Misunderstanding Mao

The conception and decline of Ted Hill’s Communist Party of

Australia from 1964 – present.

Figure 1 - Ted Hill (5) and Mao Zedong (6).


Background:
Communism – a political ideology that
advocates for the absence of social class,
money and government has taken many
forms since its original inception. The
most famous instances of communism in
nations would be that of Soviet Russia and
Maoist China – however communism has
spread to other nations around the world,
albeit at a smaller scale. Australia was not
excluded from this, with the founding of
the Communist Party of Australia (CPA)
on October 30th, 1920 in Sydneyi. This
party was Stalinist from the beginning,
pledging allegiance to Soviet Russia and
subscribing to their ideology up until
1960. After 1960, the party and what little
prominence it had in Australian politics
went on a steep decline from which it
never recovered. One of the large
contributors to the previously mentioned
decline of the Communist Party of
Australia is Ted Hill, and his splitting of
the party into Sino-Soviet factions. Ted
Hill and his overall incompetence in
generating support of his Communist
Party as well as his misrepresentation of
Maoist ideology is something that has not
yet had an entire piece dedicated to it.
This portion of Australian history is
incredibly interesting because it is
something that is relatively unheard of to
most Australians.
Maoism and Australia:
So, what is Maoism? Put simply, it is a
branch of communism that stems from the
political ideas of Mao Zedong, the
Chairman of the Chinese Communist
Party, which mix Marxist ideas with that
of China’s conditions and characteristicsii .
Mao began his communist revolution in
1945 after the end of the Second World
War, and from then on worked to
consolidate his power within China up
until approximately 1959. It is important
to note that one of the key factors in
Maoist ideology was anti-imperialism,
both military and cultural, with one of the
big enemies of this being the United
States. This attitude caused China to be
closed off to the rest of the world, meaning
citizens were not allowed in or out of the
country, and China did not have many
diplomatic relations with other nations.
In 1960, the Soviets met with the USA
and declared that they would attempt a
peaceful co-existence with the West. This
new relationship with a nation deemed to
be imperialist by the Chinese caused them
to denounce the Soviets and declare
themselves the “true communists”iii. After
this, China began exporting various texts
including Mao’s “Little Red Book” and
“China’s New Democracy” across the
globe. China had still not opened to talks
with other nations, although they did
eventually with the USA, and even met
with Australia’s Prime Minister Gough
Whitlam in 1973iv. Mao’s ideology
obviously spread to Australia eventually,
causing a Sino-Soviet split of its own
within the Communist Party of Australia.
This is where Ted Hill comes in, as he was
in the middle of this rift in the Communist
Party of Australia and a key contributor to
its eventual decline.
Figure 2 - Mao Zedong & Gough Whitlam meet
in 1973.
 Soviet split and Khrushchev’s criticisms of
Ted Hill: Stalin, Hill suddenly became the most
prominent pro-Chinese leader within the
Communist Party of Australia,
disagreeing with the party’s leader Lance
Sharkey who still supported the Soviet
Union ix. As he was the leader of the
Maoist faction within the Communist
Party of Australia, Hill would eventually
be kicked from the party in 1964 as the
pro-Chinese faction were an extreme
minority within the party and formed his
own version, the Communist Party of
Australia (Marxist-Leninist), taking
approximately 200 members with him and
focusing strictly on promoting the Maoist
ideology in Australiax. This newly founded
party under Hill’s leadership was against
the apparent “American imperialism”
present in Australia at the time that was
influencing both our politics and culture
as a nation. This new party was Peking
backed, and Hill had even managed to
travel to China to meet with Chairman
Mao Zedong himself to discuss his
Figure 3 - Ted Hill ideological war with Soviet Russia and
garner fundingxi. Despite all of this, Ted
Hill’s Communist Party had a negligible
Ted (Edward Fowler) Hill, born on the 23rd influence on the Australian voter base and
of April 1915, was an Australian never really got off the ground in any
communist situated in Melbourne who regard.
also practiced as a barrister and solicitorv.
After joining the Communist Party of
Australia whilst at university, he
eventually became the Victorian State
Secretary for the CPAvi, winning world
acclaim for his legal defence of victims of
Vladimir Petrov’s supposed framing of
CPA members by giving ASIO evidence of
Soviet espionagevii. He was also an avid
supporter of Soviet Russia in the
beginning, being sent to Russia as a
delegate for the 21st Congress of the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union, in
which he returned amazed at the Soviets
“mastery of their own destiny” and with
Figure 4 - Tribune article stating Hill's expulsion
“supreme confidence in the early victory of
from CPA.
socialism”viii. His confidence in the Soviet
Union and their ideology seemed
incredibly firm, however, after the Sino-
 Communist Party of Australia, the two
What went wrong: constantly squaring off, a look which is not
positive for any political party.

There are many reasons as to why Ted

Hill’s Communist Party of Australia
(Marxist-Leninist) was unsuccessful in
gathering party members and getting the
attention of the Australian voter base. The
largest of these being that Hill’s
interpretation of the Maoist ideology was
incredibly narrow-minded and dogmatic to
say the least, a sentiment echoed by
Bernie Taft in his criticism of Hill’s party,
in which he criticises Hill for
unconditionally supporting every policy of
the Chinese just as he had the Soviet
leadership in previous yearsxii. One of the
key concepts of Maoism was that of
creating a revolution unique to the
conditions of your nation, and Mao Zedong
repeatedly warned foreign Maoists not to
copy what he had done in China years
before. This seemingly went over Hill’s
head, as in 1962 (pre-CPA (Marxist-
Figure 5 - Article in the Tribune about
Leninist)) he had apparently informed the Hill's letter to the CPA.
party to prepare for a military struggle, as
well as expressing interest in placing
undercover communists into the
Australian military, a tactic that Mao had
used in the Chinese revolution that other Ever-changing China:
members of the party described as
“absurd”xiii. Not only this, but Australia
has never really been a nation where a An extraneous factor that may have
revolution in any sense has been contributed to the lack of interest of Ted
necessary, at least not in the eyes of the Hill’s Communist Party of Australia
general public. Australia is a stable (Marxist-Leninist) is the constantly
western nation with a sturdy government evolving ideas of Mao Zedong during his
that tolerates the existence of unions, and reign in China. This is especially relevant
is in no way comparable to the political because of Hill’s previously mentioned
mess that was post-WW2 Chinaxiv, there apparent acceptance of every policy the
was no way that a Mao-type revolution party he supports creates. For example,
could ever take place in Australia and Ted Mao’s constant changing of what
Hill’s blatant disregard for this fact may constituted revisionism during the
have contributed to the negligent appeal cultural revolution from 1966-1976 purely
of his party and showcases his ignorance to rid certain members from his party that
when it comes to understanding Maoism. he disliked would have been highly
In addition to all this, Hill’s party was confusing for Mao supporters around the
constantly at odds with the original globe, especially as they were already
 firmly entrenched in what constituted
revisionism and the “capitalist road” –
which is the idea that a party member is
attempting to make China or another
communist nations economy capitalistxv.
Figure 6 - Ted Hill and Mao Zedong.
One of the most confusing things that Hill
would have been forced to make an excuse
for was Mao’s meeting with United States
president Nixon in 1972. Much like the
Soviets, in this visit Mao pledged to
improve relations with the United States
and abandoned his longstanding disdain
for them on the world stagexvi. This was an
awful situation for Hill, as his overarching
position was an anti-American imperialist
stance, as was China’s, and Mao had now
declared that he was friends with Hill’s
biggest enemy. Trying to justify his
position after this would prove horrible for
his party either way, and lead to even
further negligence from the Australian
public – Mao’s announcement to the world
that China was now on good terms with
the United States was the nail in the
coffin for the Communist Party of
Australia (M-L) in the eyes of the
Australian voter base, as no rational voter
likes such political instability or such
shaky views.
Where are they now?
Ted Hill’s Communist Party of Australia
(M-L) continued to decline from the
moment it was conceived in 1964 and was
hardly ever relevant. It does still exist in
Australia currently, however the influence
of the party is somehow even less than it
was when Hill was alive as the party is
relatively unheard of, likely due to Hill
dying in 1988 and the party no longer
having its founder and leader. The party
now seeks to help those that it sees as
“struggling” in contemporary Australia
and is active on a very small scalexvii.
Communism, and specifically Maoism was
never something that was going to work in
Australia, especially because of Hill’s
approach to implementing Maoist ideology
and his desire for an armed revolution
that was just not plausible in the
slightest. The Communist Party of
Australia (M-L) is however an interesting
portion of Australian history and as such
deserves more recognition, at the very
least to show how the ideologies of foreign
leaders can influence Australia from
inside and out.
References:

Primary:

‘E.F Hill Addresses the CPSU Congress’, Tribune, 29 Feb. 1956, 10, in Trove [Online
database], accessed 12 Oct. 2018.
‘‘Majestic’ Advances in the Soviet Union: E.F Hill reports on Soviet, Polish, British,
congresses’, Tribune, 24 June 1959, 3, in Trove [Online database], accessed 13 Oct. 2018.
National Archives of Australia: Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, Central
Office; HILL, Edward Fowler – Volume 21, 1963-1964 (Canberra).

Taft, B., 1972. MAOISM IN AUSTRALIA. Australian Left Review, 35, p.8.

Images:

(Figure 1,3 & 6) National Archives of Australia: Australian Security Intelligence Organisation,
Central Office; HILL, Edward Fowler (Ted) – Volume 1, 1951-1978 (Canberra).

(Figure 2) Prime Minister Gough Whitlam on his visit to China - Prime Minister Gough
Whitlam with Mao Tse Tung, Peking, 1973, in National Archives of Australia [Online
database], accessed 13th Oct. 2018.

(Figure 4) ‘E.F Hill and F. Russell Expelled’, Tribune, 28 Aug. 1963, 2, in Trove [Online
database], accessed 10 Oct. 2018.
(Figure 5) ‘E.F Hill’s Letter to the Communist Party’, Tribune, 28 Aug. 1963, 4, in Trove
[Online database], accessed 10 Oct. 2018.

Secondary:

‘About the CPA (M-L), Vanguard- Communist Party of Australia Marxist Leninist [website],
<https://www.cpaml.org/aboutcpa.php>, accessed 13 Oct. 2018.
Chang, Jung, and Halliday, Jon, Mao: The Unknown Story (Anchor Books, 2005).
Davidson, A., ‘Effects of the Sino-Soviet Dispute on The Australian Communist Party’, The
Australian Quarterly, 36/3 (1964), pp.56–68.
Phillip, D, ‘The sickle and the scythe: Jack Blake and Communist Party 'consolidation', 1949-
56. Labour History, 80 (2001), pp.215–223.
Knight, Nick, ‘The theory and tactics of the Communist Party of Australia (M-
L)’, Journal of Contemporary Asia, 28/2 (1998), pp.233–251.

Macintyre, Stuart, The Reds the Communist Party of Australia from origins to illegality
(Stuart, & Ebook Library, 1998).

Wei, George, ‘Mao's legacy revisited: Its lasting impact on China and post-Mao era
reform’, Asian Politics and Policy, 3/1 (2011), pp.3–27.

Weiguang, Wang, ‘Mao Zedong Is the Great Founder, Explorer and Pioneer of Socialism
with Chinese Characteristics’, Social Sciences in China, 35/3 (2014), pp.5–30.

Windschuttle, Keith, ‘Mao and the Australian Maoists. (History)(Mao Tse-

tung)’ Quadrant, 49/10 (2005), p.22.

Endnotes:
iStuart Macintyre, The Reds the Communist
Party of Australia from origins to illegality
(Stuart, & Ebook Library, 1998).
ii Wang Weiguang, ‘Mao Zedong Is the Great
Founder, Explorer and Pioneer of Socialism
with Chinese Characteristics’, Social
Sciences in China, 35/3 (2014), pp.5–30.
iii Chang, Jung, and Halliday, Jon, Mao: The
Unknown Story (Anchor Books, 2005).
iv Prime Minister Gough Whitlam on his visit
Party’, The Australian Quarterly, 36/3
(1964), pp.56–68.
x ‘E.F Hill and F. Russell Expelled’, Tribune,
28 Aug. 1963, 2, in Trove [Online database],
accessed 10 Oct. 2018.
xi NAA: A6119, 6103.
xii Taft, B., 1972. MAOISM IN
AUSTRALIA. Australian Left Review, 35,
p.8.
xiii Keith Windschuttle, ‘Mao and the

to China - Prime Minister Gough Whitlam Australian Maoists. (History)(Mao Tse-

with Mao Tse Tung, Peking, 1973, in
National Archives of Australia [Online
database], accessed 13th Oct. 2018.
v NAA: A6119, 6103.
vi Deery Phillip, The sickle and the scythe:
Jack Blake and Communist Party
'consolidation', 1949-56. Labour History,
(80), pp.215–223.
vii ‘E.F Hill Addresses the CPSU Congress’,
Tribune, 29 Feb. 1956, 10, in Trove [Online
database], accessed 12 Oct. 2018.
tung)’ Quadrant, 49/10 (2005), p.22.
xivNick Knight, ‘The theory and tactics of
the Communist Party of Australia (M-
L)’, Journal of Contemporary Asia, 28/2
(1998), pp.233–251.
xv George Wei, ‘Mao's legacy revisited: Its
lasting impact on China and post-Mao era
reform’, Asian Politics and Policy, 3/1 (2011),
pp.3–27.
Chang, Jung, and Halliday, Jon, Mao: The
xvi

viii‘‘Majestic’ Advances in the Soviet Union: Unknown Story (Anchor Books, 2005).
E.F Hill reports on Soviet, Polish, British,
congresses’, Tribune, 24 June 1959, 3, in ‘About the CPA (M-L), Vanguard-
xvii

Trove [Online database], accessed 13 Oct. Communist Party of Australia Marxist

2018. Leninist [website],
ix A.B Davidson, ‘Effects of the Sino-Soviet <https://www.cpaml.org/aboutcpa.php>,
accessed 13 Oct. 2018.
Dispute on The Australian Communist