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Paradise on the Instalment Plan. The Economic Thought of the Australian Labour Movement between the Depression and the Long Boom

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Published May 2026

Rick Kuhn

Author: Rick Kuhn
Contemporary labour movement thinking about the Australian economy took shape between the depression of the 1930s and the long post-war boom, in the form of moderate and, today much diminished, left nationalist currents. Economic conditions, the level of the class struggle and the political proclivities of different classes, particularly as expressed in the working class’s main organisations – the Australian Labor Party (ALP), Communist Party of Australia (CPA) and trade unions. This study focuses on labour movement understandings of three fundamental aspects of Australian capitalism: the country’s place in the world; its class structure; and its experience of severe economic fluctuations.

Biographical Note

Rick Kuhn, a member of Socialist Alternative in Australia, is a historian and political scientist. He wrote the Deutscher Prizing winning biography Henryk Grossman and the Recovery of Marxism (University of Illinois Press, 2006) and edited Class and Struggle in Australia (Pearson, 2005).

Readership

This book is especially relevant to readers interested in Australian history, alternative perspectives on economic issues, and the international dynamics of labor movement development. It will also be a valuable addition to all Australian university, state, and municipal libraries.

Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgements
List of Tables and Figures
Abbreviations

Introduction
1 Where Do Incorrect Ideas Come from?

1 The Depression and Before
1 Laborite Economic Thought before 1934
2 Communist Economic Thought to 1934

2 Australia and the ‘General Crisis of Capitalism’
1 ‘Recovery’ from the Depression
2 Working Class Politics
3 Appendix to Chapter 2: Keynesian Economics

3 Preparing for Office
1 Stifling Freetrade Aspirations in the Interests of Solidarity
2 From Money Power to Monopoly
3 Underconsumptionism: A Hundred and One Varieties

4 Australian Nationalism in Russia’s Interests
1 Between Motherland and Fatherland
2 The Financial Oligarchy, Rich Families, Monopolies and Friends
3 An Equivocal Catastrophism
4 Appendix to Chapter 4: Lenin on Bank Nationalisation

5 Making Australia Safe for the Long Boom, 1941–50
1 World War II
2 From Yalta to Korea

6 Labor at War
1 Keynesian Hegemony

7 Keynes v. Class Struggle
1 Defenders of the Faith
2 Socialism (for the Good of Capitalism)
3 The Frowning Face of J.M. Keynes
4 Appendix to Chapter 8: The Ideas of the ‘Movement’

8 Left Nationalism, Conservative and Radical
1 1941–5: ‘A National Front for Victory’
2 1945–7: ‘The Leaders of the ALP are Today Vacillating’
3 1947–51: ‘The Need To Take The Offensive’

Conclusion: The Economic Ideas of the Australian Labour Movement
1 Laborite Economics
2 Left Nationalist Economics
3 Working Class Economic Ideas versus Working Class Economic Practice

References
Index