History Assesment Task 3EXPLAIN Australia’s response to the threat of communismCommunism is

History Assesment Task 3EXPLAIN Australia’s response to the threat of communismCommunism is a system or philosophy where any ‘means of production’ is to be owned by every member of the state. Almost every country was under the influence of the communism, especially those who fought in World War I, with Russia becoming the first communist nation and soon having a global impact with due to its classless method of living. Australia reacted to a variety of ways to stop the spread of communism.Australia was very concerned about communism and its effect, so concerned that Australia’s president passed a bill, called the Communist Party Dissolution Bill (Shown in Source A) that would ban the communist party and make the practice illegal and prevent anyone with a communist belief become a part of the government. However there was a major flaw with the bill, that was that if you were believed to be communist you were guilty until proved innocent. There were about 24,000 communist members in the Australian party, although a small amount it still scared many people about the consequences and the aftermath if these members rose to a higher power. This fear lead to the bill being passed until the high court agreed not to because it was unconstitutional, and also the fact that there was a small majority of the population who were against the bill being passed. This showed exactly how large the issue communism was and how concerned the citizens were.This fear was also enhanced by ‘The Petrov Affair’ which was released to the public via the Sydney Morning Herald on April 14 1954, with the Heading Petrov “Salted Away”: Security Screen. Vladimir Petrov was the third secretary of the Soviet embassy in Canberra, after him and his wife were dragged out of the airport (Shown in Source B). They were both proved to be spies for the Soviet Union, which was common the height of the cold war and communism to gain information about their enemy’s military and economic capability as well as the political and social stabilities. The Petrov affair was crucial as it reflected the extent of possibility for Soviet espionage in Australia. And more importantly, as Vladimir Petrov was a member of the parliament it proved that there were communist members in the government. One of the other ways Australia responded to the threat of communism was to participate in the Korean war. There were many reasons for Australia to do this, one of the main reasons was to halt the “domino effect” that would soon mean the inevitable doom of most South-East Asian countries and put Australia in the next sights. However, within Australia the news of the outbreak of the Korean war was not news to the people, having limited or none media attention, it remained this way until calls were put out for anyone wanting to assist with the war (nurses, doctors, etc). So Australia had to turn to support from other countries who had the same mindset as Australia and were not fond of communism. This was how the ANZUS alliance was found. And the ANZUS (Australia New Zealand the United States) alliance ensured aid from other countries in the alliance in the event of an attack from a communist (or any) country. Other alliances such as SEATO were also signed to stop the advance of communism