The period between the first and second world wars was a time of upheaval in

Australian society. The interwar period saw the rise of a number of right wing,
quasimilitary organisations, most notably, Colonel Eric Campbell’s the New Guard. It
is difficult to pinpoint the factors that lead to the emergence of these organisations.
Factors such as the ‘ruling classes’ reluctance to embrace democracy in the first place,
the effects of war on society, economy and the returned soldiers, fears of communism
and the depression all contributed to the emergence of these groups. The
interpretation of these factors by the protagonists and public as a whole was extremely
subjective and based on class, prejudice and each individual’s experiences. It is easy
to criticise the reasoning behind those who thought liberal democracy was in its death
throes, but that is not the point of this essay. There were genuine fears that managed
to split Australian society. I will attempt to identify and elaborate on the factors that
lead to this right wing backlash in the early 1930s with particular reference to the
New Guard.

The basis of the right wing movements of the 1930s goes back much further than
WW1 and its ramifications. Andrew Moore argues that we can “identify a long term
anti-democratic tradition within Australian political culture.”1 In his book A history of
right wing politics in Australia Moore asserts that among “the wealthy and powerful
there was a strong resistance to the ethos and practises of democracy” and that this
resistance was “aggravated rather than appeased by the advent of responsible
government in 1856”.2 The ‘elite’ in Australia held strong suspicions of democracy,
especially the advent of universal suffrage. Banker Alfred Davidson remarked at the
time, “One does think of Bismarck’s great aphorism…Grant universal suffrage and
you rule your country from the nursery.”3 Stemming from this distrust of democracy
was a predisposition on the part of the middle and upper classes in Australian society
to undermine the foundations of liberalism when they felt threatened. This stemmed
back as far as 1804 and the Irish convict uprising, 1854 and the Eureka stockade and
1890s and the industrial unrest of this period.4 The perception of the ruling classes
1
Andrew Moore, The Right Road?: A history of right-wing politics in Australia, Oxford University
Press, Melbourne, 1995, p. 22
2
Ibid
3
Ibid, p. 38
4
Andrew Moore, The Secret Army and the Premier: Conservative Paramilitary Organisations in NSW
1930-32, UNSW Press, Kensington, 1989, p. 18.

1
was that they were constantly under threat from the ‘the great unwashed’. This feeling
was in no way abated by the emergence of the Labor party in the 1890s and into the
twentieth century. The Sydney Morning Herald remarked in 1890

Our greatest peril comes from the intrusion…of the labour struggle into the field of
politics. In one colony where a general election is now imminent preparations are
being made for the formation of a labour party…One characteristic of social strife of
this kind is its extreme bitterness and violence. Nothing is more certain than that if it
is begun the most extreme and violent men will control the situation.5

The fears of the upper classes of democracy and the potential for it to be subverted by
labor and anti-capitalists were long held. It is no surprise that when faced with the
social upheaval of the war they reacted strongly.

WWI had a profound effect on Australian society. Unsurprisingly it saw an increase

in the preparedness of government to compromise individual freedoms to support the
war effort. Groups who opposed the war were dealt with harshly. The War
Precautions Act effectively destroyed the socialist group Industrial Workers of the
World and the Unlawful Associations Act of 1917 “allowed authorities to imprison
persons obstructing the war and summarily proscribe associations doing the same”.6
Conservative Prime Minister Stanley Bruce also introduced into Parliament a
proposed amendment to the Immigration Act that would enable “the deportation of
any person not born in Australia whose continued presence was detrimental to peace,
order and good government.” This amendment was eventually struck down by the
High Court as ‘ultra vires’ (outside power).7 In Adelaide, the police commissioner
‘Bull’ Lean petitioned the government to amend the Crimes Act to make it an offence
to “take part in any Communistic meeting or other meeting for the purpose of
discussing alterations to our present social system.” 8 There was a eagerness from both
sides of politics to compromise to right wing demands as labor and non-labor fought
5
Sydney Morning Herald, 6 October 1890.
6
Nick Fischer, ‘Lacking the Will to power? Australian anti-communists 1917-35’, Journal of
Australian Studies, January 2002, pp. 223-39.
7
Ibid
8
Moore, Andrew, ‘Policing Enemies of the State: The New South Wales Police and the New Guard, in
Mark Finnane (ed.), Policing in Australia: Historical Perspectives, NSW University Press, Kensington,
1987, p. 115

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to support the war effort. Social divisions were compounded by the 1917 strike, which
involved more the 76,000 workers9 and by the conscription referenda, which was
twice defeated by the Australian public after being put forward by Labor PM Billy
Hughes. Keith Amos asserts that the war effort led to “social divisions that were
based not only on class but also on sectarian, ideological and nationalistic lines.”10
Social division and fear characterised the war years and did not abate after the war, in
many senses they intensified as society coped with the return of 250,000 soldiers from
the Great War.

The effect on the soldiers who had served in the Great War was significant. It also had
an effect on the national character with the emergence of the ‘digger’ legend. Andrew
Moore describes the digger as a “potent new element within Australian nationalism
that tipped its imperial patriotism even further to the right…they became the countries
best citizens.”11 George Johnston encapsulates the feeling of many returned soldiers in
his fictitious novel My Brother Jack. In it he writes, “By the time I was about thirteen
all the returned soldier we knew had come to see the whole conflict as a monument of
disorganisation and waste and political chicanery.”12 Eric Campbell, leader of the
New Guard writes in The rallying point, “The returned men felt that they had been let
down with a thud by their peace time leaders, and they were apt to get together much
more.”13 The emergence of right wing political organisations in the 1930s can be
attributed to this feeling of disillusionment on the part of the diggers as well as the
desire to be involved in a group that provided the discipline and mateship that they
had experienced in the AIF. D.H. Lawrence’s novel Kangaroo, arguably based
directly on his observations on Sydney’s North Shore in the early 1930s one character
states
There’s quite a number of us in Sydney-and in the other towns as well-were
mostly diggers back from the war-we’ve joined up into a kind of a club-and

9
Keith Amos, The New Guard Movement, 1931-35, MUP, Carlton, 1976, p. 6
10
Ibid
11
Andrew Moore, The Right Road?: A history of right-wing politics in Australia, Oxford University
Press, Melbourne, 1995, p. 25.
12
Johnston G, My Brother Jack, Fontana, 1967
13
Eric Campbell, The Rallying Point: My Story of the New Guard, Melbourne University Press,
Carlton, 1965, p. 22

3
 were sworn in- and were sworn to obey the leaders no matted what the
command…14

The disillusionment of the diggers combined with the anti-communist hysteria of the
period arguably played a significant role in the emergence of organisations such as the
new guard.

Anti-communism was arguably the most significant factor in the rise of right wing
organisations in the 1930s. The Depression had a huge effect on the Australian
populace. In June of 1932, one out of three Australian workers were unemployed. 15
“In the worst years, it seemed to many not only that the days of plenty were gone, but
that the old social and economic order was itself breaking down.” 16 This perception of
the breakdown of the existing order lead to grave fears about the rise of the
communist menace. The Bolshevik revolution in Russia supported this. The Kings
Private Secretary Lord Stamfordham remarked, “The Socialistic element seems to be
asserting itself as much as it does at the present time in Petrograd”. 17 Phyllis Mitchell
argues that it was

It was the fear of the ‘ordinary citizen’ who prefers to have his own little world stand
as it is, rather than to see it translated into the blood-splashed Paradise of the red
revolutionary.18

The political leaders of the period used communism as an election issue. Keith Amos
argues that Stanley Bruce’s “fervent loyalty to the Empire and his equally fervent anti
communism contributed in no small way to the rise of militant right wing movements
in Australia during the 1920s and early 30s.”19

14
Keith Amos, The New Guard Movement, 1931-35, MUP, Carlton, 1976, p. 11
15
Mitchell, Phyllis, ‘Australian Patriots: A Study of the New Guard’, Australian Economic History
Review, vol. 9, no. 2, 1969, p. 156
16
Ibid
Andrew Moore, The Secret Army and the Premier: Conservative Paramilitary
17

Organisations in NSW 1930-32, UNSW Press, Kensington, 1989, p. 18

18
Mitchell, Phyllis, ‘Australian Patriots: A Study of the New Guard’, Australian Economic History
Review, vol. 9, no. 2, 1969, p. 160
19
Keith Amos, The New Guard Movement, 1931-35, MUP, Carlton, 1976, p. 10

4
 Fervent assurances of impeding class war and a socialist future, which were
emblazoned across the front pages of communist journals and reiterated in
conservative newspapers, created illusions of a horrific red dawn.20

Many conservatives believed that unionism, anarchism and socialism were the
product of small groups within the labor movement that that were subverting and
uniting it. In September of 1930 Pillboxes were installed at eight sites in the working
class suburb of Darlinghurst in order to facilitate swift communication back to police
headquarters.21 But the right vastly over estimated the strength of communism in
Australia.

One comrades recollection of the CPA in Western Australia as a small group of

people sitting around in a dungeon of a room lite by a candle in a bottle, some bloke
standing up to read the materialist conception of history from a book…But for the
right, even two or three gathered in the name of Marx was worrying. 22

Clearly, there was a genuine fear of communist takeover in Australia but in hindsight
those fears were largely unfounded. The election of a Federal Labor government in
1929 for the first time since 1914 served to reinforce these fears. Nick Fischer asserts
that anti communists “failed to appreciate that their anxiety had no firm, external
foundation, in spite of the fact that government authorities were generally apprised of
the consistently pitiful condition of the Communist Party of Australia.”23 He also
suggests that anti communism brought government and special interest groups into an
‘intimate relationship’ that jeopardised democratic government. 24

The New Guard emerged in New South Wales after the election of the J. T. Lang
Labor government. As mentioned previously, it was lead by the ex army officer
Colonel Eric Campbell. The reaction to Lang was one of great concern to Sydney’s
20
Moore, Andrew, ‘Policing Enemies of the State: The New South Wales Police and the New Guard, in
Mark Finnane (ed.), Policing in Australia: Historical Perspectives, NSW University Press, Kensington,
1987, p. 115
21
Ibid, p. 116
22
Andrew Moore, The Right Road?: A history of right-wing politics in Australia, Oxford University
Press, Melbourne, 1995, p. 3
23
Nick Fischer, ‘Lacking the Will to power? Australian anti-communists 1917-35’, Journal of
Australian Studies, January 2002, pp. 223-39.
24
Ibid

5
elite. Eric Campbell recollects, “Sydney’s establishment had the wind up well and
truly. Clearly they believed that the Lang Plan would cause grave capital erosion
through inflation and that socialisation would follow.”25 Campbell’s perception was
that
If Lang stands up to the militant unions there will be serious strikes and with the
crowd in their present mood and many near the breadline, who knows what will
happen? And if Lang bows down to the unions and goes all out for socialisation there
will be a bigger bust up.26

Eric Campbell asserts that the rise of the New Guard was attributable to three factors: The
Depression, the political situation and the influence of war service on the returned ex-
servicemen.27 In his book, The New Road, described as “the most coherent and cogent
theoretical attempt to “adapt” Fascism to local conditions”28, Campbell rails against
the evils of professional politicians, machine politics, lack of leadership, discipline
and morality. He asserts that, “I am a Fascist because I am a democrat. I am a
democrat because I believe in government by the general will.”29 Formed in February
of 1931, the New Guard was established to support the police should a communist
force overpower them. Recollections of the time reflect the profound split in
Australian society. Peter, a Labor man recalled

It’s impossible to re-create the atmosphere of that time. It was electric…We were
drilling. Because on the North Shore we had the New Guard. All two bob toffs. It was
a fascist organisation.30

While Geoffrey, grandson of a wealthy Sydney family remembered

25
Eric Campbell, The Rallying Point: My Story of the New Guard, Melbourne University Press,
Carlton, 1965, p. 30
26
Ibid, p. 28
27
Ibid, p. 9
28
Andrew Moore, The Secret Army and the Premier: Conservative Paramilitary Organisations in NSW
1930-32, UNSW Press, Kensington, 1989, p. 44
29
Eric Campbell, The New Road: An Explanation of an effective system of selecting governments,
Briton Publications, Sydney, 1934, p. 49
30
Wendy Lowenstein (ed.), Weevils in the Flour: An Oral Record of the 1930s Depression in
Australia, Scribe, Fitzroy, 1981, p. 95

6
 If someone came along to blow up a bridge they would be there to protect it, or if the
bridge needed blowing up, they would be the ones to blow it up! I knew they existed
and if necessary would protect the side that was right. It gave us a sense of security.31

Those who joined the New Guard felt that their way of life was under threat. They
were primarily defensive and in the main reactionary to the moves of the other side.
Their reaction was embodied in patriotism and loyalty to the empire. They argued for
sane representative government and the suppression of any ‘disloyal’ elements within
the society, all while maintaining the liberty of the individual.32 Phyllis Mitchell
highlights the lack of any significant achievement on the part of the New Guard.
Stating that its “constant harping on the Communist menace and its demand that
Communists be deported, given added emphasis of fisticuffs, was its contribution to
anti-Communist hysteria.”33 But nevertheless they were a significant force, with
36,000 members at its peak in 1931,34 and an estimate that at least 25 per cent of these
men had military training.35 But by 1933 the New Guard had effectively disbanded,
despite efforts to remain in the picture and create a political party known as the centre
party.

The reasons for the demise of right wing political activism as a whole across Australia
are even harder to pin down. Australia’s slow but inevitable recovery from the
depression has to be an important factor. As life for the majority of Australians again
improved, the fears of society itself collapsing, abated. While it can be argued that the
weakness of Australia’s democratic institutions was to blame for the emergence of
right wing organisations. Which is certainly true when considering censorship and
draconian laws applying to Pacifists, Socialists and Communists during and after
wartime. It is also possible that it was the strength of these institutions that prevented
Australia going down the path trod by Fascist nations in Europe, with disastrous
consequences. Nick Fischer states

31
Wendy Lowenstein (ed.), Weevils in the Flour: An Oral Record of the 1930s Depression in
Australia, Scribe, Fitzroy, 1981, p. 101
32
Mitchell, Phyllis, ‘Australian Patriots: A Study of the New Guard’, Australian Economic History
Review, vol. 9, no. 2, 1969, p. 161.
33
Ibid, p. 170
34
Ibid, p. 158
35
Ibid, p. 164

7
 The institutional nature of Anglo-Australian democracy restricted anti-communist
crusading. Key public servants' and the High Court's commitment to established
procedures, transparency and due process of law ensured that the structures
preserving parliamentary democracy were preserved above the interests of the
government of the day36

The political strength of the Labor movement also made it more difficult for
governments to work with these right wing interest groups. Australians are deeply
sceptical of power, whether it be in the hands of politicians or anyone else. In the case
of the New Guard, Eric Campbell’s increasingly authoritarian style of leadership led
to the leaving of many members who had joined eagerly in 1932. Nick Fischer
supports this point, saying that right wing groups “appearing too eager to change
democratic convention could easily convince electorates to remove conservative
governments from power”.37 The best way to explain the demise of right wing
movements in Australia is that they became no longer relevant. There never was a
communist, socialist or otherwise uprising in Australia. As the right wing groups were
mainly reactionary, their potential was largely unfulfilled.

The emergence of Right Wing activist groups in Australia in the 1930s is an

interesting period that not many Australians would have any knowledge of today. The
conflation of factors such as war, depression, communist fears and a general mistrust
of democratic government and labor lead to a paranoid section of society motivated to
defend the status quo and in the case of the New Guard contemplating taking control
of power themselves. The abuses of civil rights and individual liberty arising out of
the First World War are concerning and certainly gave heart to those who wished to
use power and force the suppress an imagined minority. These abuses continued into
the 1920s and with the depression, led to preparedness from the government and
certain sections of the public to undermine the liberal democratic traditions of this
country. The extent to which groups such as the New Guard embraced Fascism is
open to debate. They certainly displaced the nationalistic qualities but were less
prepared to use force and less eager to displace elected governments in pursuit of their

36
Nick Fischer, ‘Lacking the Will to power? Australian anti-communists 1917-35’, Journal of
Australian Studies, January 2002, pp. 223-39.
37
Ibid

8
aims. Arguably out of respect for the British traditions of individual freedom and
established institutions of government. Times of upheaval such as the early 1930s will
invariably challenges to the status quo, but Australia’s democratic institutions were
able to withstand this.