Evidence Of Communist Revolutionary Plan Is Reported In Australia

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27383, 8 May 1950, Page 5

Evidence Of Communist Revolutionary Plan Is Reported In Australia

New Zealand Press Association—Copyright Rec. 9 p.m. SYDNEY, May 7. The Government has evidence of a Communist revolutionary plan involving 2000 men in Australia who have pledged themselves to act as a fifth column in the event of war against Russia, says the Sunday Telegraph. The newspaper says that top-ranking Communists have been allocated inter-locking jobs to sabotage vital industries and services and seize the power of government. “ Government secret services in Australia, Britain and Far Eastern countries know enough about the programme to be certain that it embraces all Empire countries,” says the Telegraph. “This is the story behind the Prime Minister, Mr Menzies’s continuous references to revolutionary Communists against whom the Anti-Communist Bill is directed.”

The Telegraph adds that the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Dr H. V. Evatt, fought hard in the Parliamentary Labour Party caucus to support the principle of banning the Communist Party and removing proven dangerous Communists from union office, because of his knowledge of the Communist revolutionary programme, gained from overseas associations while he was Minister of External Affairs. The Sunday Sun suggests that, while Mr Menzies will not accept an amendment on the onus of proof principle, he might made these concessions to Labour:—

1. Make it simpler and cheaper for a person declared a Communist to appeal. 2. Repay legal expenses and provide compensation for a declared person proved innocent. 3. Make the right of search dependent on prior sanction being obtained from a responsible legal officer. Many political authorities, including Labour members, say that the principle calling upon an accused person to establish his innocence is contained in several Labour-sponsored pieces of legislation, including price fixing and income tax.