Communism and the Petrov Affair, 1916-1997 (bulk 1941-1991)
- Component identifier:
- Series 3
- Content Summary:
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Lockwood joined the Communist Party of Australia (CPA) in 1939, an action which attracted government surveillance over a prolonged period. After World War II, he represented the CPA in Europe and was leader of the Australian delegation to the World Peace Congress in Paris, 1949. He became embroiled in the 1954 Royal Commission into Espionage in Australia after the defection of Vladimir and Evdokia Petrov, largely in relation to the authorship of what was termed 'Document J', a background briefing document on Australian politics and history supplied to Tass News Agency correspondent, Viktor Antonov. Lockwood confessed that he had written parts of the document but claimed that it had been altered by an unknown third party. Lockwood worked for the CPA's newspaper, the Tribune, as their Moscow correspondent between 1965-1968. His experiences in Moscow led to disillusionment with Soviet-style Communism and on his return to Australia he resigned from CPA and published a series of articles in 1970 in The Australian newspaper explaining his change of view (see 'The Lockwood file' in File 140, Box 22). Lockwood was also interviewed by ABC's Tim Bowden for a number of programs in the 1970s relating to his CPA membership and role in the Petrov Affair.
This series includes: copies of 'Document J'; surveillance reports by the Commonwealth Investigation Branch; articles and conference papers by Lockwood and others (principally Rowan Cahill) and research material, news cuttings, drafts and notes about the Soviet Union, Communism, Petrov, Lockwood's association with Communism and other related material; papers dating from his period as Tribune correspondent; and transcripts of ABC interviews of Lockwood. Due to Lockwood's habit of filing a range of material together, papers relevant to this series may also be found throughout the collection, particularly in Series 1, Correspondence (letters to and from Lockwood during his time in Moscow), Series 8, Notebooks and notes (some of which appear to document the same period), and Series 9, Subject files.
- Immediate source of acquisition:
- The papers of Rupert Lockwood were received in eleven instalments between 1997 and 2011 from Lockwood's daughter, Penny Lockwood.
Contents
Access and use
- Parent Restrictions:
- Available for research. Not for loan.
- Parent Terms of Access:
- Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions. For such material, written permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder(s). Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.
- Location of this collection:
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Parkes PlaceCanberra ACT 2600, Australia
- Contact: