The Coming Struggle: Tasks for Australian Nationalists
Section one
The development of modern Australian Nationalism
Modern Australian Nationalism grew from a realisation that no force in Australian politics actually represented the interests of the Australian people; existing political organisations were either out-and-out anti-Australian (cosmopolitan-internationalists, communists, etc.) or were of the British-Australian mind-set (supporters of the monarchy; regarding Australia and the Australian culture as "British" - rather than as truly Australian; etc.). It was time for a new force to loudly proclaim the cause of the Australian people: to promote Australian culture (opposing the advocates of multiculturalism and the advocates of the "British Identity" brigade), to demand a Republic (opposing having an English queen as our "symbolic ruler" and Head of State), and to defend the Australian national identity (opposing Asianisation, and the "Asian Future" planned for our country). The forces of Australian Nationalism arose to meet the crisis facing the Australian Nation.
(1) Gestation: 1974 to 1978.
Modern Australian Nationalists reject the political formula of both the "Left" and the "Right". However, the early nationalists had a certain association with the "old-Right", as there was common ground in the issues of anti-communism and White Australia. Some nationalists from this period can recall agreeing with the old-Right on the general principle of White Australia, but feeling ill at ease with its monarchism, conservatism, and inability to adapt to modern circumstances. Various groups declared their allegiance to White Australia - organisations such as the League of Rights, the Immigration Control Association, the National Australia Association - it was the conservatives who held the stage. Within the spectrum of this old-Right there was extreme diffuseness; indeed, it is impossible to speak of the old-Right except in terms of fragmentation (interestingly, any expression of the need for unity was always agreed to in principle, but never achieved). The old-Right saw itself, not as advocates of a new Australia, but as a defence force of the disappearing Menzies Era (1949-66). Embryonic Nationalist groups, such as the Eureka Students League, Revolutionary Nationalists, Nationalist White Workers Party, National Resistance, came and went (1974-78). Few people even remember them. There was no continuity, a loss of cadre, weakness of direction and will. Nonetheless, there was an idea: that there must be a nationalist popular movement, anti-conservative as well as anti-marxist, active and disciplined.
The point to be remembered is that the conservatives dominated the cause of White Australia and refuted the validity of the goal of Australian Independence. They desired only ginger groups outside of the Liberal or National parties, essentially lobby groups hoping to win Establishment figures back to the position they held during the "Golden Age" of Menzies. The Establishment had shifted ground of course towards rabid internationalism; the conservatives were worse than pathetic. People won to "White Australia" (a radical, indeed revolutionary, proposition) were shunted off into mindless club life; no directives, no goals, no programme.
The period of the 1970s was certainly the time to establish some sort of nationalist party. Yet working class support was not available (economic conditions were still good) and some valuable cadre on the Right rallied stupidly to the crass banner of Fraser-ism. However, the immigration flood had begun; Australia was becoming further internationalised economically and politically as part of the U.S. attempt to buttress Asian regimes with cheap economic resources. But reaction to these evils was minuscule. The troops of opposition were worse than ill-armed peasants fighting "professional soldiers".
(2) Middle Period: 1978 to mid-1980s.
One could argue that a second period in the development of an Australian nationalist movement began around 1978. Not long after the birth of the National Alliance (January 1978), a branch of the British National Front was set up in Australia (June 1978), while the Immigration Control Association became more active and more outspoken. The first two groups are more to our interest. Both were "radical", looking to the construction of a new party and suspicious of the old-Right. The National Front, however, insisted on a British imperial ideology. Indeed, John Tyndall, the British National Front's then Chairman, wrote to an Australian correspondent:
"I have never been able to understand this search for an Australian identity; you already have one and have had one for 1000 years: that of a British people who have pioneered a land to the best of British standards."
The National Front was not in fact Australian but foreign(1), a sort of last gasp, even militant gasp, of political British-ism. It rested on the National Alliance to reject the fundamentals of "Menzies-ism" on the Right: conservatism, monarchism, rabid free enterprise capitalist ideology, states rights-ism, political-British ideas, pro-U.S. "patriotism". To a point the National Alliance succeeded. It broke the ground, so to speak, made it possible to be consistently Nationalist, Australian.(2) Yet the fault of that group rested in its thorough lack of a political-tactical perspective. Some activists believed that an "open" party organised around a few issues offering an electoral "alternative" was needed. The true nationalists rejected such simplicities and argued for a "closed" organisation holding to a Political Programme, not vague "points of policy". The battle was won ideologically by the nationalists and a lesson was thus given to later nationalist organisations.
Most of the old anti-immigration lobbies effectively disappeared around the close of this period, 1981-82. After about 10-15 years of work, they vanished from the scene at an important moment. Broadly speaking, such lobbies had fought a rearguard action in the interests of the Australian people. Curiously, despite their conservative tactics, these groups were not welcomed by the anti-communist Right; the old-Right sects were continuously suspicious of any Racial-Nationalist group: could it be that the cause of White Australia - instinctively - has nothing to do with monarchism or actual conservatism?
Whatever the case these anti-immigration groups had made a valuable point: that "White Australia" was a "radical's" cause, not a bourgeois cause.
(3) Recent Period: mid-1980s to 1990s.
From the mid-1980s, the nationalist struggle began to emerge into the light of day. It was no longer possible for nationalists to confine their political propaganda to simple elaboration of their principles - it was necessary to enter into rudimentary ideological and political struggle against the Establishment's cosmopolitan-internationalist ideology and its politics.
A military analogy shall be used here, and throughout this pamphlet, as a matter of elaborating a new psychology for nationalists. We were like the embryonic guerrilla forces in the Third World. "We", the "guerrilla", turned our backs on the cities, the old parties, "acceptable" political struggle. We said we cannot win against a system based on lies, and force, with the old bourgeois methods. We went into the scrub, the jungles, without uniforms, good weapons, cogent propaganda, or even a consistent political philosophy. We fired the first shots against the System. Others chose to stay in the cities, insisting that things could be changed freely - they may even do "good work"; but we chose our road to victory, the hardest road, the most dangerous, but the surest road to power. We shall return to the question of "political guerrillaism" again in our discussion of tactics. Suffice to say, nationalists have started the war! - from the political "jungle".
Such tactics were first tried, and seen to work, in the mid to late 1980s: It was the work of Nationalists which gave spark to the Blainey debate of 1984-85; caused the debate in 1983-84 over overseas students; caused an uproar over the twin issues of immigration and White Australia, such that moves towards repressive "anti-racist" legislation were initiated (and eventually completed) by several state parliaments (NSW was the first to do so - in 1989), as well as by the Commonwealth parliament (1995). Yet, it would be fair to say that nationalist victories were more the result of "luck" (the enemy's state of unpreparedness) rather than due to planning. In nationalist ranks in the 1980s there then arose a certain confusion over how to proceed from these victories. Returning to our warfare analogy: one wins a few victories and then begins to believe that the system can be confronted by an immediate march back to those areas where mass support awaits (supposedly). In truth the System is resilient and the mass is still full of illusions, not ready to take the ultimate step: to join a radical party. And further, our forces are pitifully weak and yet we have been told by a few people that mass support is around the corner. We need no longer be "disrespectable", "dirty", "short of funds", etc. Turn to this mass, we are told. Thankfully this type of argument now seldom arises, as most Nationalists have become aware of the true nature of the political struggle.
This must be one of the greatest dangers to the growth of a nationalist party: the words of those who promise short-cuts to success, those who would mislead patriots into grave mistakes, errors which can only be recognised later after unfortunate experiences.
We do not have the time to waste upon "short-cut" fantasies, or the gross mistakes that they cause. In this pamphlet we must study FACTS, and seek truths from facts. As we end this period we must make decisions of considerable importance, and move on to create the national vanguard party of the Australian People. Firstly we need to confront the conservative "Right", its evolution, and its "danger" to the building of a nationalist party.
Endnotes
1. The British National Front later abandoned its "imperial" ideology.
2. The Eureka Flag made its appearance at this time as the symbol of consistent nationalism. Its usage was - naturally - opposed by conservative monarchist forces - such as the League of Rights.
The Coming Struggle: Tasks for Australian Nationalists
Australian Nationalism Information Database - www.ausnatinfo.angelfire.com
