'Three Great Forces are at Work Trying to Control Events': Australian Anglican Views on the League of Nations, Communism, and Fascism, 1927-1939

Abstract

Historians of Twentieth Century Australia have paid little heed to the Anglican Church. It is seen as a conservative establishment institution, with the clerical ideals interchangeable with those of mainstream conservative political figures. There has also been an assumption of a general Australian indifference towards foreign affairs throughout the first half of the Twentieth Century, excepting specific activist groups. I argue that, at least in the context of interwar international idealism, these assumptions are misguided and misleading. This thesis argues that many figures within the Australian Anglican Church, across the institutional hierarchical spectrum, expressed passionately held and well-informed views on international affairs through the interwar period. It does so through a systematic examination of South Australian and Victorian Anglican periodicals, diocesan papers and local parish papers. The latter of these has been almost entirely unutilised by historians. Throughout these sources, a wide range of heterogeneous views emerge, demonstrating a genuine intellectual engagement with world concerns beyond the borders of Australia. My title utilises a striking quote from Frederick Head, the Archbishop of Melbourne, from his 1937 Synod Address. He declared that in world affairs ‘three great forces are at work trying to control events: Communism, Fascism and the League of Nations’. This quote forms the structure of this thesis: the Anglican response to each of these ‘forces’ is examined in turn. The Australian Anglican Church as a whole was a dedicated supporter of the ideals of collective security as embodied by the League of Nations. This is in direct contrast to the Australian conservative establishment, whose interest in the League was begrudging. While clergymen disagreed over the inherent Christianity of the League’s goals and practices, and became increasingly dismayed with its failures in halting conflict in Manchuria and Abyssinia, overall the Church remained steadfast in its belief in the value of League idealism. The Australian Anglican Church was steadfastly anti-communist through this period. The mainstream Anglican view spoke of communism in terms of disease and vermin. Yet, there was a significant undercurrent of sympathy for at least some communist aims. The Great Depression led many Anglican clergy to disavow capitalism and to advocate for a revitalised Australian society. Some sought to learn from communism in order to augment a new Christianised Australia. The economic and industrial successes of Soviet Russia were of especial interest for this purpose. The Australian Anglican Church had a complicated relationship with fascism. In the early 1930s, fascism was associated with Italy, and especially with Roman Catholicism. Australian Anglican anti-Catholic sentiment meant Italian fascism was treated largely with indifference. The rise of Nazi Germany radically altered the Australian Anglican Church’s understanding of fascism. It embraced the notion of ‘totalitarianism’, believing that fascism and communism were fundamentally alike due to their anti-Christianity. The main Anglican fear throughout this period was an outbreak of war that might destroy British civilisation, but by early 1939 the disdain for fascism had overtaken this concern and Australian Anglicans began to suggest the moral necessity of war with Hitler.