Sir Robert Menzies, 1951

Australia’s 12th Prime Minister

“I will in the course of this speech have much to say about the damage which Communism does to industry and production. But tremendously important as this is, it is a symptom only. The real disease of Communism is deeper and more deadly, and unless we attack it by all possible means, it will infect the whole of our community life.

“The industrial activities of the Communists prove them to be destructive and disloyal, a fifth column for a potential enemy. Why should Communists do these things? The answer is that Communism is a materialistic doctrine, void of spiritual content. It is not only anti-Christian, but is opposed to all those nobler aspirations which spring from the religious faith of decent people. True, Communism itself has been called, by some, a religion. But it is a religion of hatred; it derives from the darkest recesses of the human mind; it has nothing in common with the Christian gospel of love and brotherhood. If it had, it could not preach the class war or use envy and malice as its characteristic weapons.

“In this great and free country of ours we have at least learned that hatred of other men is no instrument of progress but is merely a sign of decadence and despair.

“When, therefore, I say to you that the Government is pledged to make war upon Communism I am not talking about an attack upon individuals as such (though we are determined to root out key Communists from key positions), but upon a set of evil ideas which are quite foreign to our civilisation, our traditions, and our faith.

“Those who persist, as does the Leader of the Opposition, in regarding Communism as just some variant of democratic political philosophy entirely overlook the fact that Communism is debased, treasonable, utterly undemocratic; in form a subversive conspiracy; in practice opposed to high standards of living and real prosperity; destructive, if it succeeds, of all human freedom. 

“We are pledged to fight it, and to defeat it.”