Trade Unions in Australia - The Labour Movement in The 1920s

The Labour Movement in The 1920s

The Communist Party of Australia was formed in October 1920 by a group of Trades Hall radicals that included Jock Garden, the members of the illegal IWW, and members of earlier socialist organisations in Australia.

Strikes in this period were commonplace, and remained threatening to the Commonwealth government until 1928 and the passage of the Dog-collar act against the Waterside Workers Federation. Of particular note is the 1923 Victorian Police strike.

Trade union movement membership reached its peak in 1927, according to Green and Cromwell, when trade union membership "comprised less than 15 per cent of the whole population, only 47 per cent of the workforce."

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