Understanding the support from the Australian far-left and ALP-Left for Greek Cypriot enosis during the EOKA period (1955-59): migrant workers, anti-imperialism and national liberation in Australia

Abstract

Why did the Australian far-left, namely the Communist Party of Australia (CPA), and the left-wing of the Australian Labor Party (ALP-left), support Cypriot enosis (union with Greece), when it was led by a violent far-right nationalist group, EOKA, and Greece was a repressive right-wing state? There are two aspects to answering this question: the ideological-intellectual and the political-electoral. Intellectually, the CPA and the ALP-left favoured their anti-imperialism and support for left-wing national liberation over any qualms in supporting far-right nationalist causes. Politically, they saw an electoral opportunity in courting left-wing and potential left-wing Greek-speaking migrants from Greece and Cyprus and championing both their labour and perceived ‘national’ causes. In doing so, they engaged with the Greek-speaking migrant labouring classes and gave prominence to their perceived ‘national’ struggles. This article considers why and how the Australian far-left in the form of the CPA and ALP-left became involved in the enosis politics of Greek Cypriots and the violent struggle of a small far-right minority in the island, while attempting to court the votes of left-wing Greek-speaking migrants, by supporting them in what they accepted was their ‘national’ cause–the ‘liberation’ of Cyprus and its enosis with Greece.