Australian Left Review
Article Title
The CPA in the Thirties
Abstract
The 9th Conference of the Communist Party of Australia assembled in Sydney on January 10, 1930, at a time of big economic and political changes which gave rise to many new problems fo rth e revolutionary movement. The collapse of share prices on the New York Stock Exchange in October 1929 marked the end of the economic boom of US capitalism. Economic crisis spread rapidly in the United States and throughout the capitalist world. By March 1930, there were already 200,000 unemployed in Australia. With the onset of the capitalist crisis a majority of people turned to the Labor Party for a way out and Labor governments were elected in the Federal sphere and in all State parliaments with the exception of Queensland. But they were unable to find solutions and were soon discredited. By the middle of 1932 the wheel had taken its full turn and they had all been defeated.