The party adheres to what is calls the "iceberg principle": “A few members are seen and open about their membership to allow the organisation to be accessible to the working class, while the membership of the majority remains largely unknown, revealed appropriately as their workplace, community and personal circumstances demand.”[11]
The Communist Party of Australia (Marxist–Leninist) (CPA (ML)) was formed in March of 1964 by former members of the Communist Party of Australia (CPA).[12][13]Ted Hill, among an estimated two-hundred others,[9] lead a “Marxist–Leninist Conference” in which the party was formally founded.[14][15] They also outlined their disagreements with the leadership of the CPA, contemporary issues, and the future of socialism.[14][15] The party was founded following the split within the CPA, which stemmed from the Sino-Soviet split of the early '60s. The founders of the CPA (ML) (Ted Hill, Paddy Malone, Clarrie O'Shea, F. Johnson) rejected and denounced the leadership of the CPA as revisionist as well as their pro-Soviet position under Nikita Khrushchev, among many others.[14][15]
The party exerted sizeable influence on the militant student movement in Australia during the late 1960s and early 1970s on campuses such as Monash University and La Trobe UniversityinMelbourne as well as Flinders UniversityinAdelaide through their affiliate, the Worker-Student Alliance.[16] A notable leader of the Worker-Student Alliance at this time was veteran political activist Albert Langer.
The party also held considerable sway within the Australian trade union movement from inception through to the 1980s. Clarrie O'Shea was party Vice-President at the time of his gaoling in 1969, which led to an unprecedented general strike across Australia until his release was secured.[17] Norm Gallagher led the Builders Labourers Federation for over a decade, a time during which he was a nationally known and controversial figure. Other party members, such as John Cummins and Jim Bacon were also prominent BLF figures throughout the 1970s and 1980s. In the years following the de-registration of the BLF in 1986, CPA (M-L) influence within the union movement began to decline.
During the 1980s and 1990s the majority of the founding members of the CPA (M-L) died or retired. Ted Hill's retirement in 1986 and death in 1988 left the party without its most recognised public figure.
The party ceased publishing a hard copy version of its newspaper Vanguard on a regular basis at the end of 2014. However, it continues to publish a special May Day edition of the paper each year, and releases various other publications periodically.[18] It is unknown how many members the party has as it maintains strict adherence to its founding policy of the vast majority of members keeping their party membership secret.[19] They have had a new website since 25 October 2014.[20]
