the Communist Party of Australia and its Port Adelaide Branch.

“Ron’s early working life saw him set out on a tough course. He was a seaman at age 15. He succumbed to the Cold War hysteria of the early 1950s and volunteered for service with the Australian military during the Korean War. However, when he returned to civilian work on the wharves of Port Adelaide he met people with a completely different world outlook, people who looked forward to a world at peace and without exploitation; a socialist world.

“Eventually, the influence of these militant workers in the Waterside Workers Federation led him to join the Communist Party in 1960.

One well known to me in the early 70's was Laurie Carmichael, the best commo I ever met. A very smart man was Laurie and always had the interests of the worker at heart. Not to be messed with, when it came to negotiations, Laurie could turn the bosses into mugs very easily.

http://workinglife.org.au/2013/11/15/the-wit-and-wisdom-of-laurie-carmichael/

As for the Hare Krishna's my niece tells me they have gone legit, running a cinema up in Oxford Street Sydney with a $10 a plate (bloody turned capitalist) vegie dinner included. Nice said the dinner was okay, and so was the movie, but she'll stick with the Mormons.

Hi there PAUL1405...

Talk about a small world, speaking of one, Lawrence CARMICHAEL Esq. ? We were standing by, at a Union picket line, at the Cross, that had been organised by Laurie CARMICHAEL and William (Bill) MUNDEY. From memory a large building developer, wanted to tear down a row of the old terrace houses in iconic Victoria Street, to which the Union replied, an emphatic and resonating no !

As you said Paul; both Laurie C. and Bill M. were quite polite, nevertheless positively assertive when arguing with our boss, neither of them would entertain any of the arguments our Inspector put forth, in fact they both tied the poor old bugger up in knots, with legal justification and precedence, whenever he (Inspector) raised the fact that he possessed enormous 'powers', pursuant to that Court Order ? Talk about the mighty 'bluff', apparently it worked marvellously, as none of us were tasked with breaking up the picket line ?

By now the developer, thoroughly exasperated by this continual Union intransigence, had obtained additional Court Orders, to go ahead and start demolition of these old houses. But no ! The BLF and ors. had other ideas, and most of them at police command were too timid or nervous of starting some sort of riot, if we were forced to give effect to any of those Orders; thus an impasse had come about ? I was relatively happy, as I was earning, considerable amounts of overtime as a result of this impasse ! Ah they were the days.

Shadow, what you may not be aware of is government, once relied on these state owned enterprises as a useful tool to reduce unemployment. 50 plus years back, governments purposely over employed to reduce dole queues and voter discontent. Inefficient, but effective, was 40,000 employed by the NSW Government railways at one time. That is not to say government enterprise if run properly today cannot be both efficient and profitable. The Commonwealth Bank, as a government enterprise at one time, was able to compete equally with private banks.

Posted by Paul1405,

Yes Paul, & in the 50s, when I had a 6 months stint in Melbourne I could not once afford to phone home, so expensive was the government owned, union run phone network.

The worst possible process is government owned essential services.

Hasbeen, and so was the 1860 'Pony Express', and letters to England at one shilling each in 1790, with 6 months delivery. You are in a time warp if you try and compare telecommunications of previous eras with today. In 1956 private enterprise was selling 19 inch black and white TV's at 300 pounds ($600) each, or about 30 weeks average wages.

"so expensive was the government owned, union run phone network." Are you suggesting the private, non union run phone network was cheap? If so why didn't YOU use it?

Dear Paul,

«In 1956 private enterprise was selling 19 inch black and white TV's at 300 pounds ($600) each, or about 30 weeks average wages.»

Those were better days then. So many addicts lost a lifetime by television, watching passively how others live their life while diminishing themselves into couch-potatoes. So many families were ruined.

I share your FEELING that quality of life where the essentials are supplied and guaranteed by government should be better than when we have to depend on commercial enterprises that constantly change their products and services at their whim, offering no certainty, stability and peace of mind.

However, feeling nice and comfortable is not enough - one should also be able to justify it morally. I wonder if you are able to do so?

Once participation in a state becomes voluntary, once only those who agree with the values which a state represents need to abide by its laws, duties and privileges - oh then, the sky is the limit on what that state and its government can get involved in in order to benefit those who freely chose to be included.