Industrial Groups

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The Industrial Groups were groups formed by the Australian Labor Party in the late 1940s, to combat Communist Party influence in the trade unions.^[1]

In 1941 B.A. Santamaria founded the Catholic Social Studies Movement, generally known simply as "the Movement". The Movement quickly gained a large influence in the Industrial Groups. Members of these groups were informally called 'Groupers'.

Under the influence of the Movement, the Groupers opposed not just the Communist Party, but elements within the Labor Party who they believed were insufficiently opposed to communism.^[2]

Although supportive of the Industrial Groups at first, Labor leader 'Doc' Evatt turned against them, causing a split in the Labor Party, with many 'Groupers' resigning or being illegally^{[citation needed]} expelled, and the formation of the Australian Labor Party (Anti-Communist), later to become the Democratic Labor Party.

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