Jack McPhillips papers

MLMSS 10823

fonds

approximately 1929-2003

Textual Records, Graphic Materials, Photographs, Ephemera, Nonmusical Sound Recordings

945872

1.44 metres of textual material (8 boxes)

Personal papers of trade unionist and communist Leslie John McPhillips (1910-2004), known as Jack McPhillips. Jack was one of the early generations of CPA union officials, who were prominent in the union movement of the 1940s, '50s and '60s. Born in Rockhampton, Queensland, Jack travelled with his family around country Queensland and NSW, along with his father, who was a railway engineer. He had a very varied early working life, from wool-classer to clerical assistant, and was deeply involved in union activities wherever he worked.
Attracted to politics from an early age, Jack joined the ALP in 1928, becoming secretary of its Hopetoun branch. But, drawn by more radical convictions and the tumult of the times, he joined the CPA in 1929 on the eve of the Great Depression. Along with millions of other workers, Jack was forced into unemployment between 1931 and 1939, only finding work for short periods in that time. He became active in the Unemployed Workers Movement, which organised, and provided material and political support for, the jobless. He was also a leader of the CPA-led Militant Minority Movement, which sought to unite unionists into a militant, class-struggle current within the Australian trade union movement.
In 1941, Jack became an official in Sydney with the Federated Ironworkers Union. He became national secretary of the FIA in 1950. Jack was jailed twice in 1949, for criticising an industrial court, and for actively supporting striking coal miners. He was defeated in his union position by the anti-communist "industrial groupers" in 1952. From 1952 to 1968 he worked full-time for the CPA, helping to lead up the party's work in the unions.
In mid-1960s, the party leadership adopted a Euro-communist position. McPhillips and other members fought these changes. He was removed from the central committee at the 1966 congress. McPhillips worked as secretary of the conference of communists held in December 1971 which decided to form the Socialist Party of Australia to restore a Marxist-Leninist party in Australia.
At the party's congress in 1988 McPhillips resigned as president. However, this did not end his activities in the Socialist Party - which in 1996 reverted to the name Communist Party of Australia. (The former party had been dissolved in 1991.)
He continued for well over a decade to write party pamphlets, to contribute to the Maritime Bulletin and to advise party members and trade union activists.
Source: Communist Party of Australia

BOX 1 1930s-1990s
Diaries and notebooks
Magnetic audio tape ‘Communist Party October 1965’
Photographs (approximately 200) 1930s-1990s includes visit to Darwin in 1941 and visits to Korea and China.
Fabric pennants from communist countries

BOX 2 1956-1993
Subject files on socialist countries including: Korean peninsula, China, Germany, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), includes draft reports and research.

BOX 3 1929-1994
Foreign capital in Australia
Inflation
Personal identity documents 1929-1994
Notebooks 1980-1994

BOX 4 1930-1996
Trade unions
Wages
Waterside Workers Federation of Australia
Australian Council of Trade Unions
Whitlam’s speeches
The New Left Party

BOX 5 1940s-1950s
Federated Ironworkers Association of Australia 1943-1953 includes files on Lawrence Short case, financial records, minutes

BOX 6 1949-1990s
Federal Unions Basic Wage Prices Committee
Unity News subscribers list
Hawke’s speeches
BOX 7 1970s-1990s
Socialist Party of Australia (known as Communist Party of Australia from 1996) minutes, financial reports, conference papers 1970s-1990s includes drafts of the SPA constitution.

BOX 8 1970s-2000s
Maritime Branch Communist Party of Australia 1990s-2000s
Socialist Party of Australia 1980s
Metals and Engineering Workers Union
Research and policy reports

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