“Fascism Can Only Grow in Secrecy”: Greek and Yugoslavian Anti-Fascism in Melbourne’s “Long 1960s”

Studies of post-war anti-fascism in Australia have recently generated new insights into the continuities and transformations of post-war fascist and anti-fascist organisations. However, despite this upsurge in scholarship, the 1960s remain neglected. This article revises this absence through a case study of the Committee for the Restoration of Democracy in Greece (CRDG), the Yugoslav Settlers’ Organisation (YSA), and its successor, The Committee for Democracy in Australia (CDA). It draws on press reports, left-wing publications, and security files to suggest the anti-fascisms of Melbourne in the 1960s were influenced by a parallel politics of anti-imperialism. It shows how both organisations were influenced by the historical experience of resisting fascism, particularly the concept of a “united front” that facilitated a pan-left struggle against fascism and wider systems of oppression and domination. In doing so, this article contributes to the growing historiography on varieties of anti-fascism and their overlap with related emancipation movements.