Start Date
4-10-1999 11:30 AM
End Date
4-10-1999 12:00 PM
Description
The aim of my presentation is to show that B.A.Santamaria planned to change Australia's political landscape to match his own idealistic dreams. This was Santamaria's hidden agenda - and it was the most important factor in the Labor Split. I will also contend that a distorted account of this important phase of Australian political history has been widely accepted and badly needs correction. In the 19508 you had to be Labor and Catholic to understand the Movement and the Split. I was both. Since then much information has gradually been revealed. But it is still useful to have lived through and participated in the events of the Split to assess the reliability and value of published accounts and opinions.! My own insights into these matters began in the 1940s. In the years leading to the Split I was active in the Labor Party and in Catholic Church affairs. I was aware of the activities of the Movement from its earliest years and was invited to join but refused. I disliked its autocratic methods and its secrecy and I believed it was adversely affecting the Labor Party. I expressed these views to members of the Movement.
Santamaria's Hidden Agenda and Other Neglected Aspects of the Labor Split
The aim of my presentation is to show that B.A.Santamaria planned to change Australia's political landscape to match his own idealistic dreams. This was Santamaria's hidden agenda - and it was the most important factor in the Labor Split. I will also contend that a distorted account of this important phase of Australian political history has been widely accepted and badly needs correction. In the 19508 you had to be Labor and Catholic to understand the Movement and the Split. I was both. Since then much information has gradually been revealed. But it is still useful to have lived through and participated in the events of the Split to assess the reliability and value of published accounts and opinions.! My own insights into these matters began in the 1940s. In the years leading to the Split I was active in the Labor Party and in Catholic Church affairs. I was aware of the activities of the Movement from its earliest years and was invited to join but refused. I disliked its autocratic methods and its secrecy and I believed it was adversely affecting the Labor Party. I expressed these views to members of the Movement.