Australian Democratic Front, 1939-1943

Component identifier:

Series 44

Content Summary:

In February 1940 the War Cabinet commissioned Hughes to organise a campaign to counter communist influence within the trade unions. Funds were allocated subject only to check by the Attorney-General. Hughes worked through the Australian Democratic Front (ADF), a body with little public support and little organisation, but with two very active officials, Organising Secretary J. T. Barnes and President George Christie. The Front did little more than arrange broadcasts for Hughes and distribute anti-communist pamphlets. Some of the funds allocated to the ADF were used to finance a tour in 1940 of strike bound coalfields by Charles Nelson, President of the Miners' Federation, and was passed to Nelson through an intermediary, the journalist Joseph Hinkler. Late in 1941, following allegations of bribery of union officials, Curtin appointed a Royal Commission to enquire into the 'secret funds' affair. Sir Percival Halse Rogers was the only Commissioner. Hughes was found guilty, in Fitzhardinge's opinion, of 'carelessness' and 'errors of judgment'.

Material in the collection on both the ADF and the Royal Commission forms Series 44. There is correspondence between Hughes and D. R. Mitchell of the Investigation Branch, and Hughes and Christie, a draft constitution, reports from Christie and Barnes, material on communism in the unions, and reports by Mitchell on the communists' reaction to the establishment of the Front. The bulk of the papers on the Royal Commission consists of transcripts of evidence. There are also draft statements by Hughes, Rogers' report, statements by G. A. Watson and the Department, cuttings on the inquiry, and correspondence between Hughes and well-wishers following the tabling of the report.

Immediate source of acquisition:

The W. M. Hughes Papers were presented to the National Library of Australia by Dame Mary Hughes in 1953. The collection was received in two consignments. One consisted of papers taken from the Perpetual Trustee Company comprising material from Hughes' Lindfield home and from his office rooms at the Commonwealth Offices, Sydney; the other came directly from Lindfield. Lists of the contents of both consignments are held in the Library's Manuscript Branch. With the agreement of the executors and the Library, much of the collection, was for a time, held at the Australian National University by Fitzhardinge. He was permitted sole access to the collection while writing the biography Hughes commissioned in 1951. Fitzhardinge's own papers documenting the writing of the biography are also held by the Library (MS 5400). The papers transferred to the Library in 1953 are by no means the total collection of Hughes' personal papers, although it is impossible to say what proportion has survived. (see Fitzhardinge, p.936).

Names:

Hughes, W. M. (1862-1952)

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