Shades of the Cold War: The role of Communist workers at the Midland Railway Workshops
Although a small minority among the 2500-strong workforce at the Midland Railway Workshops in the 1950s, the Communists were an active group, whose physical focal point was a section of the Machine Shop in Block 3, known as 'Red Square', where Jack Marks, a fitter and turner who was an act...
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| Format: | Conference Paper |
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Australian Society for the Study of Labour History
2005
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/41117 |
| _version_ | 1848756055894392832 |
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| author | Oliver, Bobbie |
| author_facet | Oliver, Bobbie |
| author_sort | Oliver, Bobbie |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Although a small minority among the 2500-strong workforce at the Midland Railway Workshops in the 1950s, the Communists were an active group, whose physical focal point was a section of the Machine Shop in Block 3, known as 'Red Square', where Jack Marks, a fitter and turner who was an active CPA member, operated a lathe.This paper argues that the activities of Marks and fellow CPA members went far beyond political proselytising and that herein lay their success as union activists. The paper explores the growth of Communism among the workforce at the Midland Workshops; the role of agitators and activists such as Marks in achieving better working conditions, their political and industrial influence upon other unionists, and the response of management. It concludes that the extent of the Communists' acceptance and popularity among their fellow workers lay in their commitment to every day issues, rather than in their ideological understanding of world events. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T09:06:07Z |
| format | Conference Paper |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-41117 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T09:06:07Z |
| publishDate | 2005 |
| publisher | Australian Society for the Study of Labour History |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-411172017-01-30T14:48:15Z Shades of the Cold War: The role of Communist workers at the Midland Railway Workshops Oliver, Bobbie Communist Party of Australia Western Australian Government Railways Workshop Midland Railway Workshops Labour history Jack Marks Trade unions Political parties Although a small minority among the 2500-strong workforce at the Midland Railway Workshops in the 1950s, the Communists were an active group, whose physical focal point was a section of the Machine Shop in Block 3, known as 'Red Square', where Jack Marks, a fitter and turner who was an active CPA member, operated a lathe.This paper argues that the activities of Marks and fellow CPA members went far beyond political proselytising and that herein lay their success as union activists. The paper explores the growth of Communism among the workforce at the Midland Workshops; the role of agitators and activists such as Marks in achieving better working conditions, their political and industrial influence upon other unionists, and the response of management. It concludes that the extent of the Communists' acceptance and popularity among their fellow workers lay in their commitment to every day issues, rather than in their ideological understanding of world events. 2005 Conference Paper http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/41117 Australian Society for the Study of Labour History fulltext |
| spellingShingle | Communist Party of Australia Western Australian Government Railways Workshop Midland Railway Workshops Labour history Jack Marks Trade unions Political parties Oliver, Bobbie Shades of the Cold War: The role of Communist workers at the Midland Railway Workshops |
| title | Shades of the Cold War: The role of Communist workers at the Midland Railway Workshops |
| title_full | Shades of the Cold War: The role of Communist workers at the Midland Railway Workshops |
| title_fullStr | Shades of the Cold War: The role of Communist workers at the Midland Railway Workshops |
| title_full_unstemmed | Shades of the Cold War: The role of Communist workers at the Midland Railway Workshops |
| title_short | Shades of the Cold War: The role of Communist workers at the Midland Railway Workshops |
| title_sort | shades of the cold war: the role of communist workers at the midland railway workshops |
| topic | Communist Party of Australia Western Australian Government Railways Workshop Midland Railway Workshops Labour history Jack Marks Trade unions Political parties |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/41117 |