This thesis considers three key years for the scheme-1957-59, which marked the first major intake featuring non-government organisations. These included the Australian Council for the World Council of Churches (ACWCC) and associations formed by Russians in Australia. Some continue to mark 1957 as an anniversary.
'The Russians are Coming': migration and settlement of Soviet Jews in Australia
‘The Russians Are Coming’: migration and settlement of Soviet Jews in Australia. The exit out of the former Soviet Union that began in the 1970s and reached its peak in the 1990s, following the dissolution of the USSR, led to the subsequent worldwide resettlement over four decades of almost two million Soviet Jews.. A large majority of these Jewish emigrants relocated to Israel and the US, while others found new homes in other western countries, including, it is suggested, probably around 12,000 in Australia. Indeed throughout the period, Soviet Jews represented one of the three major sources (alongside South Africa and Israel) of new Jewish immigration to Australia. However, for many of these former Soviet citizens, the resettlement process, particularly their reception and integration into their new ‘communities’ did not always go as the Jewish leaders and activists who had helped facilitate their exit from the USSR had envisaged. In this paper I first present an overview of the broader historical contexts of both Jewish life under the Soviets and the process of emigration since the 1970s . I then explore the broader demographic characteristics of those former Soviet citizens who chose to settle in Australia as well as some of their post-immigration adaptation issues. I conclude by identifying a few of the more significant sociological, psychological, cultural and political factors that together may have contributed to the observable tendency for many Jewish immigrants from the Soviet Union and their families to still both be perceived as, and to see themselves as “Russians”; a social identity that remains separate and distinct from other Australian-born and other immigrant Jews, who together constitute ‘mainstream’ urban Jewish community life in contemporary Australia.
Australian Journal of Politics and History, 2009
During the period from 1964-66, the Communist Party of Australia (CPA) moved from a position of denying the existence of anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union to voicing open public criticisms of Soviet policies towards its Jewish minority. These criticisms were unprecedented for an official Communist Party, and had considerable influence on the international communist movement. This paper explores the negotiations between Jewish community leader Isi Leibler and the CPA which induced these criticisms. It is argued that Leibler negotiated with the CPA on two fronts: official dialogue with the elected Sydney-based CPA leadership, and unofficial private discussions – which can arguably be termed secret collusion – with other senior CPA officials in Melbourne. These unofficial discussions seem to have been crucial in shifting the CPA from its traditional position.
Subtle Exclusions: Postwar Jewish Emigration to Australia and the Impact of the IRO Scheme'
The Journal of Holocaust Education, 2001
In December 1946 the United Nations General Assembly ratified the establishment of the International Refugee Organisation (IRO) to deal with the problem of displaced persons (DPs) in Europe. From 1947 to 1950 a total of 200,000 DPs were admitted into Australia under the IRO, making the Australian intake the fourth largest, after the United States, Canada and Israel. However, Jews were excluded initially and when some were finally admitted, they had to be young, single and willing to sign a special work contract. Only about 500 Jews came to Australia sponsored through the IRO. This article explores the various bureaucratic measures introduced to discriminate against Jews and the reactions of the Jewish leadership.