Menzies and Pig Iron for Japan

An account of the refusal of Australian dockworkers to load ships with war materials for Japan, after news of the atrocities in China and fears that Japanese militarism would engulf Australia sooner or later. The strike was the inspiration for the Australian Labour song Pig Iron Bob.

Submitted by Reddebrek on May 18, 2017

Abstract
The Pig Iron dispute occurred almost fifty-five years ago. It was an event that will go down in the annals of national and international history. The real political results of this struggle, I believe, have been played down somewhat by the historians. They, in my opinion, failed to take from it the valuable lessons for posterity.

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Comments

Steven.

7 years 6 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Steven. on May 19, 2017

Great stuff! Have you added this to the working class history calendar?

Reddebrek

7 years 6 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Reddebrek on May 19, 2017

I have now, I just had to double check what day the strike officially began as the text just said 11 o'clock that day.

Steven.

7 years 6 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Steven. on May 20, 2017

Great stuff. Please feel free to add dates from any articles you post, as when we post them to WCH they do get a lot more readers!