Attempted Exclusion of Egon Kisch From Australia - An Alias and An Informer

An Alias and An Informer

Experiencing the deprivations of the Great Depression, 1934 Melbourne became the focus for an ideological conflict when both conservatives and socialists sought to use the centenary of the foundation of Melbourne to promote their different agendas.

Organizers of the Centenary Celebrations began by presenting an image of the city in the mould of a conservative "Britain of the Southern Hemisphere". In response, the Movement Against War and Fascism proposed holding an Australasian conference, timed to coincide with the British Royal Tour of the celebrations. Invitations to speakers and delegates were sent throughout Australia and New Zealand. An International speaker was sought from the World Committee Against War, one of the many communist front organizations run by the West European Communist International. On 5 October 1934, French Communist Henri Barbusse, acting for the Comintern, placed an announcement in the Melbourne Herald that:

"Herr Egon Erwin Kisch, a German novelist, whose writing satirising the Hitler regime caused him to be sent to Nazi concentration camps for political prisoners, will be a visitor here for the Centenary celebrations... He will speak on conditions in Germany during his tour of Victoria."

Inspector Ronald Browne of the Investigation Branch discovered from an informant that the World Committee Against War (one of the many Communist front organisations known as the Münzenberg Trust) was sending a "Ewart Risch" as a speaker to the All Australian Congress of the Movement Against War and Fascism held at the Port Melbourne Town Hall, Melbourne on 10–12 November 1934.

When the Investigation Branch discovered that "Ewart Risch" was Egon Kisch, known to the British Special Branch as a militant Communist opponent of the Nazis, Victoria Police Commissioner Major-General Sir Thomas Blamey, informed Thomas Paterson, the federal Minister for the Interior. Paterson then made a declaration of exclusion against Kisch under the Immigration Restriction Act 1901.