Early Cold War opposition to US bases in Australia: peace, independence, and the challenge of security

Examining voices from Australia’s radical left, this article explores how opposition to the United States’ military and economic presence in Australia was expressed from the late 1940s to the mid-1960s. Responding to Australia’s security and trade relationships with the United States, critics such as the Communist Party of Australia and its associated peace organisations alleged that a US alliance would compromise Australian security in a nuclear-armed world. By looking at the variety of ideas espoused by Australians who questioned the security of a ‘peace’ offered by Australia’s most powerful ally, this paper argues that this evolving language of dissent demonstrates deeper currents of anxiety about Australia’s place in the Cold War world.