In 1949, ACP General Secretary, Lance Sharkey was asked by a journalist what the reaction would be if the USSR invaded Australia. Lance responded and would serve jail time for his comments. In this booklet, Fred Paterson, describes the sedition case.

On the 30th of May 1949, George Albert Watson, the Deputy Crown Solicitor charged the General Secretary of the ACP Laurence Sharkey. It was alleged that on the 4th of March 1949, he uttered seditious words. Sharkey would serve a total of 13 months of a 3 year prison sentence.

Detailing the turbulent coal strike of 1949 in which 23,000 miners participated, lasting seven weeks before being betrayed by the Labor government of Chifley. It was the first time that the Australian army were used to break a trade union strike.

Written for the 1949 Australian federal election, the “Speakers’ Notes for the Australian Communist Party” provides an excellent overview of the challenges facing Australian workers in the immediate post-WW2 era and how the party dealt these problems and provided principled, actionable answers for the workers of Australia.

A secret CIA memo warned of the Australian Communist Party's ability to "cripple Australian production" and “considerable power within the trade unions”. Written just months before the infamous 1949 coal miners strike, which mobilised 23,000 coal miners lasting seven months.