The CPA National Training Centre was a communist training camp and assembly operated by the Communist Party of Australia (CPA) from 1958 until the party's dissolution in 1991.[1]
History
Located in Minto, NSW, the camp operated under the front of the "Bushlovers' Club".[2] The camp initially attracted controversy on the tail of the second red scare wave, being described as a "brainwashing" institution by the National President of the RSL[3] and connected to various industrial agitations.[4] Over its lifetime, Eric Aarons served as the school principal and was a key figure in its formation and operation.[5]
Activities
Up until the 1980s[6] part of the site's function was as a school in Marxist thought, economics, and their relation to Australian politics.[5] During this period, and for the remainder of its life, the site also functioned as an assembly grounds where seminars on gay rights, feminism, and Indigenous Australian autonomy were held.[5][7]
This association with Indigenous land rights movement led the National Party[8] and the League of Rights[9] to portray Indigenous Australian sovereignty as a communist conspiracy to establish a Marxist state within Australia.[10] This, largely discredited,[11][12] theory was first advanced by a book written by a former member of the CPA,[13] which saw minor success as a result of this publicity[14][15] but drew heavy criticism from Jewish groups over its antisemitic publisher[12][16] and its association with racist, antisemitic organisations.[17][9]
References
^Eric, Red (3 March 1993). "The party's over for a true believer". Macarthur Advertiser.
^"MINTO MARE'S NEST". Tribune (Sydney, NSW : 1939 - 1991). 25 June 1958. p. 12. Retrieved 11 July 2021.
^Patricia Gifford, The Communist Party of AustraliaResidentialNationalSchool (Minto) or the Bushlovers' Club, c1958–65: Communist Education, Cultural Nationalism and Conservative Reaction, BA Honours thesis, University of Western Sydney, Macarthur, 1999
