New Guard
Encyclopedia
The New Guard was a fascist
movement in Australia
formed in 1931. It was opposed to communism
and democracy
, called for class collaboration
to replace class conflict
, and engaged in street fighting against opponents and in plans for a coup d'etat against the Australian government. It was led by Colonel
Eric Campbell.
The New Guard was founded in Sydney in February, 1931 by a group of concerned citizens one of whom was Col. Eric Campbell, a First World War
veteran asked to act as leader. Membership application forms set out the principles proclaimed by the New Guard: http://www.naa.gov.au/Publications/fact_sheets/FS183.html
's rise to power in the Soviet Union
was seen by critics of communism as further evidence of its dangers.
In addition, many First World War
veterans viewed the Russia
n Bolshevik
armistice and treaty
with Germany
as a betrayal of the Allies since it broke the 4 September 1914 Triple Entente
agreement not to conclude a separate peace with Germany or Austria-Hungary
. The revolution also went against the notion that subjects should remain loyal to their rulers. In any case, the agreement took Russia out of the war and allowed Germany to reallocate troops from the eastern front to the western front, making life more difficult for Australian troops. Anger over Russia's withdrawal led the other Triple Entente members to invade Russia in support of the Russian tsar
.
The 1930s was also the decade of the Great Depression
, which caused extreme hardship around the world. Financial hardship in Australia meant that the possibility of popular uprisings did not seem then as distant and remote as it would now. The name New Guard, then, suggests not only the idea of guarding a set of values but also physically guarding the community, if necessary, against revolution. There is certainly some irony in this, given that the organisation went on to plot the forcible removal of Premier Jack Lang from office.
may have been seen by the New Guard as a potential threat. However, in New South Wales
, Jack Lang's Labor Party
government, which was elected in October, 1930, posed a more immediate problem. Many of the reform policies that Lang introduced during his term were not welcomed by the New Guard. In particular, his administration sought to default on foreign debt repayments at the height of the Great Depression
. Much of the debt was owed to financial institutions in Great Britain
. This step was therefore regarded as treasonous and disloyal to that country.
The New Guard also sought to oppose the doctrines and activities of communists in Australia. However, once Lang and the Australian Labor Party
were defeated in the elections of 11 June 1932, the New Guard lost its momentum.
.
The New Guard was reputed to have over 50,000 members within Sydney alone (which had a population of 1.2 million at the time), and its membership was organised along strict military lines with ranks, divisions, drill parades and a large private arsenal. It achieved its greatest fame when a member, Captain Francis de Groot
, an Irish-born veteran of the First World War and furniture maker, sneaked into the official ceremonial parade on horseback at the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge
in his old 15th Hussars uniform and slashed the opening ribbon with a cavalry sword before Premier Jack Lang had the chance. De Groot declared the bridge open "in the name of the loyal and decent people of New South Wales" and was promptly arrested by a New South Wales State Police officer and taken to a mental asylum for examination. The ribbon was hastily retied and duly cut by Jack Lang.
from his Parliament House office at night. This attempt was foiled because Lang had switched to a cheaper, older car and driven himself home. The plan had been to detain Lang in an unused gaol at Berrima
, a village approximately 100km south-west of Sydney, stage a coup d'état and place NSW under martial law.
On the evening of the dismissal of Jack Lang by Governor Sir Philip Game
on 13 May 1932, a brigade of several hundred men of the New Guard were stationed in the basement of a department store building several hundred metres from Parliament House
. They had threatened to march upon Parliament House and stage another coup attempt if he did not resign before seven o'clock. Lang was sacked at six o'clock. A civil war might well have ensued had they attempted the coup, as important government buildings throughout the city of Sydney were being guarded by members of the Australian Labor Army and the New South Wales Police
(legally responsible to the Crown through Governor Game but allegedly loyal to Lang's ministers). Certain Army officers, loyal to the Federal Government, were also members of the New Guard and might have been expected to bring out their troops in support of a coup.
after World War II, which retains a small membership to this day.
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
movement in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
formed in 1931. It was opposed to communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
and democracy
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
, called for class collaboration
Class collaboration
Class collaboration is a principle of social organization based upon the belief that the division of society into a hierarchy of social classes is a positive and essential aspect of civilization.-Class collaboration under capitalism:...
to replace class conflict
Class conflict
Class conflict is the tension or antagonism which exists in society due to competing socioeconomic interests between people of different classes....
, and engaged in street fighting against opponents and in plans for a coup d'etat against the Australian government. It was led by Colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
Eric Campbell.
The New Guard was founded in Sydney in February, 1931 by a group of concerned citizens one of whom was Col. Eric Campbell, a First World War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
veteran asked to act as leader. Membership application forms set out the principles proclaimed by the New Guard: http://www.naa.gov.au/Publications/fact_sheets/FS183.html
- Loyalty to the British Throne and support for the British EmpireBritish EmpireThe British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
- Sane and honourable government in Australia
- Suppression of disloyal/immoral elements in government, industry and society
- Abolition of machine politics
- Maintaining individual liberty
Historical context
The stated ideology of the New Guard can be seen as a response to a perceived communist threat, given that one of the criticisms that was made of communism was that it took away individual freedom and was therefore antithetical to democracy. In the international context of the 1920s and 1930s, Joseph StalinJoseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
's rise to power in the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
was seen by critics of communism as further evidence of its dangers.
In addition, many First World War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
veterans viewed the Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
armistice and treaty
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was a peace treaty signed on March 3, 1918, mediated by South African Andrik Fuller, at Brest-Litovsk between Russia and the Central Powers, headed by Germany, marking Russia's exit from World War I.While the treaty was practically obsolete before the end of the year,...
with Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
as a betrayal of the Allies since it broke the 4 September 1914 Triple Entente
Triple Entente
The Triple Entente was the name given to the alliance among Britain, France and Russia after the signing of the Anglo-Russian Entente in 1907....
agreement not to conclude a separate peace with Germany or Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
. The revolution also went against the notion that subjects should remain loyal to their rulers. In any case, the agreement took Russia out of the war and allowed Germany to reallocate troops from the eastern front to the western front, making life more difficult for Australian troops. Anger over Russia's withdrawal led the other Triple Entente members to invade Russia in support of the Russian tsar
Tsar
Tsar is a title used to designate certain European Slavic monarchs or supreme rulers. As a system of government in the Tsardom of Russia and Russian Empire, it is known as Tsarist autocracy, or Tsarism...
.
The 1930s was also the decade of the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, which caused extreme hardship around the world. Financial hardship in Australia meant that the possibility of popular uprisings did not seem then as distant and remote as it would now. The name New Guard, then, suggests not only the idea of guarding a set of values but also physically guarding the community, if necessary, against revolution. There is certainly some irony in this, given that the organisation went on to plot the forcible removal of Premier Jack Lang from office.
New Guard and Jack Lang
International communismCommunism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
may have been seen by the New Guard as a potential threat. However, in New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, Jack Lang's Labor Party
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
government, which was elected in October, 1930, posed a more immediate problem. Many of the reform policies that Lang introduced during his term were not welcomed by the New Guard. In particular, his administration sought to default on foreign debt repayments at the height of the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
. Much of the debt was owed to financial institutions in Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
. This step was therefore regarded as treasonous and disloyal to that country.
The New Guard also sought to oppose the doctrines and activities of communists in Australia. However, once Lang and the Australian Labor Party
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
were defeated in the elections of 11 June 1932, the New Guard lost its momentum.
Membership and activities
While the New Guard began as a relatively peaceful outfit that used lawful means to advance its objectives, its platform was immediately popular with many First World War officers and veterans as well as others with traditionalist beliefs and attitudes. The organisation's activities quickly descended into thuggery and street violence in a reaction to the Australian Labor Party and the Communist Party of AustraliaCommunist Party of Australia
The Communist Party of Australia was founded in 1920 and dissolved in 1991; it was succeeded by the Socialist Party of Australia, which then renamed itself, becoming the current Communist Party of Australia. The CPA achieved its greatest political strength in the 1940s and faced an attempted...
.
The New Guard was reputed to have over 50,000 members within Sydney alone (which had a population of 1.2 million at the time), and its membership was organised along strict military lines with ranks, divisions, drill parades and a large private arsenal. It achieved its greatest fame when a member, Captain Francis de Groot
Francis de Groot
Colonel Francis Edward de Groot holds a notorious place in Australian history for his high-profile upstaging of New South Wales Premier Jack Lang at the official opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in 1932.-Life:...
, an Irish-born veteran of the First World War and furniture maker, sneaked into the official ceremonial parade on horseback at the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge
Sydney Harbour Bridge
The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a steel through arch bridge across Sydney Harbour that carries rail, vehicular, bicycle and pedestrian traffic between the Sydney central business district and the North Shore. The dramatic view of the bridge, the harbour, and the nearby Sydney Opera House is an iconic...
in his old 15th Hussars uniform and slashed the opening ribbon with a cavalry sword before Premier Jack Lang had the chance. De Groot declared the bridge open "in the name of the loyal and decent people of New South Wales" and was promptly arrested by a New South Wales State Police officer and taken to a mental asylum for examination. The ribbon was hastily retied and duly cut by Jack Lang.
Attempted kidnapping and civil unrest
Less well known than de Groot's exploits on the Harbour Bridge are the attempts to kidnap Jack Lang while he was being chauffeured home along the Parramatta RoadParramatta Road
.Parramatta Road is the major historical east-west artery of metropolitan Sydney, Australia, connecting the Sydney with Parramatta. It is the eastern-most part of the Great Western Highway. Much of its traffic has been diverted to modern expressways such as the M4 and the City West Link...
from his Parliament House office at night. This attempt was foiled because Lang had switched to a cheaper, older car and driven himself home. The plan had been to detain Lang in an unused gaol at Berrima
Berrima, New South Wales
Berrima is an historic village in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, in Wingecarribee Shire. The village, once a major town, is located on the Old Hume Highway between Canberra and Sydney. It was previously known officially as the Town of Berrima...
, a village approximately 100km south-west of Sydney, stage a coup d'état and place NSW under martial law.
On the evening of the dismissal of Jack Lang by Governor Sir Philip Game
Philip Game
Air Vice-Marshal Sir Philip Woolcott Game GCB, GCVO, GBE, KCMG, DSO was a British Royal Air Force commander, who later served as Governor of New South Wales and Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis...
on 13 May 1932, a brigade of several hundred men of the New Guard were stationed in the basement of a department store building several hundred metres from Parliament House
Parliament House, Sydney
Parliament House in Sydney is a complex of buildings housing the Parliament of New South Wales, a state of Australia. It is located on the east side of Macquarie Street in Sydney, the state capital. The facade consists of a two storey Georgian building, the oldest public building in the City of...
. They had threatened to march upon Parliament House and stage another coup attempt if he did not resign before seven o'clock. Lang was sacked at six o'clock. A civil war might well have ensued had they attempted the coup, as important government buildings throughout the city of Sydney were being guarded by members of the Australian Labor Army and the New South Wales Police
New South Wales Police
The New South Wales Police Force is the primary law enforcement agency in the State of New South Wales, Australia. It is an agency of the Government of New South Wales within the New South Wales Ministry for Police...
(legally responsible to the Crown through Governor Game but allegedly loyal to Lang's ministers). Certain Army officers, loyal to the Federal Government, were also members of the New Guard and might have been expected to bring out their troops in support of a coup.
Decline
After Lang's dismissal and subsequent electoral defeats, the New Guard waned in popularity, though they remained active right up until the start of the Second World War. Many of its members went on to help found the Australian League of RightsAustralian League of Rights
The Australian League of Rights is a long-lived far right and anti-semitic political organisation in Australia founded by Eric Butler with its basis in the economic theory of Social Credit expounded by C. H. Douglas. It describes itself as upholding the virtues of freedom...
after World War II, which retains a small membership to this day.
Further reading
- The Secret Army And The Premier (ISBN 0-86840-283-4). This book describes in detail the attempted coup on the night that Jack Lang was relieved of his commission of Premier of New South Wales