Australia First Movement

Fascist movement

Not to be confused with the Australia First Party.

Australia First Movement

Abbreviation| AFM
Formation| 20 October 1941; 83 years ago (1941-10-20)
Dissolved| 1942
Type| Political organisation
Legal status| Defunct
Headquarters| Sydney, New South Wales

Region served

| Australia
Membership| 65

Official language

| English

President

| Percy Stephensen

Organiser

| Adela Pankhurst Walsh

Key people

|  • Ian Mudie
• Rex Ingamells

Main organ

|  • The Publicist
Part of a series on

Far-right politics
in Australia

Active organisations

* Australia First
* Australian League of Rights
* Australia One
* Australian Protectionists
* Freedom Party of Victoria
* The Great Australian Party
* My Place Australia
* National Socialist Network
* One Nation
* People First
* Soldiers of Odin
* True Blue Crew
* Trumpet of Patriots
* United Australia

Defunct organisations

* Antipodean Resistance
* Australia First Movement
* Australian Defence League
* Australians Against Further Immigration
* Australian National Socialist
* Centre Party
* Confederate Action Party
* Conservative National Party
* Lads Society
* National Action
* National Socialist
* Nationalist Alternative
* New Guard
* Q Society of Australia
* Reclaim Australia
* Rise Up Australia
* United Patriots Front
* Yellow Vest Australia

People

* Anning
* Boikov
* Bosi
* E. Campbell
* G. Campbell
* Christensen
* Christou
* Cottrell
* Erikson
* Evans
* Fernando
* de Groot
* Hanson
* Hersant
* Kent Hughes
* Kelly
* Rennick
* Saleam
* Sewell
* Searby
* Smit
* van Tongeren
* Yemini

Related topics

* Antisemitism
* Anti-Chinese sentiment
* Anti-LGBT
* Conservatism in Australia
* COVID-19 protests (Convoy to Canberra)
* 2005 Cronulla riots
* Far-right terrorism in Australia (Christchurch mosque shootings)
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* Australian frontier wars (History wars)
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Part of a series on

Fascism

Principles

* Actual idealism
* Aestheticization of politics
* Anti-communism
* Anti-intellectualism
* Anti-materialism
* Anti-pacifism
* Authoritarianism
* Chauvinism
* Class collaboration
* Corporatism
* Proprietary Corporation
* Counter-Enlightenment
* Cult of personality
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* Direct action
* Dirigisme
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* Reactionary modernism
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* State capitalism
* Statolatry
* Supercapitalism
* Syncretism
* Third Position
* Totalitarianism

Topics

* Definitions
* Economics
* Ideology
* Martyrs
* Movements
* Mysticism
* Symbolism

Politicians

* al-Gaylani
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* Strasser (Gregor)
* Strasser (Otto)
* Szálasi
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* Türkeş
* Vallat
* Valois
* Van Severen
* Wilson

Intellectuals

* Arthuys
* Bardèche
* Béraud
* Brăileanu
* Brasillach
* Céline
* Chamberlain
* Chesterton
* Civinini
* Cogni
* Collins
* Corradini
* Crainic
* Croce
* Cupcea
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* Dilling
* Drieu La Rochelle
* Evola
* Gentile
* Giani
* Gini
* de Gobineau
* Herseni
* Ionescu
* Kita
* Krannhals
* de Lapouge
* Lewis
* Malaparte
* Manuilă
* Marinetti
* Maxence
* Michels
* Mosley
* Ojetti
* Ōkawa
* Olivetti
* Orano
* Panero
* Panunzio
* Pirandello
* Pitt-Rivers
* Pound
* Ramos
* Rebatet
* Reghini
* Rosenberg
* Sadoveanu-Evan
* Saint-Loup
* Savarkar
* Scaligero
* Schmitt
* Schwarz
* Soffici
* Sorel
* Spirito
* Streel
* Thomson
* Ungaretti
* Valois

Literature

* Triumph of Death (1894)
* The Flame (1900)
* The Will to Power (1901)
* Reflections on Violence (1908)
* Fascio Rivoluzionario d'Azione
Internazionalista (1914)
* Prussianism and Socialism (1919)
* "Futurist Manifesto" (1919)
* Fascist Manifesto (1919)
* Das Dritte Reich (1923)
* Mein Kampf (1925)
* Manifesto of the Fascist Intellectuals (1925)
* Frederick the Second (1927)
* My Autobiography (1928)
* The Myth of the Twentieth Century (1930)
* The Outlaws (1930)
* "The Doctrine of Fascism" (1932)
* Twenty-Six Point Program of
the Falange (1934)
* Man, the Unknown (1935)
* For My Legionaries (1936)
* Guide to Kulchur (1938)
* Gilles (1939)

Organizations

* Arrow Cross Party
* Blackshirts
* Blueshirts
* Brazilian Integralist Action
* British Democratic Party (2013)
* British National Party
* British Union of Fascists
* Stewards
* Canadian Union of Fascists
* Fasci d'Azione Rivoluzionaria
* Fasci Italiani di Combattimento
* Fatherland Front
* FE de las JONS
* FET y de las JONS
* French Popular Party
* Futurist Political Party
* IKL
* Iron Guard
* Kataeb Party
* Kokumin Dōmei
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* Silver Legion of America
* Squadrismo
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* Slovak People's Party
* Taisei Yokusankai
* Tōhōkai
* UR Group
* Ustaše
* Ustaše Youth
* Verdinaso
* VFO
* Vlajka
* VNV

Media

* Action
* Ajan Suunta
* The American Review
* Der Angriff
* Arriba
* The Blackshirt
* Buna Vestire
* Critica fascista
* Fashist
* Gândirea
* Gringoire
* Il Popolo d'Italia
* Je suis partout
* La Conquista del Estado
* Le Pays Réel
* L'Idea Nazionale
* Lidel
* Nash Put'
* Nástup
* Neues Volk
* Nippon Fujin
* NS-Frauen-Warte
* Das Schwarze Korps
* Volk en Staat
* Völkischer Beobachter

History

* March on Rome
* Beer Hall Putsch
* Gentile Reform
* Aventine Secession
* Second Italo-Senussi War
* Mukden Incident
* German election of 1932
* Enabling Act
* Austrian Civil War
* Exhibition of the Fascist Revolution
* 1934 Montreux Fascist conference
* Second Italo-Ethiopian War
* 1935 Revolution Day Zócalo Battle
* Spanish Civil War
* Unification Decree
* Battle of Cable Street
* Second Sino-Japanese War
* Marco Polo Bridge Incident
* Japanese war crimes
* Anti-Comintern Pact
* Kristallnacht
* Italian invasion of Albania
* Pact of Steel
* Peasant March
* World War II
* The Holocaust
* Downfall in Italy
* Downfall in Germany
* Surrender of Japan
* Nuremberg trials
* International Military Tribunal for
the Far East

Variants

* Arab
* Argentine
* Nacionalismo
* Orthodox Peronism
* Austrian
* Banderism
* Brazilian
* British
* Christian
* Christian Identity
* Clerical
* Crypto-
* Croatian socialism
* Eco-
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* Hindutva
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The Australia First Movement (AFM) was an extremist political movement founded in Sydney in October 1941, which advocated for isolationism and collaborationism during World War II and supported fascism and Nazism.[1] It grew out of the Rationalist Association of New South Wales and the Victorian Socialist Party, and was led by former Rhodes scholar Percy Stephensen and Adela Pankhurst. It has been alleged that writer Miles Franklin was also involved in the AFM, as she attended three AFM public meetings in December 1941, and had long time literary associations and friendships with Stephenson, Herbert and Dark. However, historian Jill Roe has documented Franklin's clear opposition to the political views of the AFM in her 2008 biography of Stella Miles Franklin. The AFM was inspired by the activities of retired businessman William John Miles, who had campaigned during the 1930s under the "Australia First" slogan.

## Background

[edit]

Between 1936 and 1942, retired businessman and far-right activist William John Miles published 16 volumes of a newsletter titled The Publicist,[2] to which he contributed.[3] He was a leading member of the Rationalist Association, and used The Publicist as his mouthpiece.[4] Before 1939, it described itself as being "for national socialism" and "for Aryanism; against semitism".[5] In January 1942, the ailing Miles transferred editorship of The Publicist to his co-author Stephensen, and had no involvement in the Australia First Movement, dying later that year.

## Formation and membership

[edit]

The Australia First Movement was formally established on 20 October 1941 at the Shalimar Café in Sydney. Those present adopted a constitution and elected Stephensen as president, with Walter Tinker-Giles as treasurer and Sheila Rice as secretary. The other members of the executive committee were Ian Mudie, Gordon Rice, Vera Parkinson, Marjorie Corby and Elaine Pope. Adela Walsh and Les Cahill were appointed as paid organisers.[6] Other notable members included poet Rex Ingamells and Odinist Alexander Rud Mills, who was the first official member in Victoria.[7]

## Views

[edit]

The Australia First Movement has been characterised as anti-Semitic,[8] anti-war and pro-isolationist, and advocated Australia's independence from the British Empire. It attracted the support of the Catholic weekly, The Advocate, as well as the Odinist Alexander Rud Mills. By 1938, those who were later associated with the Australia First Movement were advocating a political alliance with the Axis powers of Germany,[8] Italy and Japan. A number of its 65 members came from a far-left background: Stephensen, Pankhurst and Walsh were former Communists.[9][1][10]

## Activities

[edit]

During its short period of existence, the Australia First Movement held regular public meetings, published a manifesto and ten-point policy statement, and made attempts to recruit additional members by mail, largely from existing subscribes of The Publicist and acquaintances of existing members.[11] Its first public meeting was held at the Australian Hall on 5 November 1941 with Stephensen and Walsh as the keynote speakers, reportedly attracting 212 attendees although a number of these were undercover police. The movement held weekly public meetings for the remainder of 1941, gathering at suburban halls around Sydney and attracting crowds of between 50 and 200 people.[12]

A meeting at Adyar Hall on 19 February 1942 was disrupted by protesters and resulted in several brawls breaking out. Stephensen received facial injuries, including cuts and two black eyes. The incident received significant newspaper coverage.[13] In the immediate aftermath, a number of venues refused to host the movement's meetings, including the Sydney Town Hall.[14]

### Initial government response

[edit]

Many of the Australia First Movement's members had been under surveillance for years prior to the movement's formal creation, with their activities reported on and mail intercepted. The Publicist had been monitored by the Commonwealth Investigation Branch (CIB) and Military Intelligence (MI) since its formation.[15]

The Military/Police Intelligence Branch (MPI) – a special branch of the New South Wales Police operating with support from the Australian military – quickly assessed the organisation as dangerous, with a report of the AFM's third meeting in November 1941 describing it as "the genesis of a Fifth Column of a most virulent kind".[16] As the movement expanded into other states, the Victorian branch of the Commonwealth Security Service assessed the AFM as a "pro-Fascist, pro-Nazi, anti-Semitic organisation".[15]

On 25 November 1941, Labor MP Max Falstein referred to the AFM in federal parliament as an "anti-war, anti-democratic, and pro-fascist organisation" and requested Attorney-General H. V. Evatt conduct a review of the movement. New South Wales premier William McKell wrote to Prime Minister John Curtin a day later asking for the AFM's activities to be restricted.[17] An initial review of the movement by Evatt and Eric Longfield Lloyd concluded that the AFM seemed to comprise "old or ageing and eccentric persons with a zest for taking the unpopular side in discussions" and suggested its leadership only receive an official reprimand.[18] However, the AFM's continued public activities after the attack on Pearl Harbor prompted a reassessment and in January 1941 the Security Service and MI applied for several ministerial orders under national security regulations restricting Stephensen and the AFM.[19]

## Internment and aftermath

[edit]

In March 1942, four members of the Australia First Movement in Perth, and sixteen in Sydney, were arrested, based on the suspicion that they would provide help to Japanese invaders. Documents indicated that those arrested were plotting to contact the Japanese armed forces, sabotaging vulnerable strategic area, surrender the Australian armed forces, assassinate prominent Australian political and military leaders, and execute those who opposed them.[20][2] Two were convicted of conspiring to assist the enemy, and the others were interned for the duration of the war. Adela Pankhurst, of the famous suffragette family, had visited Japan in 1939 and was arrested and interned in 1942 for her advocacy of peace with Japan.[9] In his official history of Australian involvement in the Second World War, Paul Hasluck criticised those internments as the "grossest infringement of individual liberty made during the war".[1][21]

## Legacy

[edit]

Winter (2005) has suggested that the far-right and antisemitic Australian League of Rights was the "natural heir" of the Australia First Movement and The Publicist.[22]

## See also

[edit]

* New Guard
* Centre Party
* Far-right politics in Australia

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c Munro, Craig (1990). "Stephensen, Percy Reginald (1901–1965)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
2. ^ a b "Australia First Movement – Fact sheet 28". Archived from the original on 30 March 2019. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
3. ^ Muirden, p.106
4. ^ Cunneen, Chris. "Miles, William John (1871–1942)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
5. ^ Muirden, p.101
6. ^ Winter 2005, p. 98.
7. ^ Winter 2005, p. 100.
8. ^ a b "Australia First Movement". Trove. 20 June 1944. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
9. ^ a b Hogan, Susan (1990). "Pankhurst, Adela Constantia (1885–1961)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
10. ^ "Appendix 5 – The Australia First Movement". www.awm.gov.au. Retrieved 17 August 2024.
11. ^ Winter 2005, pp. 99–108.
12. ^ Winter 2005, p. 101.
13. ^ Winter 2005, pp. 104–105.
14. ^ Winter 2005, p. 106.
15. ^ a b Winter 2005, p. 110.
16. ^ Winter 2005, p. 102.
17. ^ Winter 2005, p. 111.
18. ^ Winter 2005, p. 112.
19. ^ Winter 2005, p. 113.
20. ^ Masey, Edward (1969). Muirden, Bruce (ed.). "The Australia First Internments". The Australian Quarterly. 41 (1): 99–110\. doi:10.2307/20634267. ISSN 0005-0091.
21. ^ Horner, David (7 October 2014). The Spy Catchers: The Official History of ASIO, 1949–1963. Allen & Unwin. pp. 22–23\. ISBN 9781743319666.
22. ^ Winter 2005, p. 204.

## Further reading

[edit]

* Muirden, Bruce (1968). The Puzzled Patriots: The Story of the Australia First Movement. Melbourne University Press. ISBN 9780522839074. [Note: the original printing accidentally included, opposite page 80, a photo of trade union official and University of Melbourne Council member A. L. Cahill, instead of Australia First member L. K. Cahill. A.L. Cahill sued for libel, and Muirden and Melbourne University Press issued an apology in major newspapers e.g. (Canberra Times, 7 Dec 1968, p.13), the book was recalled, and a revised printing made which omitted the offending photo, as no photos of L.K. Cahill could be located.]
* Winter, Barbara (2005). The Australia First Movement. Interactive Publications. ISBN 978-1-876819-91-0.

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