Thesis Chapters by C. J . Coventry
Conclusion '"If it benefits all the people to confiscate your father's money then ought it not to... more Conclusion '"If it benefits all the people to confiscate your father's money then ought it not to be confiscated?" "But will it really benefit them?" "He's hopeless!' Billy roared. "Read Keynes, read Lenin, read Marx!"'-Gore Vidal, Washington D.C. (1967) Keynesianism was unpopular among the very people it was supposedly designed to benefit the most. Viewed chronologically, it can be seen that the assumption of popular will for the new economics was itself imposed from above but retrospectively. This thesis shows that Keynesianism was divisive, inflammatory and largely unwanted. Keynesianism was adopted in Australia because it reflected an international realignment of capital as well as a desire to assuage the populace. Capital faced no greater threat in Australia than the revolutionary and reformist spirits of the 1940s, both of which took many years to exorcise. Undeniably, amelioration was beneficial to Australian society. By making employment relatively secure, enabling the expectation that one could live in a home with modern conveniences and raise a family, all while accruing wealth, the objective of improving the living standards of the masses was broadly satisfied. The consensus historical view is, rightly, ambivalent because of the hardship of notable groups within and without Australian society. To celebrate Keynesianism is to overlook, dismiss or conceal the price paid by less powerful peoples. A similar argument can be made with neoliberalism, which vastly expanded the wealth of those born before the 1970s and setup a generational division based on economics and Conclusion 2 reinforced with politics and culture that, so we are led to believe, time will resolve but only after it is too late for those born after 1970 or yet to be born. 1 Keynes was writing in a context in which states, economists and powerful vested interests were receptive to his ideas. However, the crisis of war and the fear among the political right wing of society and capital about what the end of the war would bring, meant the new economics was an obvious alternative to the status quo. The lesson of the previous major war, post-bellum period and depression era had finally been learned. If there were to be conflict-remembering that class conflict is absolutely essential-then it had to be redirected to smaller groups within and larger groups without. For capitalism to survive it had to ameliorate to the minimum level at which the threat of revolutionary unrest was quashed while still preserving profitability. For the left and labour, Keynesian economics represented another attempt to ward off either socialism or a non-capitalist (and non-communist) third way. The latter option, popular among moderates, was an important factor in the "Keynesian revolution" as was the capitulation of the far left in favour of maximising amelioration when it became clear that a radical reconstruction was unachievable. E. P. Thompson famously wrote in the preface of the Making of the English Working Class (1963) that he sought to save the forgotten masses in history from the 'enormous condescension of posterity'. 2 It is easy for historians to cast judgment on unremarkable humans when vested with the morality (and complexity) of the present. As Emma Griffin explains, Thompson was demonstrating the importance of apparently insignificant people. 3 That Keynes was élitist and
The thesis, thus far, has demonstrated that the capitalist reformation known as Keynesianism larg... more The thesis, thus far, has demonstrated that the capitalist reformation known as Keynesianism largely manifested from the will of capital. The extent of popular will for Keynesianism, as opposed to a general desire for a break from the antebellum, lies in the pragmatic decision to support the child endowment put forward by the Menzies government. This chapter completes the assessment by considering the popular will for a Keynesian reconstruction, includingthe deferred payment of wages under the Keynes plan and full employment policy. It will contextualise, thematically, reconstruction in relation to the war, beginning with concerns about unemployment residual from the Great Depression and the varied economic recovery that occurred in the 1930s. Although the trade unions remained opposed to Keynes and suspicious of full employment policy, the ALP in government was acutely aware of the limitations imposed on it by the Constitution of Australia and the powerful interests that would rally against it. Finally, the chapter considers an undercurrent of Keynesian discourse about public credit creation within which the beginnings of the nationalisation of 1947 can be seen, particularly as it applies to proponents of Douglas credit and the extent of government's legitimate use of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. Chapter Seven-Without Cutting the Claws of the Profiteers 2 The idea of reconstruction At some point the concept of reconstruction gained popularity, at first as a political figure of speech prior to the American Civil War and gradually becoming a literal development of something destroyed, usually as a result of warfare. 1 The Australian reconstructions were novel (and somewhat nonsensical) being the figurative reconstruction of something not destroyed and the literal development of something not yet fully in existence. Another feature of the Australian reconstruction idea was its close association with 'nation-building', a concept peculiar to 'new world' countries and necessarily based in the view of the settler looking out over virginal land. 2 This view was pronounced in Western Australia with its particular 'perspective on empty spaces'; a view 'absorbed' by Curtin. 3 Confusing matters further, people were already discussing reconstruction before the Second World War in much the same way the idea of there being first and second world war were already established phrases long before 1939. 4 The prospect of war in Europe caused some to ponder what another continental war would bring. In May 1939, some three months before the declarations of war, the communist Perth Workers Star envisaged a 'disastrous slump' caused by the inflationary spending on armaments: 'The more disastrous the slump is likely to be, the more furious will be the scramble for quick profits. And the more vigilant must the workers be […].' 5 The South Australian ALP put forward a comprehensive 'plan for the socialisation of industry,
For war is quite changed from what it was in the time of our forefathers when in a hasty expediti... more For war is quite changed from what it was in the time of our forefathers when in a hasty expedition, and a pitched field, the matter was decided by courage but now the whole art of war is in a manner reduced to money…"-Charles Davenant, An Essay Upon Ways and Means for Supplying the War (1695) The first two chapters have established that Keynesianism was a reformation within capitalism and that while the principal beneficiaries of the new economics were capitalists, there were benefits experienced by the Australian people, to varying degrees. The remaining chapters of the thesis are based on primary source research with the express task of determining the extent Keynesianism was willed by the people. As the introduction explains, the period of particular concern is 1939 to 1941 in which the new economics was effectively debated within Australian society. This chapter demonstrates that Keynesian ideals were transnational, having come to Australia from the United Kingdom. Not only was John Maynard Keynes a Britisher, his war finance plan was designed for Britain. Australians received the Keynes plan from afar, with it becoming relevant only because the government, capital and economists speculated as to its applicability to Australia. Subsequent chapters will address the Australian debate and reception of Keynesianism. The chapter will begin with a discussion on war financing, before demonstrating how the ideas were received and how that reception changed in line with Keynes's commentary and the British debate. Given its place in the British Empire, both tangible and imagined, Australia turned to Britain for inspiration for war finance planning. Other states too received attention in Chapter Three-Chicken Feed to the Dragons of War 2 the press, including the United States, New Zealand, Canada and Germany, although often discussed in relation to the "Keynes plan". It was in this context that 'J. M. Keynes' became a household name in Australia. Context Historically, war has been funded through external extraction, such as plunder and foreign debt, as well as domestic taxation, national debt and money creation, from printing to indirect means such as through bank deposits. 1 War finance is a major aspect of history. For example, the Bank of England emerged in 1694 because William III needed to finance armaments to overcome the French in the Nine Years War. 2 But historians and military theorists have only recently come to appreciate the importance of war finance. 3 This is despite primary evidence showing that one of the earliest debates in the British press during the Second World War was about how the war would be financed. Every interest group understood that the question was really about who would pay. Generally, capital saw a need for the burden to be distributed throughout society and labour effectively wanted the assets of bourgeoisie and the aristocracy liquidated to fund the war. Keynes, who rapidly became the central figure in public discourse on war finance, believed the question was complicated by the threat of inflation, which would at once undermine war financing and destroy whatever equality of sacrifice was pursued. Keynes's How to Pay for the War (1940) reflected a year of negotiations between the economist and key figures within the
2. Living in the Springtime of Conscious Revolt: Scholarship on the social history of Keynesianis... more 2. Living in the Springtime of Conscious Revolt: Scholarship on the social history of Keynesianism 'There is a vast gulf between how people who do have incomes lose touch with how people who don't have incomes get through on a daily basis […] One of the consequences of losing touch with class is we've also lost touch with economic analysis.'-Humphrey McQueen, "A Class Balancing Act" (1999) This chapter asks, cui bono? As was shown in Chapter One, the principal beneficiaries of the economic change were the capitalists. Using secondary sources, the enquiry now moves to consider other beneficiaries of Keynesianism. What is offered is a collation of scholarship that establishes the existence of a consensus historical perspective, one that has been hidden until now. Based on the literature amassed, historians and scholars generally see Keynesian economics and the Keynesian reconstruction in particular with ambivalence. While Keynesianism was beneficial to a large section of the population, especially blue-collar and white-collar workers, there were important groups of people who did not benefit as much or at all or were in fact disadvantaged. The significance of this is that the scholarship unwittingly coheres with the view of Keynesianism set out in Chapter One-that Keynesianism arose within capitalism-and reveals the extent to which other views are unsubstantiated, even without the introduction of a social history specifically concerned with Keynesianism. The chapter is arranged thematically. Reconstruction is discussed before the war because of its historiographical significance. Then follows a consideration of certain groups: trade unions, women, Indigenous peoples, the elderly, children and postwar migrants. It ends with a geographical juxtaposition between the experiences of the cities and the countryside, between Australia and those within the Empire who were footing the bill. The chapter is by no means Chapter Two-Living in the Springtime of Conscious Revolt 2 exhaustive, as the amount of scholarship touching on Keynesianism-knowingly or unknowingly-is insurmountable. Reconstruction Keynesianism There are only a small number of scholars who have considered the social history of Keynesianism. John Murphy in his article "Work in the Time of Plenty" (2005) uses oral history of men who experienced full employment in the mid-1950s. 1 Tom Sheridan's extensive work on the labour history of the war and postwar is similarly aimed at the economics. 2 Sheridan's Division of Labour (1989) demonstrates how industrial relations quickly deteriorated at the end of the war; something that occurred in part because of limited involvement of unions in postwar reconstruction planning. This contradicts one of the earliest accounts of reconstruction. 3 Sheridan also provides an example in the experiences of workers in the stevedoring industry, with its largely casual workforce pitted against increasingly bullish and experimental corporations. 4 By rectifying the general employment environment, Keynesianism exposed other hardships. Janet McCalman writes of full employment: Now with full employment, the causes of poverty that would endure for the next four decades were brought out in sharp relief: old age, infirmity, the loss of a male breadwinner and low wages with too many dependents. The rôle of the casual labour economy was quickly fading in working-class life. 5
view of their achievement. 7 Indeed, many of the economists quoted in this thesis take positions ... more view of their achievement. 7 Indeed, many of the economists quoted in this thesis take positions opposed to what may be called the will of the people. Keynesians v neoliberals. From the 1980s there emerged a dichotomy between those who saw neoliberalism (as it is now called) as a counter-revolution and those who saw the turn as pragmatic modernisation, an awakening from 'a long sleep'. 8 To the Keynesians, the economics of the 1930s and 1940s had given rise to a social democracy in which Australia 'came of age'; the Menziean 'years of unleavened bread' now had gilded bookends: the Chifley years of 'rapid and far-reaching change' and the Whitlam years (1972-75) of hopeful-but tragic-revival. 9 To the neoliberals, the economic modernisation was the manifestation of a national 'maturity' that saw the embrace of the Australian character through the third way. 10 Yet more examples of the 'endless coming of age' identified by James Curran and Stuart Ward. 11 The combatants were trying to make sense of the elongated policy shift of the 1970s and 1980s. The tendency among neoliberals was to downplay the importance of Keynesianism, while the Keynesians juxtaposed the class traitor neoliberals within the ALP with the reconstructionists worthy of 'honour'. 12 Australia was not particularly unique in this regard. 7 Ibid., 56-7. 8 Although these are the words of Margaret Thatcher in her famous 1976 Britain Awake speech, which prompted the Soviet Union to call her the 'Iron Lady', she spoke in the context of the conservative election victories of December 1975 in Australia and New Zealand: 'What has happened in Australasia is part of a wider reawakening to the need to provide a more positive defence of the values and traditions on which Western civilisation, and prosperity, are based':
This Master's dissertation explores the context in which the Royal Commission on Intelligence and... more This Master's dissertation explores the context in which the Royal Commission on Intelligence and Security, 1974-1977 came to be. The Whitlam government wanted to reform the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) so as to depoliticise it and make it more effective in combating genuine threats to the state, including global terrorism. In early 1973 the Government's reform was stalled as a result of the Attorney-General's raid on ASIO offices. The Prime Minister announced in late 1973 that an inquiry into ASIO would arise at some point. The Australian Labor Party took the idea of a judicial inquiry into Australia's intelligence and security apparatus to the 1974 election. Within weeks of returning to office the Whitlam government decided to launch the Royal Commission. The Royal Commission's terms of reference ensured that an intelligence apparatus would continue to be available to the Commonwealth. Labor had decided to keep ASIO prior to the 1972 election. This was despite it experiencing two decades of ASIO's ideological partisanship, which had consequences for Labor. Such a decision was not inconsistent with its history, having been an anti-communist party from the 1920s and responsible for ASIO's creation in 1949. The decision to erect the Royal Commission was also widely supported by major Australian newspapers. When the Royal Commission finished in 1977 a lasting bipartisan consensus on ASIO was emerging.
Papers by C. J . Coventry
In Search of the Modern Paideia, 2025
Journal of Australian Studies, 2023
Australia’s 23rd prime minister, Bob Hawke, is celebrated for a world record set at the Universit... more Australia’s 23rd prime minister, Bob Hawke, is celebrated for a world record set at the University of Oxford in the 1950s for the fastest consumption of a yard of ale. The beer record is apocryphal, having five evidential flaws. However, the embellishment—or fabrication—of the record was crucial to the “larrikin-leader” dual image Hawke constructed over the course of the 1970s as he manoeuvred to enter parliament. Hawke’s dual image appealed widely from the 1970s onwards because of the rise of the “ocker”: a middle-class caricature of Australians. By the 1980s, a refined “ocker chic” identity had emerged in which the middle class could erect a national culture that feigned meritocracy. In the 2020s, politicians, professionals, performative fathers and others identify with an ahistorical nation in which irreverence, elasticated leather boots, cowboy hats, Bavarian-style cold beer, and stories of endurance in foreign lands help to conceal their privilege. While many commentators have tried to explain this phenomenon, Diane Kirkby’s formulation of ocker chic reveals the interchange between class, gender and race that has preserved neoliberal capitalism in Australia.
Ballarat Courier, 2021
History and heritage significance of the Ballarat Common.
Australian Journal of Politics and History, 2021
In the 1970s, the leader of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) and future Prime Minist... more In the 1970s, the leader of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) and future Prime Minister of Australia, Robert J. Hawke, was an informer of the United States of America. Using diplomatic cables from official archives, this article shows that Hawke gifted information about the Australian Government, the Australian Labor Party and the labour movement, fueling the intelligence gathering efforts of the foreign power. In turn, the relationship influenced the development of Australian policy, including the abandonment of Keynesianism and embrace of neoliberalism. His discreet actions – discussed in detail for the first time – were not unusual among elites in the post-war period. However, he was especially entrenched in the practice. Many people in politics, the bureaucracy and news media were similarly providing useful information. This paper will also show through historiography and memoir that the act of informing by elites began in the 1940s, when the United States became Australia’s key strategic ally.
Before/Now, 2019
Beneficiaries of British slavery were present in colonial Victoria and provincial South Australia... more Beneficiaries of British slavery were present in colonial Victoria and provincial South Australia, a link overlooked by successive generations of historians. The Legacies of British Slave-ownership database, hosted by University College, London, reveals many people in these colonies as having been connected to slave money awarded as compensation by the Imperial Parliament in the 1830s. This article sets out the beneficiaries to demonstrate the scope of exposure of the colonies to slavery. The list includes governors, jurists, politicians, clergy, writers, graziers and financiers, as well as various instrumental founders of South Australia. While Victoria is likely to have received more of this capital than South Australia, the historical significance of compensation is greater for the latter because capital from beneficiaries of slavery, particularly George Fife Angas and Raikes Currie, ensured its creation. Evidence of beneficiaries of slavery surrounds us in the present in various public honours and notable buildings.
This article has been peer reviewed.
International Organisation for a Participatory Society, 2016
Journalistic writing on the prospects of an Australian Iraq Inquiry (Chilcot Inquiry) into the Ho... more Journalistic writing on the prospects of an Australian Iraq Inquiry (Chilcot Inquiry) into the Howard Government's decision to go to war in 2003.
Book Reviews by C. J . Coventry
Conference Presentations by C. J . Coventry
A Social History of Keynesian Full Employment in Australia, 1936-75
Paper presented at Cambridge University, October 2020, Economic & Social History seminar series.
Talks by C. J . Coventry
A New Birth of Freedom: South Australia, slavery and exceptionalism
History Council of South Australia (HCSA), 2020
The links between British slavery and South Australia were long overlooked until recent research,... more The links between British slavery and South Australia were long overlooked until recent research, fueled by the Legacies of British Slave-ownership database, revealed the connection. The financial benefits rendered to the new province by British West Indian slavery were considerable. A number of the people who pined the creation of South Australia, the people who journeyed to it and the people who passed through it had benefited from compensation. The modern-day map of South Australia displays the names of many beneficiaries of slavery. The speech also explores 'cancel culture' in relation to debates over placename changes. Faced with this revelation, South Australian exceptionalism must again be reconsidered.
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Thesis Chapters by C. J . Coventry
Papers by C. J . Coventry
This article has been peer reviewed.
Book Reviews by C. J . Coventry
Conference Presentations by C. J . Coventry
Talks by C. J . Coventry