Journal article
"Nowhere Else to Work": Advertising and the Left in Australia
Jackie Dickenson
LABOUR HISTORY | AUSTRALIAN SOC STUDY LABOUR HISTORY | Published : 2015
Abstract
From the late 1930s to the early 1970s, a noticeable cluster of left activists (both women and men, and all, at some point, members of the Communist Party) could be found working in the Australian advertising industry, using their artistic and writing skills to support themselves and pursue their political goals. The article explores the complex relationship between left politics and consumer culture in this period by examining the careers of a handful of these activists. It finds that the shift away from revolutionary politics in the late 1930s to mobilisation around anti-fascism made it possible for left activists to work in advertising without attracting significant criticism from their f..
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Awarded by Australian Research Council
Funding Acknowledgements
I am grateful to Labour History's two anonymous referees for their helpful suggestions and to Sean Scalmer and Stuart Macintyre for commenting on an earlier draft. Thanks also to my colleagues Rosemary Francis and Wendy Dick for their hard work, encouragement and advice. The Australian Research Council (DP120100777) funded the research.