Mobilising the Masses : : Populist Conservative Movements in Australia and New Zealand During the Great Depression.

• Author: Cunningham, Matthew.
• Place / Publishing House: Canberra : : ANU Press,, 2022.; ©2022.
• Year of Publication: 2022
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (326 pages)

The radical right has gained considerable ground in the twenty-first century. From Brexit to Bolsonaro and Tea Partiers to Trump, many of these diverse manifestations of right-wing populism share a desire to co‑opt or supplant the mainstream parties that have traditionally held sway over the centre right.

Table of Contents

Intro -- Abbreviations -- List of figures -- Figure 2.1 Occurrence of the phrase 'machine politics' in Australian newspapers, 1926-1935 -- Figure 4.1 Geographical distribution of members, Citizens' League of South Australia -- Figure 4.2 Geographical distribution of members, All for Australia League, New South Wales -- Figure 4.3 Geographical distribution of members, Australian Citizens' League, Victoria and New South Wales -- Figure 4.4 Age statistics (leadership): All for Australia League -- Figure 4.5 Age statistics (leadership): Australian Citizens' League -- Figure 4.6 Age statistics (leadership): New Zealand Legion -- Figure 4.7 Age statistics (frontline membership): New Zealand Legion -- Figure 4.8 Military statistics (leadership): All for Australia League -- Figure 4.9 Military statistics (leadership): Australian Citizens' League -- Figure 4.10 Military statistics (leadership): New Zealand Legion -- Figure 4.11 Military statistics (frontline membership): New Zealand Legion -- List of plates -- Plate 0.1 The inaugural meeting of the Australian Citizens' League in the Melbourne Town Hall -- Plate 0.2 New Zealand Legion cartoon lamenting the lack of unity between political parties during the Great Depression -- Plate 1.1 The conjoining of 'Bolshevist savagery' with 'German kultur' in the late 1910s -- Plate 1.2 Linking anti-Catholic and anti-Bolshevik prejudices in the late 1910s -- Plate 2.1 A 'starvation debenture' lampooning Jack Lang's 'repudiationist' policies during the Depression -- Plate 2.2 Cartoon implying that Lang's policies presaged communism 'by stages' -- Plate 3.1 Portrait of Robert Campbell Begg, c. 1931 -- Plate 3.2 Portrait of Alexander J. Gibson, c. 1920s -- Plate 3.3 Portrait of Ernest Turnbull, 1931 -- Plate 3.4 Portrait of Edward Daniel Alexander Bagot, 1938.

Plate 4.1 The Citizens' League of South Australia's 'membership thermometer' -- Plate 4.2 Inaugural meeting of the Citizens' League of South Australia at the Adelaide Town Hall -- Plate 4.3 Advertisement for a Citizens' League of South Australia 'monster meeting' -- Plate 5.1 Australian Citizens' League cartoon in support of Joseph Lyons -- Plates 5.2, 5.3, 5.4 Australian Citizens' League billboards in support of Joseph Lyons (after the movement adopted the 'All for Australia League' brand) -- Plate 5.5 Cartoon lampooning NSW Nationalist Party leader Thomas Bavin's rocky relationship with the All for Australia League -- Plate 5.6 Robert Menzies, president of the National Federation of Victoria, is anointed leader of the United Australia Organisation after failing to consult with the Australian Citizens' League about the change -- Plate 6.1 New Zealand Legion cartoon criticising the control of British financiers over the New Zealand economy -- Plate 6.2 Cartoon calling for farmers to employ more men so that they can buy farming produce -- Plate 6.3 'Caesar's Dilemma': The divisive effect of the New Zealand Legion's policies -- Plate 6.4 Robert Campbell Begg arrives in Auckland for a New Zealand Legion meeting -- List of tables -- Table 4.1 Employment statistics (leadership): All for Australia League -- Table 4.2 Employment statistics (leadership): Citizens' League of South Australia -- Table 4.3 Employment statistics (leadership): Australian Citizens' League -- Table 4.4 Employment statistics (leadership): New Zealand Legion -- Table 4.5 Employment statistics (frontline membership): Citizens' League of South Australia -- Table 4.6 Employment statistics (frontline membership): New Zealand Legion -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- 1. Constructing the citizen: The evolution of conservatism in Australia and New Zealand.

2. From reactionary to radical: The Great Depression and the origins of the citizens' movements -- 3. Give us a creed: The ideology of the citizens' movements -- 4. A call to arms: The populist culture of mass conservative mobilisation -- 5. Flirting with party politics: The Australian citizens' movements and the United Australia Party -- 6. 'New deals' and 'funny money': The New Zealand Legion and monetary reform -- Conclusion -- Bibliography.