Constructing a socialist community: The Victorian socialist party, ritual, pedagogy, and the subaltern counterpublic

Abstract

The Victorian Socialist Party (VSP) was a vital crafter of Australian labour's political culture in the early twentieth century. It engaged in a wide array of cultural activities, most often associated in historical literature as an attempt to create a socialist 'community' which operated as a replacement for mainstream religion. Here, I endeavour to demonstrate the political implications of the organisations' cultural activities and connect them to its broader project of social transformation. I do so by considering these acts of cultural creation against international literature on labour culture and propose a new understanding of the VSP as a subaltern counterpublic, as identified by Nanc..