Communism, according to the Oxford Dictionary, is a theory or system of social organization in which all

property is owned by the community and each person contributes and receives according to their ability
and needs. After World War II, communism was on the rise and spreading too wide, too fast, and it
threatened the newfound peace Australia desired after a 6 year war. Many quickly became fearful of
communism, and this fear was only magnified under the Menzies government, who used it for political
gain by running campaigns depicting communists as evil. Countless Australians, at this point, feared a
world in which all countries were communist, a world in which they would lose their economic and
social status. Their fear took two forms: fear of communism outside of Australia, and fear of
communism inside Australia. This fear lead to many hasty decisions and responses to communism.
Responses to the external threat of communism included fighting in the Korean War, sending out forces
into Malaya during the Malayan Emergency, and becoming a party in security pacts such as the ANZUS
Treaty and the SEATO Alliance to protect against communism. Some internal responses to communism
included a referendum to ban the CPA, and the Petrov Affair.
Several of Australia's responses to communism came in the form of participation in international conflict,
which itself was ignited by the threat of communism. For example, Australia engaged in the Korean War
and the Malayan Emergency, both of which were brought on by communists attempting to take over
the land. The government at the time desired an alliance with the United States, as it had become
obvious during WWII that Britain was not a reliable source of protection and Australia needed to form
new allegiances. Hence, when the threat of communism became large-scale, Prime Minister Robert
Menzies used it as a political issue and created fear of communism from the outside (shown in source A)
in an attempt to encourage Australians to fight alongside the US against communism. This theory was
proved to be true during the Korean War, as Australia was the second nation to pledge personnel from
all three armed forces to protect anti-communist South Korea against the invasion from communist
North Korea. The first nation was, unsurprisingly, the United Sates. Australia immediately followed after
the US in an attempt to prove its loyalty. Many campaigns were run to encourage Australians to fight
against communism, using the tactic of forward defense, before it overtook their land (as shown in
source B) when in reality, they were also fighting for the an alliance with the United States. As a result
340 Australians were killed during the Korean War. Similarly, during the Malayan Emergency, in which
the Malayan Communist Party attempted an uprising, Australian troops remained there for 13 years
(long after the conflict was resolved) to show the commitment Australia had against the threat of
communism. Therefore, Australia's responses to the threat of communism included partaking i n
international conflict due to communism in an attempt to stop it from moving closer to Australia, and in
an attempt to build an alliance with the United States.
Australia did, in the end, establish security pacts with the US and other anti -communist countries as a
response to the threat of communism. The two major security pacts that were formed were the ANZUS
Treaty (The Australia, New Zealand and United States Security Treaty) and the SEATO Alliance (The
South-East Asia Treaty Organization, which includes the USA, Britain, France, Australia, New Zealand,
Pakistan, Thailand and the Philippines). The ANZUS Treaty was formed to protect against the threat of a
newly communist China, and was the first pact Australia had which did not include Britain. Though t his
treaty was seen as a huge success throughout Australia, it's vague terms did not force the partners to

defend each other in war. Documents have proved that another motive for this treaty was to secure an
alliance with the United States. Likewise, The SEATO Alliance was formed between eight anti-communist
countries to protect against the treat of communism. Though the wording of the SEATO Alliance was
much stronger than that of the ANZUS treaty, it was never a real guarantee of security to Australia- it,
too, was another method to strengthen the bond between Australia and other countries surrounding it,
so that Australia had allies other than Britain to protect it. This shows that though the SEATO Alliance
and ANZUS Treaty were formed to obtain an alliance with the USA, the Menzies Government hid their
ulterior motive and, as source C suggests, instead reassured Australians that they were now further
protected against the threat of communism and that these new pacts would protect Australia against
becoming communist; they would protect Australia from being next, as the 'domino theory' suggests.
Robert Menzies, the Australian Prime Minister at the time, was strongly anti -communist and responded
to the threat of communism by crusading against the Communist Party of Australia (CPA), whose
membership had grown dramatically during WWII. The extent of Menzies' hostility towards the CPA is
shown in source D. Menzies' made an effort to ignite fear in Australians that the CPA was attempting to
take over unions, political parties and government organizations. However, when Menzies' Communist
Party Dissolution Act 1950 was proclaimed unconstitutional by the High Court, Menzies called for a
referendum to be held. The referendum was intended to give the government power to deal with
communism- not just to ban the CPA. However, Menzies could not provide a clear explanation on how
denying law-abiding citizens of their civil liberties simply because they held different political beliefs
protected the basic freedom of Australians. In hopes of failing the referendum, the CPA opened a
$80,000 Referendum Campagin. Unions, workplaces and localities ran "Vote No" campagins. The leader
of the Labor Opposition also joined the mass campagin. In the end, though most polls predicted
otherwise, the referendum failed. The 'No' vote obtained a tight majority. As shown in source E, many
Australian's voted 'No' because the referendum was not democratic and instead, oppressive towards
Australians, as shown in source F. Historians also argue that the referendum was defeated because the
government seemed to be trying to extend its power too far. However, given the intense anti communism attitudes of the time, the "No" vote was remarkable and it made Australia the only
capitalist country in the world where the legality of a Communist Party had been upheld in a national
referendum. This had an impact on the struggle for democratic rights in other countries, including the
struggle against McCarthyism in the United States. Therefore, the defeat in the referendum was a large
victory for the democracy of Australian.
The defeat of the referendum eventually resulted in the Australian public becoming uninterested in
communism- something that would cause Menzies' to loose his next election. However, a day before the
election, Menzies announced that a Soviet 'spy', Vladimir Petrov, had defected and will be providing
information about communist spies operating in Australia. Petrov allegedly had documented evidence of
a Soviet spy ring operating in Australia. As there had been a communist spy ring previously found in
Canada, Australians believed the claims made by Petrov were truthful and again became fearful of 'reds
under the beds'; they again became fearful of the domino theory. When the leader of the Labour
Opposition made claims about the convenient timing of the Petrov Affair, he was portrayed as being
sympathetic towards communism, and members of the labour government were rumored to be

communists. Although the Petrov Affair failed to prove that any Australian communists were Soviet
spies, it succeeded in frightening the Australian public. This lead to Menzies winning the 1954 election,
and the Labour Party split into two- the ALP and the DLP, the latter of who supported the Liberal Party.
This helped Menzies stay in power until 1966. Therefore, Australians responded to the Petrov Affair by
electing Menzies' as their Prime Minister- simply as a direct result of their fear of communism- and by
splitting the ALP in half due to their conflicting views.
In conclusion, Australia's external responses to communism included partaking in communist conflict in
other countries using a tactic of forward defense, and forming alliances to protect themselves against
the threat of communism (and, secretly, other future threats). Australia's internal responses included an
almost victorious referendum to ban the CPA, reselecting Menzies as Prime Minister due to the Petro v
Affair, and the split of the ALP. These responses were all driven by Australia's collective fear of
communism.

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Source A: "Communist powers and their overseas friends will work incessantly to divide and destroy us."
-Prime Minister Robert Menzies, 1954.
Source C: "Despite their limitations and conditions, both ANZUS and SEATO gave Australians some
reassurance that they were no longer just a geographically isolated former British colony; they were
now a major player on the diplomatic world stage, helping to stop the 'scourge' of communism."
-Swirk Online Education
Source D: "The Communists are the most unscrupulous opponents of religion, of civilised government,
of law and order, of national security... If elected, we shall outlaw [communism]. The communist party
shall be declared subversive and unlawful, and dissolved."
-Robert Menzies, 1949 Election Speech
Source F: "[the Australian people] saw through the fraudulent arguments and understood that what was
involved in the Referendum was an attack upon the traditional freedoms of the Australian people."
-Richard Dixon, President of the CPA