The
Tribune was the flagship of Australia's left wing newspapers.
Two competing papers Two newspapers claiming to represent the
Communist Party of Australia were published 1920–1921: It continued publishing under the new title from 1921 to 1923.
''Workers' Weekly'' The Communist folded in 1923 to be replaced by ''Workers' Weekly
which became the official organ of the CPA. Esmonde Higgins served as editor of the Weekly'' until 1925. ''Workers' Weekly
ceased publication in 1939, Tribune'' becoming the official organ. Both CPA papers reviewed
New Theatre productions, including the period 1948–1960 when that theatre was blacklisted by the major newspapers.
Tribune The
Tribune was, on 24 May 1940, banned for publication within Australia on the grounds of weakening the war effort, along with
Soviets To-day (Sydney), ''
Communist's Review (Sydney), The Wharfie (Sydney), The Militant (imported), World Peace (Sydney). The Guardian (Melbourne), Workers' Star (Perth), and North Queensland Guardian'' (Townsville). On 15 June 1941 the Communist Party was banned and hundreds of properties were searched for printing presses and evidence of illegal membership. On 29 July 1941
Tribune returned as a pamphlet, initially printed on rough paper using a manual press, which had been purchased by editor
Harry Gould in anticipation of such an action. Searches by Commonwealth police failed to discover its location. The Socialist newspaper
Forward (board members included
Lance Sharkey,
Jim Healy,
Tom Wright and
Ernie Thornton, with
Harry Gould as business manager) acknowledged its communist affiliation in 1942, when it became a partial replacement for the
Tribune, and merged with that paper when its legal status was restored. In 1945 T. N. P. "Big Tom" Dougherty, general secretary of the
Australian Workers' Union, was awarded £1500 in damages in a libel suit against
Tribune in respect of an article which appeared in the issue of 8 February 1945. The paper was declared illegal one more time, briefly, in the early 1950s.
Summary ==Staff==