SEARCH Foundation

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SEARCH Foundation was set up as a not-for-profit company in 1990 to preserve and draw on the resources of the Communist Party of Australia, and its archives.

The CPA was the most significant socialist party in Australia between its formation in 1920 and 1991, when it ceased operating.

Initially the Foundation supported the New Left Party, and the publications Australian Left Review, and Broadside Weekly. When these collapsed in 1993, the Foundation reassessed the situation and decided to initiate political activity itself, to encourage practical unity on the Left towards democracy, social justice and environmental sustainability, and to reach out to people coming from other traditions who share these goals.

State affiliates

Eric Aarons Influence

From a profile of Eric Aarons by Brian Aarons and David McKnight posted at the SEARCH Foundation website:[1]

In the 1980s, Eric’s hopes that a renewed CPA would grow in numbers and influence were not realised. When the CPA decided to cease operating as a Party in 1991, Eric was the architect of the establishment of the SEARCH Foundation to safeguard the CPA’s assets and put them to good purposes. He managed the SEARCH finances for several years.

Initiatives

  • the Chris Hani Memorial Tour of South African Communist Party leaders of 1994
  • the ‘Community over Market Solutions’ tour with Beatrix Campbell in 1996
  • creation of Political Education for Trade Unionists training modules in 1996-97
  • financial support for progressive community radio programs, such as Public Radio News and Radio 3CR’s Stick Together Show
  • financial support for organisations and individuals for a range of projects, publications, radio and video documentaries about *progressive movements in Australia and the history of the left and labour movements in Australia
  • the Just Republic campaign of 1997-99,
  • the Now We The People initiative and its national conferences and campaigns from 1999,
  • the vibrant campaign against unfettered free trade which had high points in Australia with the Melbourne protest against the World Economic Forum in September 2000, the campaign against the US-Australia Free Trade Agreement in 2003-04, and the APEC Leaders Meeting in Sydney in September 2007.
  • international solidarity with the East Timorese independence struggle, the national democratic organisation BAYAN in the Philippines, the democratic movement in Zimbabwe and more recently, the democratic opposition in Iran, led by the National Council of Resistance of Iran.

Following the terrorist attacks in the USA on September 11, 2001, and the Bush Administration’s invasion of Afghanistan, and then the ‘Axis of Evil’ speech in January 2002, the Foundation committed itself to the anti-war movement, which had its peak in February 2003, but continues on.

  • support for the many movements against the reactionary policies of the Howard government, particularly the 1998 Maritime Dispute, *the Reconciliation movement, support for asylum-seekers, and against the anti-worker law WorkChoices.[2]

Numbers

In 2010 SEARCH Foundation had 322 members of whom 245 were financial and 77 unfinancial.[3]

"50 Years of Solidarity between FRETILIN and SEARCH"

Bob Boughton and Luke Whitington organized "50 Years of Solidarity between FRETILIN and the SEARCH Foundation" at the Maritime Union of Australia Building Sussex St. Sydney February 6, 2025.

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The Revolutionary Front for the Independence of Timor-Leste (FRETILIN) was barely a year old when Indonesia launched a full-scale invasion of the small Portuguese colony of East Timor (now Timor-Leste) in 1975. Over the following 24 years, FRETILIN fought a courageous armed struggle against a brutal military occupation that cost the lives of about 200,000 Timorese.
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The Communist Party of Australia (CPA) was the first and for many years the only Australian political party to give moral and material support to FRETILIN’s independence campaign inside Timor-Leste and internationally. This solidarity with FRETILIN has continued unbroken since the Indonesian army withdrew in 1999.
As part of its 50th anniversary celebrations, FRETILIN is formally recognising contributions by its own comrades who strived for independence while living outside Timor-Leste and by their Australian supporters. The SEARCH Foundation, which continued the CPA’s solidarity work after the party’s dissolution in 1991, is proud to join FRETILIN in honouring some of our veteran comrades who have been part of this long struggle.
At the same time, SEARCH and FRETILIN are calling on a new generation of activists to continue this tradition of international solidarity. While Timor-Leste gained its independence in 2002, FRETILIN faces new challenges to its radical program of decolonisation and national liberation.
Please join us as Auntie Norma Ingram provides a Welcome to Country to our visitors from FRETILIN, followed by short speeches from Comrade Thomas Mayo of the Maritime Union of Australia and Comrade Naldo Rei from FRETILIN’s Central Committee. FRETILIN representatives will then present Certificates of Recognition to long-time Australian solidarity activists.

Tom Mann Internationalist Tour 2024

Date & Time March 23, 2024.

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Mann is one of the best known trade unionists and spent nearly a decade in Australia organising unions and political forces and leading the famous Coal Miners Strike at Broken Hill.
This meeting will explore the many ways Tom Mann’s legacy has impacted on workers in Australia and Britain and the strong bond of internationalism that has existed between the labour movements of both countries.

Speakers

  • Jo Kowalczyk - Chief Executive Officer· Women in Super, was an organiser in the National Tertiary Education Union and Chief of Staff at the NSW Teachers Federation organising education workers. Jo is now CEO of ‘Women in Super’ a not for profit advocacy group campaigning to make pensions for women a major workplace and trade union issue.
  • Casey Thompson - Compliance Officer·CFMMEU (Manufacturing Division). Casey oversees the ACTU’s Centre for Workers’ Capital and superannuation work across Australia and internationally.
  • Phil Katz - Activist and author. Author activist Phil Katz is currently touring Australia speaking to large audiences - union delegates, workplace representatives, at Trades Halls in Sydney and Melbourne, industrial councils and in universities - about his book 'Tom Mann - Yours for the revolution.' Phil is a graphic designer and lifelong union organiser. His books have been published on subjects ranging from Unemployment, William Morris, Historical Revisionism and the impact of the EU. He is a member of Unite the Union.
  • Nigel Flanagan - Global Union Organiser and author, ‘Our Trade Unions’, Manifesto Press 2022. Nigel is a political activist and union organiser based in Liverpool in the UK. He has been an activist for many years before becoming a Global union organiser working in Africa, India, Russia and Palestine. His book ‘ Our Trade Unions’ about the recent UK strike wave, has been described as a ‘bruising read’ for many unions. Nigel is currently a leading Stop the War activist in the North of England.
  • Gawain Little - General Secretary· General Federation of Trade Union. Gawain Little is the current General Secretary of the General Federation of Trade Unions (GFTU). He is the co-author Lessons in Organising What Trade Unionists Can Learn from The War On Teachers (Pluto, 2023). Prior to the GFTU, he was a teacher for over 20 years and activist. This included being a workplace rep, local branch officer and National Executive member of the National Education Union (NEU). Gawain chaired the International Solidarity Committee of the NEU and edited the journal Education for Tomorrow.
  • Kate Taylor - National Executive member, National Education Union. Kate is a primary school teacher. National Education Union (NEU) workplace rep, and National Executive member
  • Dr. Emma Runswick - Deputy Chair of Council, British Medical Association. Emma is a junior doctor in psychiatry in NW England. Deputy Chair of BMA Council, a union still engaged in multiple pay disputes in England, Wales and Northern Ireland
  • Damien Cahill - General Secretary, National Tertiary Education Union.
  • Luke Whitington - Chief Executive Officer, SEARCH Foundation. In the past three years Luke has led my present employer, the SEARCH Foundation, through an extensive change and growth process, involving major financial, organisational and commnication transformation. Prior to that he worked at Federal and State Parliaments for ten years as a policy and media advisor.[4]

Leaders

SEARCH Foundation is governed by an elected Committee of members who are responsible for the administration and strategic direction of the organisation.

2023 Committee members are:

As of 2021:

Executive Officer: Luke Whitington[6]

As of 2018:

The new Committee for 2018 was welcomed at the AGM and the members are:

As of 2016;

President: Jacqueline Widin Vice-President: Matt Kunkel Treasurer: Chris Elenor Committee members Tony Hawkins, Adrian Graves, Brian Aarons, David Pink Danae Bosler, Sally Trevena, Carmen Blanco.[8]

As of May 2016;

President: Jacqueline Widin Vice-President: Matt Kunkel Treasurer: Chris Elenor Committee members Brian Aarons, Leila Barreto, Vicki Findlay, Tony Hawkins, Cait Jones, Sally Trevena, John Wishart.

Secretary Adrian Graves.[9]

As of 2013;

As of 2004:

Appointed Secretary: Peter Murphy[11]

As of 2003:

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Appointed Secretary: Peter Murphy[12]

As of 1994:

Rob Durbridge, Adrian Shackley, Judy Gillett, Brian Aarons, Adam Farrar, Joyce Stevens, Eric Aarons, Bev Symons, Josie Moynihan.

Staff

As of 2013;

Voice Treaty Truth

SEARCH Foundation Voice Treaty Truth Working Group Convenors: Jacqueline Widin and Bob Boughton.[14]

Uluru Statement

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SEARCH Forum: Voice Equality Peace

Please join us on Sunday 28 May 2023 at the Teachers Federation in Sydney, to hear from a great line-up of radical activists and thinkers as we discuss how we can work for a successful YES vote in the Voice Referendum; how we can help build popular movements to overcome inequality and build workers power; and why a strong peace movement will be critical to avoid the catastrophes of nuclear war and climate change.

Held close to the first anniversary of the election of the Albanese Labor government, we will explore how the left can join together to build popular movements that can liberate our politics from the control of corporations, oligarchs and vested interests who are leading our world down the path of war, authoritarianism and climate breakdown.

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10 am – 12 noon: Voice – Building the YES vote for the Voice Referendum

In the morning session, we will hear from our keynote speaker, advocate and author Thomas Mayo on the journey from the Uluru Statement to the Voice Referendum, and then we will hold a workshop with Emily Holm (Yes23 Alliance National Lead Organiser) on the practical ways that members can help win the Referendum.

1 pm – 2:30 pm: Fighting Inequality – Radical Agendas for Equality and Justice

Progressive economist Prof. Frank Stilwell and John Falzon (Senior Fellow in Inequality and Social Justice at Per Capita), Mich-Elle Myers, MUA National Officer and ALP National V-P, will be speaking on how we can overcome growing economic and social inequality and build the power of movements for equality.

3 pm – 4:30 pm: Peace - Building movements for peace and an independent foreign policy

Arthur Rorris (Secretary, South Coast Labour Council), Casey Thompson (co-editor of recent Evatt Foundation Journal 90 Seconds to Midnight), Maurie Mulheron (Former President NSW Teachers Federation), and Gem Romuld (Director, ICAN Australia) will be speaking on campaigns and movements for peace, independence, and a nuclear-free world, against the dangers posed by wars, military build-ups, and the AUKUS alliance.[15]

The Party! Snapshots of Communists in Australian History

The Party! Snapshots of Communists in Australian Historyon 9am-5pm on Saturday 31st October, 2020.

SESSIONS AND PARTICIPANTS

Each session runs for exactly one hour

The webinar runs continuously for the whole day, with short intervals between sessions

9:00am

Session 1: On Stolen Lands: First Nations struggles for rights and justice

Moderator: Bob Boughton

Panelists: Ann Curthoys, Thomas Mayo, Teela Reid

10:15am

Session 2: There is no Planet B: Movements to protect and save the environment

Moderator: Jacqueline Widin

Panelists: Bob Makinson, Rose Read, Geoff Evans, John Wishart, Gianni Sottile

11:30am

Session 3: The Class struggle: unions and workers’ movements

Moderator: Luke Whitington

Panelists: Tom McDonald, Louise Connor, Julius Roe, Linda Carruthers, Steve Murphy

12:30pm

Art and Culture: writing, songs of struggle, theatre, art. Short talk and song presentation by Maurie Mulheron

Screening of 1946 short film Indonesia Calling on support for the Indonesian independence struggle against Dutch colonial rule.

1:30pm

Session 4: 'Red Matildas’: The long struggle for women’s rights and equality

Moderator: Martina Nightingale

Panelists: Judy Mundey, Audrey McDonald, Judy Gillett, Danae Bosler

2:45pm

Session 5: ‘From all the lands on Earth we come’: Migrants and Multiculturalism

Moderator: Sergio Zorino

Panelists: George Zangalis, Joe Caputo (replaced by Gaetano Greco), Pierina Pirisi, Matt Kunkel

4pm

Session 6: ‘A world to win’ – movements for peace and international solidarity

Moderator: Pat Ranald

Panelists: Bev Symons, Peter Murphy, Andrew Hewett, Kate Lee[16]

Communists

‘Don’t miss the biggest party in town!’, advised the publicity brochure for the Commemorative Dinner to mark the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of Australia on October 30, 1920. And about 520 people made sure they didn’t miss it.

It was certainly a night to remember. As the crowd packed into the Trocadero Reception Centre in Marrickville, there was an air of excitement and nostalgia, as many ‘old comms’ and assorted lefties, including several labour historians, met up again with comrades they hadn’t seen for quite a while. It was in March 1991 that the final CPA National Congress decided to wind up the party that for seven decades had made a significant contribution to Australia’s political and social history. The 75th anniversary of its founding was an appropriate opportunity for many of its former members and ‘fellow travellers’ to celebrate its achievements in fine style.

The dinner was organised by the SEARCH Foundation, a body established by the former CPA to continue managing its assets and to assist in promoting educational-type activities concerning social justice and progressive issues. In the last week before the dinner, the organising committee was a bit overwhelmed by the response. Although we had expected it to be successful, we didn’t anticipate so many bookings and unfortunately, not everyone who wanted to come could be fitted into the venue.

But for those who were there, it was a great gathering of the left. The hundreds of former members included many who were actively involved from the 1930s and ‘ 40s, through to those who joined from the 1970s. One of the latter, Pat Ranald, was one of four speakers who gave brief’vignettes’ of some of their experiences in the Party. She was attracted to the CPA in 1971, she said, particularly because of its support for feminist ideas and practices, and for the other social movements then developing, as well as its more independent and open politics since ending its allegiance to the Soviet Union in 1968. Other memorable reminiscences were given by former general secretary, Laurie Aarons, long-time local government and community campaigner in Liverpool, Dom Syme, and well-known local activist in the Sutherland area, Pat Elphinston. The main pre-dinner speakers were Judy Gillett, a former National Committee member from Adelaide, who joined the Party in 1957; and Tom McDonald, former Building Workers’ Union leader, who was in the CPA from the mid 1940s until 1971, when along with a group of others, he left to form the Socialist Party of Australia.[17]

Marxism 101 Workshop

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USYD Labor Club is with Zac Gillies-Palmer, Ama Somaratna and Eleazar Brixey, Masih Sadat Shafai at Trades Hall Auditorium. June 3, 2018 Sydney, NSW, Australia ·

Today USYD Labor Club and other lefties were privileged to attend a Marxism 101 Workshop with the SEARCH Foundation.

Always great to hear from Professor Frank Stilwell and Brian Aarons about the enduring relevance of socialist ideas in 21st century Australia.#forthemanynotthefew.

People's Climate March

In 2015 David McKnight, was was on the organizing committee of the People's Climate March and SEARCH Foundation was a partner.[18]

Sharing with SEARCH

In 2015 SEARCH Foundation, moved from 128 Chalmers St Sydney after 3 yeas sharing space with the Evatt Foundation to move in with the Australian Youth Coalition for Climate Change.[19]

"Comrades! Lives of Australian Communists"

100 Biographies are available in print only in the new book "Comrades! Lives of Australian Communists" which is available for pre-order here from the New International Bookshop.

The biographies project has produced over 150 biographies of Australian communists - from Aarons to Zorino and plenty in between.

The book includes 100 biographies of Australian communists, listed below. Some people featured are more prominent than others. Some would otherwise be lost to history if this book wasn’t produced. Each one gives a fascinating insight into the activism of the 20th century, their passions, the struggles, the splits and the successes. Quite deliberately, half of the bios in the book are of women.

The launch of the book took place at 6pm AEDT on Friday 30 October, 2020 at the online CPA Centenary celebration event.

The launch event featured a keynote by Reds author Stuart MacIntyre, a toast by a former CPA member, Meredith Burgmann to launch the book and co-editor Bob Boughton in reply, all MC’d by Brian Aarons.

About the book:

This collection of biographies of 100 Australian communists celebrates the foundation of the Communist Party of Australia (CPA) a century ago.

The CPA started small on 30 October 1920 but its members’ dedication and the course of world events made it a national, even international force.
They worked on the wharves, building sites, railways, factories, mines, shops and hospitals. Others were novelists, playwrights, filmmakers, and lawyers. Many were union officials. One was Australia’s only Communist Member of Parliament. Some were seared by World War, Depression, or the Cold War. Others were propelled by the social movements of the sixties and seventies and the struggles for peace, women’s liberation and gay rights.
What drew them together was their passion for a world without war, without divisions of race and class, for a society based on cooperation and shared wealth. They believed that ordinary people working together could change the world. The CPA was the first party to oppose the White Australia policy, to stand up against fascism, and to fight for Aboriginal rights. It was the first communist party in the world to condemn the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. Its members imposed the world’s first Green Bans.

To mark the centenary of the Communist Party of Australia, the SEARCH Foundation, in association with the Australian Society for the Study of Labour History, is compiling short biographies of Australian communists. This selection of 100 will be supplemented by many more on the SEARCH website.

Edited by Bob Boughton, Danny Blackman, Mike Donaldson, Carmel Shute and Bev Symons, (Sydney: SEARCH Foundation and the Australian Society for the Study of Labour History).

Here is the full list of the biographies and their authors which appear in the book.

1920s

1930s

1940s

1950s

1960s and 1970s

International solidarity

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From the SEARCH Foundation's 2012 AGM Coordinator's Report:

The Foundation continues its longstanding support for the Philippines national democratic movement, in particular the KMU Labor Centre. It provided sustained support to the Iranian democratic opposition, mainly with lobbying Australian parliaments. As well as the 2012 Timor-Leste election monitoring mission, the Foundation provided media support to FRETILIN.
Peter Murphy visited Sri Lanka in December 2011 to attend the launch of the Movement for People's Struggle, and a SEARCH member, Jagath Bandara, attended the launching conference of the Frontline Socialist Party in Sri Lanka in April, as an observer.
When two prominent leaders of the Movement for People' Struggle and the Frontline Socialist Party were abducted just before the April conference, SEARCH was able to contribute to a successful campaign to win their surfacing after just four days. Some new Latin American links have been developed, including Honduras, El Salvador, Colombia, Venezuela, and Bolivia.

2005 AGM Coordinator's Report:

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East Timor analysis

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EAST Timor argument

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Terrorist de-listing

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SEARCH Foundation Annual General Meeting, 2005, Coordinator's Report.

We have 221 members, of whom 160 were financial and 61 unfinancial at the time this report was written. Since the last AGM, we have had 5 new members join.

'War on terrorism' - 'war on refugees'

Following the shocking election victory of Howard Coalition government in October 2004, the Committee shifted its focus to the need to prepare for a massive struggle against the extreme agenda the government was expected to pursue, especially on industrial relations and welfare reform. The Foundation also continued to put considerable effort into the anti-war movements, and supporting organisations and mobilisations to campaign for human rights of refugees, and contribute to the debate over civil rights and the anti-terrorism legal deluge.
The Sydney Peace and Justice Coalition, with union, church, peace organisations and political parties as its sponsors, found declining support for mass mobilisations, but continued opposition to the war. It issued a poster on the Iraq issue during the federal election campaign.
The Foundation maintained its calls for the de-listing as terrorists of the Philippines New Peoples Army and Communist Party and Prof Jose Maria Sison, and also of the Peoples Mojahedin Organisation of Iran. The looming nuclear crisis over Iran gave this issue a higher profile.

Venezuelan connection

Venezuelan trade unionist and community educator Alexis Adarfio Marin visited Australia May 2010, , informing many audiences of the radical changes being carried out by Venezuela’s Bolivarian revolution.

Adarfio was a guest of the SEARCH Foundation, which hosted a range of international guest speakers at its Australian Left Renewal Conference, 2010 in Sydney over May 29-30.

Adarfio, a member of the Worker Control Collective, a bloc of unionists from 11 basic industries, is a leader in Venezuela’s movement to develop state-owned, socialist industries. He took part in the drafting of the Socialist Guyana Plan to transform Venezuela’s basic industries into less energy-intensive, worker-controlled enterprises directed towards meeting domestic needs rather than export.

In Melbourne, Adarfio addressed a public forum on May 27, organised by the SEARCH Foundation and the Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network (AVSN). He was joined on the platform by Victor Jose from the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) and Kevin Bracken, Victorian state secretary of the Maritime Union of Australia, both of whom recently took part in the AVSN May Day solidarity brigade to Venezuela.

At an AMWU training meeting in Melbourne, Adarfio told 70 union organisers and staff about the steps being taken towards workers’ control in the heavy industrial area of Bolivar state. The movement for workers’ control began with experiments in co-gestion (worker-government co-management) in different factories, he said.

In Melbourne, Adarfio also addressed the Victorian Trades Hall executive and met activists from the Latrobe Valley to discuss cooperation on their project to establish a worker-run social enterprise to produce solar-powered hot water systems.

In Brisbane, Adarfio told a forum on June 1 organised by the SEARCH Foundation and supported by the AVSN and AMWU: “The revolutionary government in Venezuela is in the process of creating solutions to the crisis of capitalism in our country, including in the areas of health, environment, food security and technological sovereignty.

“Our revolutionary government has made tremendous gains. We now have a university inside the steel industry. I am both a teacher and a student within that process.

“Ten years ago, around 85% of the population was in extreme poverty. This has been radically reduced. But still much more is needed.”

He described how the workers in Bolivar state have for the past year been developing a plan for workers’ control. He explained that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has insisted all projects have an environmental impact statement conducted by the workers themselves. “It is a big cultural change”, Adarfio said.[21]

The CPA: Lessons for the 21st Century

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References

  1. ↑ Eric Aarons (accessed December 31, 2023)
  2. ↑ SEARCH history, accessed Dec. 2013
  3. ↑ [Minutes of SEARCH Foundation Extraordinary General Meeting, August 28, 2010]
  4. ↑ [1]
  5. ↑ [2]
  6. ↑ [3]
  7. ↑ [4]
  8. ↑ [5]
  9. ↑ [6]
  10. ↑ SEARCH Foundation, who are we? accessed December 2013
  11. ↑ [7]
  12. ↑ [8]
  13. ↑ SEARCH Foundation, who are we? accessed December 2013
  14. ↑ [9]
  15. ↑ [10]
  16. ↑ [11]
  17. ↑ [12]
  18. ↑ [SEARCH News September 2015, page 3]
  19. ↑ [SEARCH News September 2015, page 3]
  20. ↑ [13]
  21. ↑ [14]
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